So no, I didn't die or anything. And better yet, I'm back! First, a bit of catchup. Support the show

Happy (late...) Halloween! Sources: Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918, Second Edition. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Keegan, John. The First World War. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Marshall, Samuel Lyman Atwood. World War I. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Banta...

The climactic showdown of the First Battle of the Marne now comes to a decisive, bloody end. Please feel free to visit our sponsor, the WYLD Gallery! IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODE Sources: Churchill, Winston. The World Crisis: Vol. I. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1923. Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918, Second Edition. London: Blo...

“Now, as the battle is joined on which the safety of the country depends, everyone must be reminded that this is no longer the time for looking back. Every effort must be made to attack and throw back the enemy. A unit which finds it impossible to advance must, regardless of the cost, hold its ground and be killed on the spot rather than fall back. In the present circumstances no failure will be tolerated.” Sources: Brose, Eric Dorn. A History of the Great War: World War One and the In...

We return to the narrative on the Western Front, to see how the French and British will plan their last desperate attempt to halt the German advance on Paris at the beginning of September, 1914. IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODE Sources: Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Keegan, John. The First World War. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Bantam D...

This episode concludes our two week digression from the narrative. In it, we discuss some basic, fundamental military concepts and theories that have existed and been refined for millennia. NEW PAGE ON THE WEBSITE Sources Clausewitz, Carl von. On War (Third Edition). London: N. Trübner & Co., 1873. Councell, Clara E. War and Infectious Disease. Public Health Reports Vol. 56, No. 12, March 21, 1941. Dodge, Ayrault Theodore. Alexander: A History of the Origin and Growth of the Art of War....

Instead of plowing ahead with the narrative, for the next couple weeks we're going to pull back and examine some fundamental concepts of military organization and practice. In this episode, we examine the unit structure and rank hierarchy of the Armies of the First World War. NEW PAGE ON WEBSITE Sources Steuben, Baron von. Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States. Boston: Thomas and Andrews, 1792. Boff, Jonathan. Military Structures and Ranks. British Muse...

In the course of less than a week, the Russians went from looking like they could take Berlin at their leisure to having half their invasion wiped out, with the other half falling back in panic. Now Hindenburg and Ludendorff turn their army against the Russian forces still in German territory to kick them out once and for all. IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODE Sources: Buttar, Pritt. Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914. Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 2014. Gozdawa Turczynowicz,...

Today we discuss one of the most pivotal battles of the First World War: the Battle of Tannenberg, as well as explore the personalities of and relationship between the rising team of Hindenburg and Ludendorff. IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODE Sources: Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Bantam Dell, 2006. Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August. New York...

Today, we watch as the Russian and German Armies on the Eastern Front begin to dance around one another in 1914, upon a land that had seen wars between these two peoples for centuries, in anticipation for the great climactic showdown that may very well determine the fate of the entire war. IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODE Sources: Cartwright, Mark. Northern Crusades. https://www.ancient.eu/Northern_Crusades/ Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford Unive...

Today we take a look at the men who will lead the Russian Army at the outbreak of the First World War, as well as the Czar to whom they owed their allegiance. Long story short...they're not exactly the best and the brightest. Sources: Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Bantam Dell, 2006. Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August. New York: The Random...

Welcome back! Today we watch the Allied Armies stumble back from their defeats of August, 1914, as they try to figure out how in the hell they can turn back the German advance on Paris. Sources: Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Bantam Dell, 2006. Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 1962. Horne, Jo...

Listen as today the Germans march through Belgium, making...rather a mess of things for the civilians, while the British try to stop them. MAP FOR TODAY'S EPISODE Sources: Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Bantam Dell, 2006. Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 1962. Davis, Richard Harding. With th...

As the war breaks out in earnest along the Western Front, French generals will be taught a bitter lesson about modern combat, paid for with the lives of thousands of their men. IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODE. Sources: Doughty, Robert. Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2009. Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great...

A group of chocolate soldiers decide to humble the mighty German Army. IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODE Sources: Doughty, Robert. Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2009. Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Horne, Charles F. Source Records of the Great War. Boston: Stuart-Copley Press, 1923. Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New Y...

Boy, Europe sure had a lot of enormous armies in 1914, didn't they? IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODE Sources: Davis, Tenney L. The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives. Boston: MIT Press, 1941. Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Nosworthy, Brent The Battle Tactics of Napoleon and his Enemies. London: Constable, 1997. Westwell, Ian. An Illustrated History of the Weapons of World War One. Leicestershire: Anness Publishing, 2011....

Damned are the peacemakers; for they shall doom the world to Armageddon. Sources: Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 1962. Gordon, Hal. The Fallen Monarch: Remembering Tsar Nicholas II. Highbrow Magazine, 2017. https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7472-fallen-monarch-remembering-tsar-nicholas-ii Manning, Scott. The Treaty of London, 1839: The Complete Text. https://scottmanning.com/content/treaty-of-london-1839/ Schlieffen, Alfred von. The Schlieff...

"The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." Portraits of the Players in the July Crisis. Sources: Clark, Christopher. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. New York: Harper Collins, 2012. Fischer, Fritz. Germany’s Aims in the First World War. English Translation: London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1967 (originally published in German, 1961). Grey, Sir Edward. Twenty-Five Years: 1892-1916, Vol. 1. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1925....

Boy, I sure do hope Austria-Hungary doesn't use the murder of their prince and princess to do something ridiculously aggressive and provocative. Sources: Clark, Christopher. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. New York: Harper Collins, 2012. Fischer, Fritz. Germany’s Aims in the First World War. English Translation: London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1967 (originally published in German, 1961). Keiger, J.F.V. Raymond Poincaré.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Macmill...

The heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary has been murdered. I sure do hope that nobody in Vienna or Berlin overreacts to this. Sources: Clark, Christopher. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. New York: Harper Collins, 2012. Fischer, Fritz. Germany’s Aims in the First World War. English Translation: London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1967 (originally published in German, 1961). Macmillan, Margaret. The War that Ended Peace. New York: Random House, 2013. Neiberg, Michael. Dance ...