[PATRONS]
Episode 9 of the Thirty Years War, First of His Name, is out NOW!
You can’t have a Habsburg protagonist without also having the anti-Habsburg antagonist, and in the years before the war, few individuals were better placed to challenge the Habsburg position than the Elector...
2020-03-30 05:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
After trouncing his enemies in Denmark and Russia, where would Charles strike next? The answer, predictably enough, was Poland. In this ep we track the movements of Charles XII from roughly 1701-06.
Following the disaster which was the battle of Narva, it would take some tim...
2020-03-23 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Straight to the point with that title, because while we've done some exposition on it, it's pretty clear to me history friend that we need to talk about the HRE...
As the name suggests, the Germans were occasionally a problematic people, especially when there was so much on ...
2020-03-16 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
After taking a somewhat apathetic approach to the war, mostly because he expected King Charles XII of Sweden to invade Russia first, the Saxon King of Poland was confronted with a spectacle all too terribly familiar to those Poles old enough to remember the 1650s. The Swedish King...
2020-03-09 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
In this episode, we look at an oft-forgotten theatre of the Thirty Years War, the east. Specifically, we examine the Habsburg border with the Ottoman Empire, and assess the conflicts and slights which the two radically different powers had committed in previous years. The conflict...
2020-03-02 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
This is a good one! In the latter half of 1700, the time had come for the anti-Swedish league to attack. On paper, the triple onslaught of Russia, Denmark and Saxony against the Swedes appeared the nail in the coffin of Charles XII's fledgling reign. But you know what they say abo...
2020-02-24 06:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 6 of the Thirty Years War, King of the Islands, is out NOW!
Traditional narratives of the Thirty Years War frequently gloss over the English/Scottish or British contribution, and in this episode, we do our best to rectify that error! We start with a scene of peacemak...
2020-02-17 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
In autumn 1699, the Tsar of Russia was mobilising not just his soldiers, but also all his talents for trickery and deception. The goal - make war on Sweden in league with the Kings of Poland and Denmark. The problem - the Swedish delegation were in town, and wanted at all costs to...
2020-02-10 06:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 5 of the Thirty Years War, the Triumphs of Peace, is out NOW!
War wasn’t good for everything in the early 17th century, and nowhere was this more evident than in the spate of peace treaties which were signed between Spain and its enemies during the years 1598-1609....
2020-02-03 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 2 of Poland Is Not Yet Lost is out NOW! In this episode we catch up with Augustus II, everyone's favourite random King of Poland, to see how he and Tsar Peter of Russia came to be such fast friends. Expect plenty of diplomatic intrigue, a whole load of fascinating characte...
2020-01-28 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
This episode continues where we left off in the previous instalment, by delving deeper into the motives of the French King Henry IV, in the context of the ongoing Julich-Cleve Crisis. Would Henry intervene, thereby reigniting the war against Spain which had only...
2020-01-27 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
If you thought you properly understood how the Empire worked at long last – then think again! There was always some wrinkle or exception to the rule, but perhaps no rules were more important than those concerning the role of Electors. We touched on them in the last episode, but ...
2020-01-20 06:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
What exciting times! We finally launch into our narrative series for Poland Is Not Yet Lost, and we do so with a bang! The year in 1696, and the famed king of Poland Jan Sobieski has just died. A successor was needed, but who would step up? Would it be the French or Austrian candi...
2020-01-14 06:00:59 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
The Holy Roman Empire was a unique place, full of unique laws, unique settlements and very unique rulers. Unique is just a polite way of saying, that the HRE was a freakin’ mess, but it is a mess which we have to acquaint ourselves with if we’re to stand any chance of understa...
2020-01-13 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
We're back! After running through 17th Century Warfare with a fine-toothed comb, I am finally ready to deliver to you the most exciting series we've ever covered here at WDF Towers. It's eerily familiar, but also breathtakingly different - it sounds like the Thirty Years War!
<... 2020-01-06 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
With the best of intentions, the Poles created something of a monster in the Liberum Veto. See how that device was created by the politically ambitious, but totally naive Poles, in our final episode of 2019! Thanksss so much for a brilliant year of podcasting, and see you soon...i...
2019-12-23 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
In the words of the historian John A. Lynn, "trying to understand seventeenth-century European history without weighing the influence of war and military institutions is like trying to dance without listening to the music." For the last 15 episodes, we've...
2019-12-16 06:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
In our second part, we bring our examination through the more turbulent years of the Commonwealth, and assess the role which the szlachta played in reducing Poland's powers at precisely the wrong time. Were the szlachta to blame, or simly a by-product of the time...
2019-12-09 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
The story of the Polish szlachta or nobility is a complex one, and here we set the foundations of our examination of their unique history and political traditions. These traditions granted Poland's nobles rights and privileges unlike any other class, but these benefits we...
2019-12-09 05:59:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Our war is nearly over, but we still have some matters to discuss! Here we summarise what we’ve learned over the last few episodes, and pave the way for the narrative to come. There is much we still don’t know about warfare in the 17th century, simply because there is so darn ...
2019-12-02 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Hang in there Poland! Help is at hand! Our final in a trilogy which brings our story up to the end of the 17th century begins with a melancholy examination of the impact and devastation caused by the Deluge, but it concludes with a less doom-laden, though still bitter-sweet note. ...
2019-11-25 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
This is a tale of two sieges! We examine the siege of St Martins on the Isle of Re by the English, and the siege of Mantua by the Imperials and Spanish. These two sieges in the late 1620s were pivotal cases where the Thirty Years War hung in the balance. Unrelated though these the...
2019-11-18 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
As we bring the story up to 1699, this episode covers the point when arguably, everything changed for the Commonwealth. In the space of only a few years, beginning in 1648, Poland began to fracture amidst a Cossack revolt and a war on two fronts with Russia and Sweden. The Golden ...
2019-11-11 06:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
We've heard a great deal about how armies changed during the 17th century, and how their commanders adopted new tactics and reforms to increase their firepower and ferocity. BUT what about the states that commanded these armies? Here we look at a specific case study, Austria, to s...
2019-11-04 06:00:59 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS] In an unscripted romp through several issues, I say thanksss for joining me and for making October 2019 our most successful month yet! If you want to be a PhD Pal then you have only 24 HOURS left to get your name in the acknowledgements of our book, so don't delay! In other news, I expl...
2019-10-30 06:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
After examining how the Commonwealth came to be, in this new three-parter, we look at the story from 1573-1699, and investigate what happened to the Commonwealth in that time to leave it so weakened as it entered the 18th century. The answer revolves around its third post-Jagiello...
2019-10-28 06:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Breitenfeld. The most important battle of the Thirty Years War in my view, and the ideal but also terrifying testing ground for all of Gustavus' new reforms. Could the Swedish King leverage all his innovations in the infantry drill, in the use of artiller...
2019-10-21 05:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
The road to the Union of Lublin was not paved with romantic ideals of compromise and self sacrifice, but with vested self-interests of the Lithuanian and Polish nobility; with the ambitions of the nobility in the wild eastern lands, and with no small fear of Ivan the Terrible, who...
2019-10-14 05:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
At long last, our series on 17th century warfare smacks straight into the man many of you probably came all this way to see. What did Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden do to make his name in the military sphere? Did he really do all that is often assumed? Do we give me too much credit? ...
2019-10-07 05:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs we recently announced, Hardcore WDF is being brought to life in spring 2020, as per the rewards for the PhD Pal tier. We plan on releasing up to four large episodes a year, completely separate to our series on the Thirty Years War and Poland Is Not Yet Lost. By so doi...
2019-10-03 06:51:58 +0000 UTC View Post