The 1916 Battle of the Somme caused a total of 1 million casualties on all sides. the total is over a million casualties. The Allies had gained very little ground. At the end of the battle, they had gained only 7 miles and were still about 3 miles...
Oct 27
Amazon Won’t Destroy Bookshops Because 600 Years of Disruptions Haven’t Either
In 1784, a young German immigrant named Bernard Quaritch walked into the London office of Henry George Bohn, one of the largest booksellers in England, and told him: "Mr Bohn, you are the first bookseller in England. I mean to become the first bookseller in Europe." Bohn hired hi ... Show More
46m 55s
Oct 22
The Ancient World's Best Military Technology Was Constantinople's City Walls
On May 29, 1453, Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II captured Constantinople, bringing an end to over a thousand years of Byzantine rule. The city's formidable walls, which had stood nearly impenetrable for eight centuries, finally fell to hisforces. With its conquest, Constantinople was de ... Show More
39m 36s
Nov 2021
The Last Battle of the First World War
November 11, 1918. At exactly 11 AM local time, the shooting stops. It’s eerily quiet for the first time in a long time. World War I has finally come to an end today after Germany and the Allied nations signed an armistice not long before. The final battle of the war, known today ... Show More
33m 7s
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 18s
Oct 2023
205 - Victory to Defeat: The British Army 1918-40
<p>As some of you may know, I am also a First World War historian, and the academic history of the war can be very different from the public perspective, which dwells on the first two years of the war. </p> <p>Forgetting the victories of 1917 and 1918 is not new; it is something ... Show More
56m 31s