History Cafe
True history storytelling at the History Café. Join BBC Historian Jon Rosebank & HBO, BBC & C4 script and series editor Penelope Middelboe as we give history a new take. Drop in to the History Café weekly on Wednesdays to give old stories a refreshing new brew. 90+ ever-green stand-alone episodes and building...
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- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 32 minutes
- Episodes
- 294
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
#66 The British who cheated on the Somme - Ep 6 Nightmare in the Trenches 1914-16
At the southern end of the line, next to the French, British units took all their objectives on the first day of the battle. They succeeded mainly because their maverick commanders had learnt from th…
00:41:33 |
Wed 09 Feb 2022
#65 Haig's war crime on The Somme - Ep 5 Nightmare in the trenches 1914-16
The French decided they only had enough artillery to attack on a 9-mile front if they were to neutralise the German guns so that their infantry were not needlessly slaughtered. Haig had fewer guns – …
00:42:22 |
Wed 02 Feb 2022
#64 They had the wrong guns - Ep 4 Nightmare in the trenches 1914-16
On the eve of the Somme the British had far too few artillery guns, and most of the ones they had were the wrong sort. They needed five times as many heavy guns before they could launch an attack. Th…
00:40:34 |
Tue 25 Jan 2022
#63 The generals never studied how to attack trenches - Ep 3 Nightmare in the trenches 1914-16
The British Army wanted to throw men against machines. Its generals had not thought about how to cross 100-200 yards of open space with wire entanglements. They had been offered plenty of designs for…
00:40:17 |
Wed 19 Jan 2022
#62 They refused to take orders - Ep 2 Nightmare in the trenches 1914-16
Unlike the Royal Navy, the British Army proved itself over the course of decades incapable of taking new ideas on board: trench warfare, the machine gun and the tank to name a few. And at the heart o…
00:37:42 |
Wed 12 Jan 2022
#61 They just pretended to shoot - Ep 1 Nightmare in the Trenches 1914-16
1 July 1916. Had British Corps commanders understood machine gun warfare they would not have sent British infantrymen across No Man’s Land unprotected from the German machine gun crews. In fact we ex…
00:40:06 |
Tue 04 Jan 2022
#32 The curious case of inventing Scottishness
Hogmanay Special.Synopsis: In 1983 Professor Hugh Trevor Roper wrote a famous paper that claimed that Scottishness had been invented. Actually, what the Professor meant by ‘Scottishness’ was mainly j…
00:35:36 |
Wed 29 Dec 2021
#23 the last million men? - Ep7 WW1: how much was it Britain’s fault?
Rereleasing series on why Britain went to war in 1914 ahead of new series in New Year on the Battle of the Somme 1916. On first day 57,000 casualties. We have a new story to tell.Synopsis: One day af…
00:36:33 |
Mon 27 Dec 2021
#22 The bullying of Edward Grey - Ep 6. WW1: how much was it Britain’s fault?
Rereleasing why we went to war in 1914, ahead of new series in New Year on The Battle of the Somme, 1916. Extraordinary stories to tell.Synopsis: A right-wing anti-German contingent call their campai…
00:30:13 |
Sun 26 Dec 2021
#21 8pm 1 August 1914 war in Belgium and France is off - Ep 5 WW1: how much was it Britain’s fault?
Rereleasing ahead of new series in New Year on The Battle of the Somme. New story to tell.Synopsis: 8pm German time the Kaiser orders champagne, halts the German advance towards Belgium, and sends a …
00:33:44 |
Thu 23 Dec 2021
#20 Hanging on Russia's apron strings - Ep 4 WW1: how much was it Britain’s fault?
Rerelease of this series, ahead of new series on The Battle of the Somme, 1916, to be released in the New Year. NEW story to tell.Synopsis:In 1912 a deal between War Secretary Haldane and the German …
00:22:49 |
Tue 21 Dec 2021
#19 Bicycling holidays along the French-Belgian border - Ep 3 WW1: how much was it Britain’s fault?
Rerelease ahead of new series on The Battle of the Somme 1 July 1916 after New Year. A new story to tell...Synopsis: How did what friendly chats between British and French generals since 1905 turn in…
00:29:06 |
Mon 20 Dec 2021
#18 ‘Spies of the Kaiser’ - Ep 2 WW1: how much was it Britain’s fault?
Rereleasing why we got into the First World War ahead of our new series on the Battle of the Somme to be released in New Year - losses on the first day 1 July 1916 were largest in British history. W…
00:26:06 |
Sun 19 Dec 2021
#17 The elephant in the room - Ep 1 WW1: how much was it Britain’s fault?
Rereleasing ahead of our New Year series on the Battle of the Somme, and for those whose podcast platforms don't show our playlists per series.Synopsis: Britain’s main problem by 1910 was Russian exp…
00:34:49 |
Thu 09 Dec 2021
#16 The men behind the myth - Ep 7 Why did Kennedy cause the Cuba Missile Crisis?
Rereleasing series with greatest international following: Final stand-alone epSynopsis: Within days of 28 October 1962 two journalists publish the official but untruthful White House account, as inst…
00:21:04 |
Mon 06 Dec 2021
#15 ‘The Fourteenth Day’ - Ep 6 Why did Kennedy cause the Cuba Missile Crisis?
Rereleasing series with greatest international following for those whose podcast platforms don't show playlists per seriesSynopsis: 28 October 1962: by holding his nerve Kennedy defuses the crisis in…
00:29:59 |
Sun 05 Dec 2021
#14 ‘Eyeball to eyeball’ - ep 5 Why did Kennedy cause the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Rereleasing our series with greatest international interest for those whose podcast platforms don't do playlists per seriesSynopsis: 22 October 1962: President Kennedy goes on prime-time TV and annou…
00:31:29 |
Fri 03 Dec 2021
#13 ‘Russian roulette’ - Ep 4 Why did Kennedy cause the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Rereleasing our series with the largest number of international fans, to help those whose podcast platforms don't provide playlists per series:Synopsis: 15 October 1962. Soviet nuclear missile sites …
00:23:49 |
Thu 02 Dec 2021
#12 ‘The only way to save Cuba’ - Ep 3 of Why did Kennedy cause the Cuba Missile Crisis?
Rereleasing our series with greatest international following for those whose podcast platforms don't do series playlists:Synopsis: The Cuban Missile Crisis begins not because Castro is a dangerous co…
00:22:06 |
Wed 01 Dec 2021
#11 Fidel Castro was not a communist - Ep 2 Why did Kennedy cause the Cuba Missile Crisis?
Rereleasing our series with the greatest international following for those whose podcast platforms don't enable playlists per series. Do contact us on @historycafepod if you are enjoying our broadcas…
00:28:31 |
Tue 30 Nov 2021
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