[PATRONS]
In this penultimate episode of our series, we learn how the Earl of Aberdeen managed to cajole, manipulate, persuade and basically leverage every trick in the book to convince Britons and his peers that national honour was not at stake in Oregon, and thus, not worth war with Ameri...
2023-04-17 05:02:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
The Battle of Jankau in 1645, followed by Allerheim later in the year, confirmed that the Emperor could expect few miracles from the battlefield. Bavaria seemed teetering on the edge, making secret moves towards the French, while the Spanish buckled, and the Swedes rampaged throug...
2023-04-05 15:46:39 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
By the end of 1845, Foreign Secretary the Earl of Aberdeen felt he had little left to lose. The Tory government under Sir Robert Peel looked destined to divide over the Corn Laws, imbuing Aberdeen with a certain sense of fatalism. He would solve the Oregon question, with or withou...
2023-04-03 05:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Super juicy diplomacy time has arrived, as we draw from a range of sources to depict the sense of distrust between the British, American, and French camps, twinned with a sense of looming despair over a war which no power seemed able to prevent. In addition, a stunning Anglo-Frenc...
2023-03-20 20:06:33 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
The wide range of interests and powers that gathered at the two Westphalian cities each tell a fascinating story. Whether it was the two French agents that loathed one another; the Dutch tradition of representing each of the seven provinces; Swedish desires to legalise its control...
2023-03-15 13:17:32 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
With the Maine boundary resolved, the final issue of note between the US and UK by 1844 was that of Oregon. Its status had been unusual and contested from the beginning, but with a new President on the scene, refusing to honour old bargains and urging total control of the territor...
2023-03-13 17:43:19 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
After a few weeks patting themselves on the back, Sir Robert Peel's government soon came to realise that the Webster-Ashburton Treaty wasn't all they had hoped for. Worse, Palmerston's warnings seemed justified, as the United States became more confrontational, particularly over t...
2023-03-06 11:22:27 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
After so long dancing around the issue, here we finally look at the moment when the Westphalian towns of Osnabruck and Munster hosted delegates from all across Europe and the Empire. Why were the French so eager to arrive with an enormous entourage? How did the delegates get their...
2023-03-01 18:07:18 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Herein we examine the months of autumn 1842, where reaction to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty varied and changed as the year progressed. Were the agreements made with Washington the beginning of something special in Anglo-American relations, or did they represent concessions, and th...
2023-02-27 23:39:53 +0000 UTC View Post
The journey to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty was long and painful, but the Earl of Aberdeen would have to persevere if the improvement in Anglo-American relations - and the boost in trade - was to be grasped. The Americans protested over Right of Search, a bugbear to US national honour, and a hint...
2023-02-18 18:49:54 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Yes, I do still exist!
In this episode we examine how the French coped with the sudden absence of Sweden, which had turned its attention to the Danes. France had to contend with several fronts, particularly along the Rhine, in the Netherlands, and in Catalonia, but Swe...
2023-02-18 18:39:46 +0000 UTC View Post
In this latest installment, we see how Alexander McLeod's fate was finally sealed. Did he serve as the cause of an Anglo-American War? SPOILER - not quite, but he did compel the new Conservative government under Sir Robert Peel to send out a diplomatic mission to Washington. For the first time in...
2023-02-10 15:19:10 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
By late 1643, one could be forgiven for expecting Lennart Torstennson, the Swedish commander in Germany, to take stock of his situation and plan for a new campaign in the new year. But such plans were placed on hold, because a letter from the Swedish Chancellor directed him toward...
2023-01-31 22:55:48 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Thanksss so much for supporting WDF!
By spring 1841, Palmerston was running out of patience. New York remained entirely uncooperative, and Washington refused to intervene in Alexander McLeod's predicament. Unwilling to understand or accept the constitutional complexiti...
2023-01-29 17:51:45 +0000 UTC View Post[PATRONS]
It's about time I dropped my research on you guys, so in this episode we'll be plumbing the depths of something I've mentioned many times, but rarely taken the time to define or explain properly - national honour. What was it, where did it come from, what role did it play in mid-V...
2023-01-25 12:51:53 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Just when you thought it was safe to step outside of Lockport jail, a New York mob trains a cannon on your cell! This was the situation facing Alexander McLeod in late 1840. McLeod had been deemed the scapegoat by an enraged New York populace, who were convinced he was responsible...
2023-01-20 19:08:49 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Oh boy, it's finally time! Now you get to see what I've been working on over the Christmas break, an extremely chunky and detailed twelve part series examining Anglo-American relations from 1838-1846. Expect fractious diplomacy, war scares, major tensions, close calls and settleme...
2023-01-14 21:33:37 +0000 UTC View Post[PATRONS]
The Battle of Rocroi was a signal French triumph, but it did not transform the face of the war, either in the Netherlands or in Europe. A Bavarian victory later in the year at Tutlingen made 1643 a year of ups and owns, but of far greater consequence than who won, was who left the...
2023-01-11 20:22:30 +0000 UTC View Post[PATRONS]
1641 was the year when Lennart Torstensson was finally appointed commander of Sweden's mostly German army. Having hunkered down for many years in the north of the country, Torstensson understood that Sweden had to strike hard against the Imperials if anything was to change. Posses...
2022-12-18 20:16:44 +0000 UTC View Post[PATRONS]
By 1640, two rebellions shook Madrid to its core, and had a dramatic knock on effect on Spain's ability to support its Habsburg cousins in Vienna. In summer, Catalonia erupted in revolt after years of provocations and intransigence. When Portuguese soldiers were sent to quell the ...
2022-11-30 17:38:51 +0000 UTC View Post[PATRONS]
In this episode I'm joined for a great conversation about Frederick the Great's 1740 invasion of Silesia, by a guy who knows a whole lot about it - Alec Avdakov from the Life and Times of Frederick the Great Podcast! Listen in and make sure you find Alec's show by clickin...
2022-11-19 17:41:21 +0000 UTC View Post[PATRONS]
By 1640, both the Habsburgs and their foes had reached something of a crisis. There were opportunities to be had, if a new campaign could be pursued, but where to find the money, and how to support the soldiers in lands no longer suitable for massive armies? As they sized each oth...
2022-11-09 20:55:56 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRON]
War is hell, as the saying goes, but just how bad was the war by the late 1630s, after two decades of fighting? As we learn here, the worst aspects of the conflict didn't come from the deaths in battle, but what went along with the battle - armies that marched over aching, increasi...
2022-10-26 18:17:52 +0000 UTC View Post
King Philip IV of Spain and King Charles of Britain had a surprising amount in common by the late 1630s. Both were presiding over a deteriorating situation domestically and abroad, and during the Battle of the Downs in October 1639, both came off worse than before.
For Charles, the pr...
2022-10-12 16:30:13 +0000 UTC View Post[PATRONS]
When will I be finished the PhD? What series do I have planned to follow the Thirty Years War series? What will patrons get next? Will we ever see a second Delegation Game? all of these are pressing questions, and if you'd like the answer to these and so many more, please listen i...
2022-10-06 18:28:21 +0000 UTC View Post[PATRONS]
After ten years of podding, we've seen a wide range of fascinating guests brave enough to nerd out with yours truly, but who is my favourite? Find out here, in this long-delayed episode, to see if your fave made the cut, and don't forget to track them down in our large back catalo...
2022-10-06 18:12:47 +0000 UTC View Post[PATRONS]
The war which began in the Habsburg humiliation at Prague had arguably crystallized by the late 1630s, and thus begins perhaps my favourite period of the conflict! We now have battles raging in Northern Germany, where Johan Baner's Swedish-German force faced down Matthias Gallas' ...
2022-09-22 21:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Having looked at Sweden's failed plans for Poland, and then at Richelieu's ultimate survival, we return here to the Swedish theatre - this time, the pressure is all on the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, who somehow had to turn everything around, and keep Sweden's war in Germany going. ...
2022-08-19 19:58:11 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
After so many years of cold war, finally, by 1635, France and Spain were destined to face each other in the battle - and what a battle it was! As defensive and offensive plans collided, and each side verged from crisis to stability and back to crisis again, the world shivered with...
2022-08-04 16:08:00 +0000 UTC View Post