Historyzine’s retelling of The War of the Spanish Succession now reaches the year 1708 and the Battle of Oudenarde. The Duke of Burgundy and the Marshall Vendome make initial gains in the Spanish Netherlands moving swiftly to take control of the fortress cities of Ghent and Bruges. Looking to strengthen their supply routes back toward France they move toward Oudenarde.

The allies move fast and manage to surprise the French army just to the North of the city.

The troops engage but it’s all a bit hesitant until Rantzau launches his cavalry, slamming into the unprepared left flank of the French army. More and more troops are fed into the fray and the battle front extends further and further and further with both sides continually threaten to flank the other. The allied troops are moving on to the battlefield from the bridges at Eename but also General Overkirk is advancing through Oudenarde itself with 25,000 troops. He will take these troops around the back of the French battle line and then, hopefully take them by surprise. By 10 o clock at night the French find themselves almost completely encircled.

So, that’s the special feature section – The War of the Spanish Succession.

In the magazine portion of the show we look at the word ‘ye’.

I interview the military history author, James Falkner

and there is a review of the podcast, A History of Rome.

The music you hear in this podcast is by Gustav Holst and you’ll be able to download it from the website http://musopen.com/

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.

Also I wish to draw your attention to the twitter feed we’ve started for the Historyzine History podcast.

You’ll find Historyzine twittering away at http://twitter.com/Historyzine .

I hope you enjoy the podcast. Press the play button below to listen or subscribe (it’s completely free) using one of the two buttons at the top of this post. One will link you to your Itunes program and the other will give you an rss link for your podcast feed aggregator. Happy listening.

Historyzine now moves into the year 1707 in the saga of the War of the Spanish Succession. This year the allies are looking to attack Toulon and hopefully make more gains in the Spanish Netherlands. The Duke of Marlborough has an army of 80,000 in the Low countries facing off against Villars who has 100,000 under his control. Prince Eugene leads an army of 35,000 against Toulon and the Earl Galway is left with only 15,500 in Spain which he uses to bring the Duke of Berwick to battle at Almanza.

Galway, of course, is on to a loser and is soundly beaten by the French in a terrible setback for the allies in Spain. They fair little better at Toulon and after an abortive siege there, they retreat back to Italy. The Admiral supporting this endeavour is Sir Cloudesley Shovel and he returns home only to be shipwrecked in one of the worst naval disasters ever recorded, off the Scilly Isles, only a few miles from port It’s a poor year for the Anglo/Dutch/English and Portuguese alliance and all around they are beset by failure and disaster.

In the magazine portion of the show the Linguistic History Trivia Bit, looks at the words Avatar, Thug and Blighty. As the more perceptive among you will note, all these words have an Indian origin. The Indian theme grows out of one of the History podcast reviews which is of the UCLA series on British India.You’ll find this series at  the UCLA Office of Instructional Development. The other podcast review this time is the series, Stuff you Missed in History Class.

There’s a couple of announcements in the show. I exhort you to visit my online shop at http://historyshopper.com. to take a look at my history themed birthday cards and also to come along to the Marlborough Study Day on march 13th at the Assembly House in Norwich . This will feature the military history writers, James Falkner and Richard Holmes and it’s a Battlefields Trust Event . Tickets are only 15 pounds, with part of the proceeds going to Help for Heroes . Here is the note which appeared in the Early 18th Century Wars mailing list

We have Richard Holmes and James Falkner speaking at Norwich on Marlborough and his battles on Saturday March 13th at 14:00 at The Assembly House.

Tickets available from 20 Rowington Road, Norwich. NR1 3RR.

Please make cheques available to the Battlefields Trust.

The intro music for this episode is Die Valkure Fantasie, composed by Richard Wagner.

Some of the sources I use for this podcast can be found at My Amazon UK Affiliate page
or my United States of America Affiliate page . There are lots of very useful books there if you want to know more about the War of the Spanish Succession and if you decide to buy any of them then using the links from the pages of Historyzine will send a tiny fraction of money my way which will help offset some of the costs of the podcast.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.
Also I wish to draw your attention to the twitter feed we’ve started for the Historyzine History podcast.
You’ll find Historyzine twittering away at http://twitter.com/Historyzine .
I hope you enjoy the podcast. Press the play button below to listen or subscribe (it’s completely free) using one of the two buttons at the top of this post. One will link you to your Itunes program and the other will give you an rss link for your podcast feed aggregator. Happy listening.

Historyzine 17 features 1706 and the Aftermath of Battle of Ramilies as well as the relief of Turin in our War of the Spanish Succession section. In the linguistic history trivia bit we’ll be looking at a couple of printing terms which have morphed into regularly used modern day phrases. The phrases I’ll be focussing upon are, uppercase and lowercase as well as getting ahold of the wrong end of the stick. They’re a fascinating couple of phrases and I very much enjoyed researching their provenance.

Composing Stick

We have a short interview with Richard Saunders from Historypress who talks a little about the most popular of the history books at the History Press and tells us a little about the commissioning and submission procedures at the History Press.
The are two history podcast reviews this time. We’ll be turning the spotlight on Living History, a podcast for reenactors and the new BBC/British Museum podcast, A History of the World in 100 objects. These are both fascinating podcasts for very different reasons.
There’s some feedback from Portugal and also the announcement of my new online shop for history nerds which you’ll find at http://historyshopper.com/
The War of the Spanish Succession takes up a goodly portion of the show this time. We looked at the battle of Ramilies in the last episode and now we move on to see if the allied army can take advantage of the situation. However, things still look bleak for the allies in Italy. Turin is under siege and may fall all too soon. Prince Eugene after his defeat at Calcinato is rushing to relieve the city but his forces are barely adequate.
This is quite a long episode at just over an hour so I’ll give you some timings in case you wish to skip about in the podcast.
0.00 to 0.32 Intro Music
0.32 to 6.18 Intro and feedback
6.18 to 12.23 Review of the Living History Podcast
12.23 to 16.00 Review of A History of the World in 100 Objects
16.00 to 21.03 Linguistic History Trivia Bit
21.03 to 23.47 Interview with Richard Saunders from Historypress
23.47 to 25.27 Announcement of HistoryShopper shop for history nerds: This shop is selling History themed birthday cards at the moment and can be found athistoryshopper.com/
25.27 to 1.01.16 War of the Spanish Succession
1.01.16 to 1.02.03 Outro Music.

The intro music for this episode is The Brandenburg Concerto 6 by Johann Sebastian Bach and the outro music is also by Bach and is Air on the G String.

Some of the sources I use for this podcast can be found at My Amazon UK Affiliate page
or my United States of America Affiliate page . There are lots of very useful books there if you want to know more about the War of the Spanish Succession and if you decide to buy any of them then using the links from the pages of Historyzine will send a tiny fraction of money my way which will help offset some of the costs of the podcast.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.
Also I wish to draw your attention to the twitter feed we’ve started for the Historyzine History podcast.
You’ll find Historyzine twittering away at http://twitter.com/Historyzine .
I hope you enjoy the podcast. Press the play button below to listen or subscribe (it’s completely free) using one of the two buttons at the top of this post. One will link you to your Itunes program and the other will give you an rss link for your podcast feed aggregator. Happy listening.

This is Historyzine, Episode 16 featuring 1706 and the War of the Spanish Succession. In Spain, Lord Peterborough and the Archduke Charles are busily not speaking to each other when perhaps they should be putting Charles on the throne and consolidating their power. In Flanders in this same year the Duke of Marlborough is leading his troops up against the French at the Battle of Ramillies. This is a particularly fascinating battle as it is a very clear demonstration of military distraction technique. This battlefield definitely dictates the strategy for the battle with only one section of it available for cavalry action but Marlborough manages to convince Villeroi that he’s going to do something else entirely. Villeroi falls for this feint and the rest is history.

As you can see from this map, the only clear country in which you can properly engage your cavalry is that section inbetween Overkirk’s troops and the Maison Du Roi.

The Linguistic History Trivia Bit for this episode covers the phrase, ‘Nose to the Grindstone’ as shown in this jolly picture. The podcast review for this time is Lars Brownworth’s delightful new podcast, The Norman Centuries. I don’t think I’m giving much away when I say I very much enjoy this podcast and await, with delight, each new episode.

Some of the sources I use for this podcast can be found at My Amazon UK Affiliate page

or my United States of America Affiliate page . There are lots of very useful books there if you want to know more about the War of the Spanish Succession and if you decide to buy any of them then using the links from the pages of Historyzine will send a tiny fraction of money my way which will help offset some of the costs of the podcast.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.

Also I wish to draw your attention to the new twitter feed we’ve started for the Historyzine History podcast.

You’ll find Historyzine twittering away at http://twitter.com/Historyzine .

I hope you enjoy the podcast. Press the play button below to listen or subscribe (it’s completely free) using one of the two buttons at the top of this post. One will link you to your Itunes program and the other will give you an rss link for your podcast feed aggregator. Happy listening.

Historyzine follows the Duke of Marlborough as he conducts an epic journey of almost 2000 miles by carriage and barge during the fierce winter months in order to soothe and cajole the various allies.
The Duke visits the Elector Palatine, The Margrave of Baden, the King of Prussia and the Electoral Prince of Hanover and then returns to the Hague in the Netherlands to sort out the paperwork for the forthcoming campaign. This isn’t the most dashing and exciting of the stories surrounding the Duke and the War of the Spanish Succession but it is, I feel, a fascinating insight into the multiplicity of roles the Duke of Marlborough was expected to fulfil. Here’s a map of Europe and I’ve drawn a little red line showing aproximately the route he’s taken. click to enlarge
We also take a brief look at the gains made by the Austro/Dutch/English alliance in Spain and the dashing but frustrating Earl of Peterborough. In this episode Historyzine also reviews the book, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscales

and the podcast, ‘The Jefferson Hour’ which can be found at www.jeffersonhour.org

If you wish to leave feedback on the podcast then do so through the site http://historyzine.com/ or use the contact page to send a form email http://historyzine.com/contact/

Exploring the phrase – Fork it over. Is it a man with a pitchfork handing over his produce to the landlord or is it a pickpocket thing?

A review of ‘In Our Time’. The BBC radio 4 series ‘In Our Time’ is placed under the Historyzine microscope.

The War of the Spanish Succession, 1705 – Forcing the Lines of Brabant.
The Duke of Marlborough after his successes in Bavaria in 1704 is gathering his forces for a push up the Moselle into France. The allies from Baden, Hanover and Austria are not ready for the start of the campaign so the plans are thrown into disarray. The French generals Villars and Villeroi lead Marlborough a merry dance as they make the most of their advantage.
Then Marlborough formulates a plan to attack the Lines of Brabant feinting toward the weakest part of the lines and then changing direction under cover of darkness to attack the lines at their strongest point. The plan works brilliantly. The lines are dismantled and the forces of England, the Netherlands and Austria once more hold the upper hand against those of France, Spain and Bavaria.

Some of the sources I use for this podcast can be found at My Amazon UK Affiliate page
or my United States of America Affiliate page . There are lots of very useful books there if you want to know more about the War of the Spanish Succession and if you decide to buy any of them then using the links from the pages of Historyzine will send a tiny fraction of money my way which will help offset some of the costs of the podcast.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.

Blenheim Palace

The linguistic history trivia bit in this episode is a look at the word Macaroni and what it meant when bandied around in the coffee houses of 18th century London. It’s a fun word describing quite a bizarre fashion set. You’ll find out more by listening to the podcast either by clicking on the play link at the end of this post or downloading and playing it in Itunes.

As promised in the podcast, here is the link to the program, levelator.

Some of the sources I use for this podcast can be found at Amazon.co.uk in the UK
or at Amazon.com in the United States. There are lots of very useful books there if you want to know more about the War of the Spanish Succession and if you decide to buy any of them then using the links from the pages of Historyzine will send a tiny fraction of money my way which will help offset some of the costs of the podcast.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.

In Historyzine 12 our main feature is 1704 and the battle of Blenheim. John Churchill (Duke of Marlborough) is rampaging around Bavaria with the Dutch, Hesse, Austrian, Hanoverian and English troops. Gathering against him under the command of Marshall Tallard, Marshall Marsin and the Elector of Bavaria are the troops of France and Bavaria accompanied by various mercenaries.

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria.

Despite his careful planning Marlborough finds no siege train waiting for him in Germany. The food he requested is not there and various troops have been diverted into Italy and Hungary. Undaunted the Duke and the Prince (Prince Eugene of Savoy) bring the Franco Bavarian forces to battle at Blenheim. In this history podcast I describe the battle of Blenheim and try to show how the various general’s decisions made the difference on that fateful day.

Salamander Cutts

1st Baron Lord Cutts was nicknamed Salamander due to his penchant for always being where the fire was hottest. He was referred to by the Satirist Jonathan Swift as being as ‘brave and brainless as the sword by his side.’ Cutts lead Marborough’s left wing attack upon the village of Blenheim.

In the more general section of this podcast we look at the word Jacobean and attempt to straighten out a few myths regarding the Jacobite cause.
The history podcast review this time concerns the Stanford University series of lectures on Hannibal.
Some of the sources I use for this podcast can be found at Amazon.co.uk in the UK
or at Amazon.com in the United States.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.

The 2nd special episode from the reenactment weekend of 12th, 13th of July 2008 in the town of Oudenaarde in Belgium.
This was the 300th anniversary of the battle of Oudenaarde in which the forces of the Anglo Dutch Austro German alliance managed to achieve a convincing victory over Louis XIV and the forces of the French and Spanish crowns.
We interview some of the reenactors (including Colonel Holcroft Blood’s Regiment)

and try to capture some of the atmosphere of the town square at night.

Hope you enjoy it.

I’ve taken many many pictures of the reenactors in their glorious costumes.
I’ve uploaded a few of them to flickr including a bunch from the parade around Oudenaarde town square on Saturday.
Saturday Parade in Oudenaarde
Photos from the reenactment

and I’ve put together a few photos and little video clips from the parade and reenactment into a very short youtube video.

Some of the sources I use for this podcast can be found at Amazon.co.uk in the UK
or at Amazon.com in the United States.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.

A special episode featuring a report from the reenactment of the battle of Oudenaarde over the weekend of 12th and 13th of July, 2008. I’ve travelled over to Belgium and am staying in the town of Oudenaarde as they commemorate this battle from 300 years just outside the town. Reenactors from all over Europe are here with guns, cannons, horses and bags of enthusiasm.
This is only a short podcast and is out of sequence with the series on the Spanish Succession that we’ve been doing. We’re on 1704 at the moment and Oudenaarde is 1708 but I wanted to try and communicate some of my delight at being here while I’m actually in Oudenaarde.

Hope you enjoy it.

I’ve taken many many pictures of the reenactors in their glorious costumes.
I’e uploaded a few of them to flickr including a bunch from the parade around Oudenaarde town square on Saturday.
Saturday Parade in Oudenaarde
Photos from the reenactment

Some of the sources I use for this podcast can be found at Amazon.co.uk in the UK
or at Amazon.com in the United States.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.

This issue features a review of the Richard Holmes book on Marlborough and in the section on the War of the Spanish Succession we look at the march of the allied troops across Europe and take a peek at some of the planning and attention to detail that made this march a success.

John Churchill

Some of the sources I use for this podcast can be found at Amazon.co.uk in the UK
or at Amazon.com in the United States.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.

In this episode we explore the phrase to gird your loins. We examine the case of Admiral Byng

who was executed to encourage the others and we interview Tony Cox of the Binge Thinking History Podcast.
There’s a shout out for a splendid forum at http://historum.com. I hope to meet up with some of you on there.

In our section on the War of the Spanish Succession we continue to follow the events of 1702. We follow Admiral Rooke into Cadiz and then ponder the black-hearted treachery of Max Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria.

If you wish to comment on the podcasts then please visit the website, historyzine.com or visit the contact page and leave me an email using the contact form there.

In episode 6 of Historyzine we look at early 18th century sieges, the changing nature of warfare and some of the reasons behind the reticence to commit troops to a fully fledged battle in this War of the Spanish Succession. We will focus particularly on the great French engineer Vauban, his fortresses and his techniques for laying siege to a fortress. There’s a plan of a Vauban type fortress here

If you take a look at this pdf document you will be able to see some really good aerial photographs of Vauban fortresses that give a fine indication of how it works as a piece of defensive technology.

Finally here’s a picture showing the lines of circumvallation and contravallation and the three parallels the besiegers would dig as part of the siege of a fortress town.

We mention in the podcast one of the finest references on the net for the War of the Spanish Succession www.spanishsuccession.nl and also give a shout out to the Genealogy Gems podcast plus a mention for a site simply jammed full of history podcast reviews http://anneisaman.blogspot.com/
Latest news on the Oudenaarde re-enactment for the 300th anniversary of the battle of Oudenaarde is that I have booked my hotel room and the reenactment will be taking place over the weekend 12th and 13th of July.

Our review this time is of a podcast from the History Network and is an audio tour of a walk around Soho in London.

If you wish to leave feedback on the podcast then do so through the site http://historyzine.com/ or use the contact page to send a form email http://historyzine.com/contact/

In episode 5 of Historyzine we have a review of the National Archives Podcast Series;
Historical webby gems Harry Lamin’s war correspondence

Here we go around Wakefield Prison’s Mulberry Bush.

And

Episode 5 of our series on The War of the Spanish Succession features the campaigns of the Allies against the French forces on the Meuse in 1702. Marlborough is twice thwarted in his attempts to bring the French to battle, once by his Dutch deputies and then by the delightful General Opdam but then engages in a fine series of sieges which takes back the Meuse and reconnects the English and Dutch forces with Maastricht.

In this episode we review Parnell’s History Podcast and History Podcast plus we look at the requirement to read the Banns before a wedding can be legalised.

In the feature on the War of the Spanish Succession the allies are busily arguing among themselves at the Hague trying to decide who will lead the allied armies. The French are threatening Nijmegen and John Churchill who is eventually appointed as leader of the alliance rushes off to try and organise his forces.
The focus this time is upon the Duke of Marlborough and we do a potted history of the Duke and try to get a feel for the genius of this great English General.

In this episode we take a look at the podcast series, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History.
We pick apart the phrase, ‘sleep tight, mind the bed bugs don’t bite’ and of course we have the next part of our series looking at the War of the Spanish Succession.
This week Eugene performs some fancy footwork in Northern Italy and the rest of the allies try to sort out some sort of compromise which will give them an excuse not to go to war against Louis XIV.

Sources for the War of the Spanish Succession

If you wish to comment upon this podcast then please send feedback through the site http://historyzine.com

or, to send a form email visit this page http://historyzine.com/contact/

In this episode we review the delightful podcast TPN Napoleon, hosted by Cameron Reilly and J. David Markham and offer a shout out to ‘The Binge Thinking History podcast which, in episode 3 of that podcast gives some useful background to the English situation at the end of the 17th century.
The main feature of this week is, of course, our running guide to the War of the Spanish Succession and in this episode we attempt to unravel the many strands that are the various claimants to the Spanish throne and finish upon the opening of hostilities in Northern Italy.

Different claimants come and go but the main power blocs interested in grabbing the Spanish Empire for themselves are the Bourbons of France, headed by Louis XIV and the Austrian Habsburgs led by Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor. The United Provinces and England are looking for a succession that maintains a balance of power in Europe so their own security isn’t threatened. The stage therefore is set for a great deal of politicking and quite likely war. I think it was Clausewitz some time later who gave us the maxim that war is just a continuance of diplomacy and so it is in this case.

We’ll have a closer look at one of the great Imperial generals, Prince Eugene of Savoy and chart his rise to glory and his fighting apprenticeship battling against the Ottoman Turks. We’ll also make passing reference to his second favourite pastime (war being his favourite) of building palaces and stocking them full of art treasures.

Sources for the War of the Spanish Succession

If you wish to comment upon this podcast then send feedback through the site http://historyzine.com

or, to send a form email visit this page http://historyzine.com/contact/

The first episode of Historyzine features a review of the podcast, History According to Bob and a look at the phrase, ‘burning the candle at both ends.’
My featured subject at the moment is the ‘War of the Spanish Succession.’
In this episode we look at the 3 wars preceding this one and get some idea of the balance of power in Europe at the end of the 17th century.

Sources for the War of the Spanish Succession

If you wish to comment upon this podcast then please send feedback through the site http://historyzine.com

or, to send a form email visit this page http://historyzine.com/contact/