History Of The Great War

The British drive towards Baghad, and fail, before the greatest British military humiliation happens at a town called Kut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the opening moves in the Middle East the Suez Canal would be under threat and British forces would land as Basra on the Persian Gulf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Middle East would be a sideshow for most of the war, but that doesn't mean it was important both during the war and afterwards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The attacks are over, but what happens now? And what happened throughout the entire year on the war's premiere front? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the failures of the French in Artois and Champagne, will the British do better at Loos? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The great fall offensives in Artois and Champagne are launched and the results are disappointing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the summer of 1915 came to an end the French and British planned to launch one more effort before winter set in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The biggest naval battle of 1915 happened in January when a fleet of battlecruisers from both sides met in the North Sea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1914 Vice Admiral Spee led his ships halfway around the world from China to South America, what happens when they get there? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NOTE: A previous version of this episode incorrectly stated that Easter Island was a British possession, which is incorrect. The audio has been updated to remove this inaccuracy. In 1914 Vice Admiral Spee led his ships halfway around the world from China to South America, what happens when they get there? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Italians race against the clock to break through the Austrian defenses as winter descends on the battlefield. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first attacks failed, but the Italians would try again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the planning and preparations out the way, the Italians begin their attacks on the Isonzo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Italians enter the war, this episode gives an overview of their military, their commander, and where they plan to fight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Russians are in retreat, the Germans in pursuit. The bloody summer in the east comes to an end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Russians hurting, the Germans launch an even larger set of offensives with the goal of pushing them out of Poland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The German's unleash their offensive at the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow, the Russians are left reeling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Germans on the defense in the West they gather their strength for a summer of attacks in the East. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we look at what it was like to live in the trenches, and what the battlefield looked like, in 1915. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Second Battle of Artois gets moving, will the French and British be successful in their attempt to punch through the lines? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the previous attacks winding down the British and French prepare to launch another attack on the Western front, on very familiar ground. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World War 1 would be the first war in which air combat played a significant role, the roots for that combat lay in the technological and strategic choices of 1915. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 9th the passenger ship Lusitania was hit by torpedos by a German U-Boat. 1,191 passengers would perish, including almost 200 American citizens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An overview of the economic situation in Austria-Hungary and Russia as they move into the second year of the war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Germans introduce a new weapon on the Western Front in the form of poison gas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The British attack at Neuve Chapelle and the French attack at St. Mihiel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The troops had also been on a hell of journey, but now they found themselves suck on the peninsula without any real hope of breaking out. Winter was coming down on them soon and while it was really hot in the summer it would also be really cold in the winter. So something had to be done and that something was evacuation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The summer breakout attempts from Helles had been unsuccessful with the three battle of Krithia ending in failure for the British. The troops at ANZAC hadn't been idle during this time, but the primary point of effort had been elsewhere, but that was about to change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week we covered the landings on the five beaches on the tip of the peninsula at Capre Helles so all of the troops are shore. The ANZAC troops from Australia and New Zealand now find themselves in the shallow beachhead at Anzac Cove. The 29th Division and the Royal Naval Division are ensconced in the trenches not too far from their landing beaches at Helles. None of the landings had really achieved their goals so they now had to launch more attacks to try and get further inland. Today we will discuss these attacks that began shortly after the landings and went all through the summer. But first we talk about the fighting conditions that the troops had to endure while they were living and fighting on the peninsula. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While other troops are landing elsewhere the primary point of effort was at Cape Helles by the men of the British 29th division. They would land on 5 beaches scattered around the end of the Gallipoli peninsula early in the morning of April 25th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first day of landings on the Gallipoli peninsula. The soldiers of the ANZAC have their date with destiny at what will come to be called ANZAC Cove. The French land on the Asiatic shore, and the RND just sort of wanders around. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Allied ships enter the Dardanelles for their final, and largest attack. We then dig into what British plan to do after it fails. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode will be the first of what I believe to be five episodes on the Dardanelles slash Gallipoli campaign and today we will look at the events leading up to the first shot being fired by Royal Navy battleships off the coast of the Dardanelles before moving into the events of February and March 1915 that saw the Royal Navy, with some French help, try to force the straits using nothing but ship and shell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the entry of the Ottoman empire into the war fighting quickly begins in the Caucasus Mountains as both Russia and Ottoman troops attack each other in turn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There were a group of countries that would enter the war after August 1914, in this episodes we look at each of them in turn to find out why the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Romania, and Italy would enter the war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Prussia and Poland Germany is again on the attack first at the Vistula River, where poison gas makes its first appearance of the war and then in Prussia at the Second Battle of the Masuria Lakes. As winter turns into spring the Russians make one more attempt to break through the Carpathian mountain passes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the year turns on the eastern front the fighting continues in the winter conditions of central Poland and the Carpathian mountains. It is cold, it is snowing, but the fight goes o Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is our second episode covering the events of 1915 so we will of course spend most of the episode talking about what the French did in the last few weeks of 1914. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new year dawns on the war, what are they going to do now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the war raging for months the men in the trenches take a moment around the holidays to stop trying to kill each other and instead celebrate the Christian holidays in style. Ceasefires, truces, and fraternization abound in No Man's Land for at least a few days. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Race to the Sea would reach its conclusion at the small Belgian town of Ypres. Ypres would become one of the bloodiest areas for the British and Germans over the 4 years of the war but in 1914 it was just a Belgian town where they met on the road north from the Aisne to the sea. The British Army, with their French allies, would march into Ypres where they would be tested almost to their breaking point. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After last week's introduction to the Naval situation in 1914 this week we look at the composition of the British and German Navies. Then we will delve into how the two nations planned to use their very expensive ships. Finally, we will follow them as we discover what they actually did in 1914. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the years leading up to the war the Germans invested heavily in their navy. In this episode we look at what caused them to do this and how the British felt about it. Then we will check out the naval technology that these nations were using in 1914 and how it had changed so drastically in the years leading up to the war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode jumps all around the world as we check back in with the Eastern Front as the German and Russian armies meet at the Battle of the Vistula River. We then begin our world wide tour with a look at how the colonies of Britain, France, and Germany were taking part in the war. We end this week by finding out how exactly a division of British troops from the Royal Navy ended up alongside the Belgians in Antwerp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Germans were stopped at the Marne but they have had time to regroup on the banks of the Aisne. The French and British attack to try to drive them out of France. In the aftermath the race to the sea begins as each army continues to leapfrog to the north in an attempt to outflank their opponent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Germans retreating in the west we turn our attention back to the east. We first check in on Serbia to see how the tiny nation in the Balkans is doing against its neighbor to the north Austria-Hungary. Then we look at the second battle in east Prussia when the Germans confront the Russians at the First Battle of the Masurian lakes. Finally, we reflect on the first month of hostilities in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The German Army was marching through northern France while the British and French retreated before them. For over a week they had been trying to stay ahead of the German steamroller. They would turn to fight at the Battle of the Marne, a battle that some would later call a miracle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While battles raged in Western Europe the Russian army was advancing into East Prussia, the heartland of the German army. Most of the German army was in the West and they were put in a situation where they were drastically outnumbered. How then, did the German army manage to inflict one of the most crushing defeats of the war on the Russian army? In the south the Austrians move over to the attack, running smack into the Russians in Galicia. It doesn't go so well for them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The British came to France to help their allies against the German invasion. After landing at the channel ports they march to Mons in Belgium where they will get their first taste of combat. The little British force, given the uninspiring name of British Expeditionary Force, is about to run into the full force of the German First Army. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Germans marching through Belgium the French begin their series of attacks that they think will end the war quickly. From Lorraine in the South, to the Ardennes Forest, to Belgium in the north the French ready three hammer blows against the Germans. Unfortunately the results do not live up to expectations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices