logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2020
50m 23s

World War 1 Trenches Were A Labyrinth of...

History Unplugged
About this episode
“Rats came up from the canal, fed on the plentiful corpses, and multiplied exceedingly. A new officer joined the company and...when he turned in that night he heard a scuffling, shone his torch on the bed, and found two rats on his blanket tussling... 
Up next
Sep 10
Do Napoleons or Hitlers Really Matter? Whether Leaders Make History or Their Societies Make Them
On March 13, 1930, Adolf Hitler was sitting in the passenger seat of his chauffeur-driven car when a trailer truck sped through an intersection and struck the vehicle, pushing it across the road and stopping just short of crushing it. Everyone survived. Three years later, Hitler ... Show More
44m 16s
Sep 8
Washington’s Most Revolutionary Moment Was Surrendering Absolute Power
Washington’s most extraordinary achievement was not winning the Revolutionary War or helping found a new nation. It was something far rarer: He gave up power, twice. First, when he resigned his command after victory. Then again, when he stepped down as president, establishing a p ... Show More
54m 12s
Sep 3
Japan's Military Refused to Surrender Even After Two Atomic Bombs and a Coup Nearly Succeeded
At 1:15 p.m. on April 12, 1945, Franklin Roosevelt was sitting for a portrait at his cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia, when his face suddenly fell forward. He raised his left hand to his temple and whispered to his cousin Daisy: "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head." He ... Show More
45m 32s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2014
France: Heroism
Life in the trenches during World War One, amongst rats, mud, shelling, barbed wire and unprecedented numbers of dead, called upon new reserves of both endurance and courage. But what did the war do to the ancient idea of heroism? 
49m 59s
Sep 2025
War During Winter is a Horrible Thing...
On the Eastern Front of World War I, German and Russian soldiers were locked in a desperate stalemate against each other and one of the most brutal winters in a century. But as the conflict decimated their enemies, ravenous wolf packs began to stalk the battlefield, seeing the tr ... Show More
32m 37s
Apr 2023
Life in the trenches: everything you wanted to know
What was it really like to live and fight in WW1 trench? Why was throwing your empty food tins into No Man’s Land a death sentence? And what was the worst care package a Tommy could receive from home? Speaking with Emily Briffett, Peter Hart answers listener questions on life in ... Show More
58m 47s
Dec 2024
Surviving the Great War: Medics in the Trenches
<p>Warning: this episode contains graphic details of injuries.</p><br><p>The brutal nature of the First World War presented frontline medical personnel with an array of horrific and debilitating wounds, inflicted on a previously unimaginable scale. From gas attacks and bayonet wo ... Show More
25m 39s
Mar 2024
USA: We Have Ways - Fear and Loathing on the Frontline
One of the most gruelling and horrifying roles in all military history was being a grunt during the Second World War. It was so terrifying, that at least 1/5 of all soldiers admitted to losing control of their bowels on the front line. Al Murray, James Holland and John McManus di ... Show More
55m 21s
Oct 2025
The Devil's Food
The rules of engagement are clear when facing another army, but they are useless against a more primal foe. From the African plains to the mangrove swamps of Burma, soldiers discovered that the greatest danger wasn't the enemy in the opposite trench, but the man-eaters that saw b ... Show More
35m 31s
Dec 2024
Alex Mayhew, "Making Sense of the Great War: Crisis, Englishness, and Morale on the Western Front" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
The First World War was an unprecedented crisis, with communities and societies enduring the unimaginable hardships of a prolonged conflict on an industrial scale. In Belgium and France, the terrible capacity of modern weaponry destroyed the natural world and exposed previously he ... Show More
57m 32s
Dec 2014
The Great War Diaries
How ordinary people – soldiers, mothers, nurses, even children – experienced World War One and the little-known human side of the world's first truly global conflict. With stories of love, loss, hope and fervour. 
50m 2s
Feb 2022
Did Soldiers in World War I Really Team Up to Fight Wolves?
<p>World War I was a bloody, terrifying conflict for everyone involved -- and not just humans. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max accidentally run into deep emotions, going one hundred percent Team Wolf as they explore the ecological consequences of massive human conflict. Ben ... Show More
43m 22s
Apr 2015
Britain: The Psychology of War
What drove men to volunteer to fight during World War One? What drove them to the edge of sanity when they got there? 
50m 5s