[PATRONS]
The 1628 portion of the siege of La Rochelle was an anxious time for Cardinal Richelieu, as much as it was for the inhabitants of Casale, the bastion of the Duchy of Montferrat. Because of extensive commitments to the French Protestant conflict, Richelieu could spare little for North Italy, where the Habsburgs had become deeply involved. Braving winter snows and angry Italians, the Spanish had rushed to besiege Casale while the French were preoccupied.
But unfortunately for Count Olivares back in Madrid, the very ...
2021-10-31 21:01:35 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
The Huguenots and the English landing on the Isle of Re presented a serious challenge for Richelieu in the summer of 1627, but it was in North Italy, in the Duchies of Mantua and Montferrat, that the Franco-Spanish rivalary truly began to heat up. Indeed, this confrontation in North Italy would prove to be the prelude for French intervention in the war, in 1635. But not yet! Richelieu had to put down the Huguenots first. Only then could he take the steps on the European stage that would make his name so legendary....
2021-10-17 15:10:24 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
Order your copy of Matchlock and the Embassy by clicking here.
Although he had been lurking in the background for some time, as he sorted through France's internal problems, by 1629, Cardinal Richelieu was finally ready to make a bold strike in a determined anti-Habsburg direction. That story has since become immortalised, but what of those internal problems? And was this French Cardinal really as willing to shrug of ...
2021-09-20 05:01:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
Order your copy of Matchlock and the Embassy by clicking here.
In this special episode, I explain some details about Matchlock and the Embassy, which you can now access in all your favourite book vendors, online and off!
Not sure about it? I read our first review, which provides a brilliant analysis of what this novel brings to the table, and why you'll aring war on historical fiction, and...
2021-09-19 12:27:06 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS}
Hello my dear patrons! No audio here, just an update, to let you know that Matchlock and the Embassy is out NOW in e-book format, and the paperback is following close behind!
With that in mind, I wanted to make sure you all had the chance to access your privileges as a patron of this show - with a link to download the book!
But can I read it where I want? Yes! No awkward PDF's here, history friend! This is all handled through Bookfunnel, which will ensure your copy ...
2021-09-16 16:56:55 +0000 UTC
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Hello my beloved patrons, please click here to get yourself an advanced reader copy of Matchlock and the Embassy if you haven't done so yet!
[PATRONS]
1629 was THE year of the Thirty Years War, when all the tributaries seemed to join the main river, and flow as one. The Swedish and Poles made their peace, under French sponsorship. The French expelled the Huguenots from La Rochelle. The Spanish continued their siege...
2021-09-06 05:00:03 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
- Did you miss it? We're launching a historical fiction series called Matchlock, and beginning with Matchlock and the Embassy! Read here to see how it'll affect patrons, and read here to find out more about the series generally - you're gonna love this!
2021-08-23 05:01:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
In our final episode of Poland Is Not Yet Lost for a while - see this episode for more about that, or read here instead - we examine the lay of Europe by 1750 to wrap things up. Count Bruhl, Kaunitz, Frederick the Great, Maria Theresa, Louis XV and so many more were floating around. ...
2021-08-16 05:01:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
Time to enlighten you on how our new content and plans will factor into our Patreon page going forward, and why you should be very excited indeed!
Don't want to listen? Read instead!
Read this blog post to learn more
Read this blog post to learn how all this will be injected into Patreon.
2021-08-11 10:39:56 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
After so many months preparing, I can finally announce what's happening, and why I'm so excited!
I don't want to give anything away, but I will say, if you're a fan of history, storytelling and the Thirty Years War, then this will blow your mind!
Read this blog post to learn more
Read this blog post to l...
2021-08-11 10:29:29 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
Keep an eye out for a huge announcement, dropping this week!
Emperor Ferdinand had it all. The Habsburg dynasty had never been so supreme, and his enemies had been utterly vanquished. But it was not enough for him, or the Jesuits that whispered in his ear. They wanted more than victory, they wanted spiritual triumph as well and to do this, they would risk everything. The Edict of Restitution was the fruit of the Emperor's triumph, but it would prove a bridge too far. Listen here to find out why...
2021-08-09 05:01:03 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
By the late 1740s, Saxony appeared to be a shadow of its former self. Riven by war, and defeated several times by its once puny neighbours, the tides of history seemed to have consumed Augustus III of Saxony-Poland's regime. One figure above all was determined to halt this trend though. His name was Count Heinrich Bruhl, and he believed that Saxony's golden age was only just beginning.
All he had to do was leverage the Elector King's position, a task which would demand intense, complex diplomatic negotiations, and...
2021-08-02 05:01:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
Was the Thirty Years War a religious war? The long answer is no, the short answer is that religious issues were rarely far from the forefront of the conflict, especially before 1635. By the late 1620s, the Emperor had arrived at a point where the reorganisation of his Hereditary Lands in Austria and Bohemia simply wouldn't do.
He'd need, instead, to reap the fruits of his victory by reorganisating the religious makeup of the entire Holy Roman Empire! The Edict of Restitution had a shaky birth, but its the aftermat...
2021-07-26 05:01:02 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
After nearly eight years of war in Europe, the interested parties were more than ready for it to end. By 1748, a conference not unlike that of Westphalia a century before took place. There, the borders of Europe seemed up for grabs... but such appearances were deceptive. The changes were not as important for the map of Europe, as they were for its tradition of alliance systems. After being battered on all sides, a new statesman, Kaunitz, took control of Austrian foreign policy, and he was determined to do all in his pow...
2021-07-19 05:01:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
1628 was a pivotal year of the Thirty Years War. Not only did it contain the final full year of war between the Emperor and the Danes, it also contained a total of three sieges running in very different theatres, with seriously consequential stakes for all involved. Would it be Casale in North Italy? La Rochelle on the French coast? Stralsund on the Baltic? It was difficult to say, but one thing that was certain was the growth and development of the war.
The conflict which had once been fought by Bohemian rebels, ...
2021-07-12 16:38:46 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
In early 1745, it seemed as though Frederick's errors had caught up to him. Austria, Saxony and Britain aimed at nothing less than his destruction, and even the most generous of commentators would be hard pressed to argue that it wasn't all Freddy's fault.
But this was Frederick the Great, and this greatness could only be earned in adversity, when the enemy was at the gates, and defeat appeared a foregone conclusion. Not for the last time, Frederick shattered expectations, and emerged on ...
2021-07-05 05:00:06 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
By 1628, the Habsburgs seemed triumphant. The plan was then to reach the Baltic, and build a fleet of their own to terrify Scandinavia into submission. Would it work? The recent gift of Mecklenburg, along the Baltic shore, and Pomeranian weakness, suggested it would.
All that stood in the way of Wallenstein's plan, was the Baltic port city of Stralsund. Stocked by veteran mercenaries, and aided by Swedish and Danish troops, the city's residents stood strong. By the summer, the city was under Sweden's protection, h...
2021-06-28 05:00:07 +0000 UTC
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{PATRONS}
Somehow Austria had kept it all together. Even after all seemed lost, the Maria Theresa had didn't give up hope. And now, after years of turmoil, far flung negotiations between the Russians and British were about to present dramatic consequences for all at war with the House of Habsburg. The question was, would Maria Theresa strike before Frederick the Great pulled it out of the bag?
2021-06-21 05:01:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
By late 1626, Emperor Ferdinand was riding high. But this season of triumph was not enough. Ferdinand had bigger dreams than the mere destruction of his enemies. He imagined a new world order, where threats to the Habsburg dynasty ceased to exist, and the Catholic Church bloomed. Sound too tyrannical and storybook to be true? Judge for yourself.
After turning down the best opportunity for a German peace in summer 1627, it was hard to avoid the impression that the Habsburgs were going for broke, and aimed at nothin...
2021-06-14 05:00:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
After a worrying start, the War of the Austrian Succession was finally beginning to turn a corner for Vienna. This was thanks in large part to two main factors. First, British diplomacy had helped mediate peace between Austria and Prussia in mid-1742, and second, British money had arrived just in time to fill Austrian coffers. In the window of opportunity this provided, Austria invaded Bavaria and seized Munich. The invasion was so great a coup., that it almost didn't mater that the 300 year Habsburg hold on the office of Hol...
2021-06-07 05:00:03 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
As 1626 dawned, two saviours were on the march to the rescue of their respective camps. King Christian IV of Denmark looked poised to save the princes and cities of the Lower Saxon Circle from a looming Habsburg threat, and guarantees and supplies from the other members of the Hague Alliance were on the way to buffer his campaign. On the other hand, Albrecht of Wallenstein marched his army of 24,000 to the aid of the outnumbered Count Tilly. Backing him were the interests of the whole Habsburg dynasty, in addition to its Bava...
2021-05-31 05:01:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
Things looked pretty grim for Vienna by spring 1741, and they only got worse as the year progressed. Prussian forces had surged into Silesia, taking its anemic defences completely off guard. To the West, the French had teamed up with Bavaria and Saxony, and had promised each of those German powers the moon in return for their alliance. By mid-May, Prussia defeated a Habsburg army all on its own, for the first time ever. Then, in November, Prague fell to the combined forces of Saxony, France and Bavaria.
The ...
2021-05-24 05:01:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
Frederick's motives for making war were multi-layered, but his entire act was wholly unexpected by most of Europe. Should the rest of Europe have seen Frederick the Great's first war coming? Or should they have looked at a potential major motive of the famed Prussian King? That motive being, beating his neighbour, the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, Augustus III to the punch, in every endeavour. A vulnerable Silesia could be snapped up by the Saxon, which would unite his Polish and German domains, a prospect which Frede...
2021-05-10 05:00:04 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
With the King of Denmark on the march, and the net closing in on him, Emperor Ferdinand was forced to go big or go home. So instead, he went big, VERY big. He turned to Albrecht von Wallenstein, thus far his most important loan shark and self-made millionaire, not to mention influential landowner. What would be the consequences if the Emperor created his own private army, answerable to nobody but him? In fact, you could argue that this was the moment when the war became the conflict we know today. Ferdinand raised the stakes,...
2021-05-03 05:01:00 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
We know that Prussia went for broke in 1740, and attacked Silesia, but what about the Austrians? What had they gone through which made them so susceptible to an attack? And, what was the rest of Europe doing? Find out here, as we take a continental tour of Europe on the eve of the War of the Austrian Succession. We'll learn, among other issues, why the Bavarians were so peeved, why the English and Austrians were on poor terms, and why Frederick the Great believed he had good reason to fear Augustus III of Saxont-Poland. ...
2021-04-26 05:01:01 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
By 1740, a new era had dawned. This was the era of the greats - Frederick the Great, Maria Theresa the Great, and soon followed by Catherine the Great. Where did Poland fit when the picture was dominated by such formidable personalities? Before we answer that question, we should meet one of these greats face to face. Say hello to everyone's favourite polymath, chauvinist and bully of Poland, Frederick the Great. Frederick gambled all his chips in one great coup in mid-December 1740, when he attacked Germany's other predominan...
2021-04-12 05:01:00 +0000 UTC
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The Hague Alliance was only the latest in a long series of things that Frederick couldn't afford to get his hopes up about. It involved England, the Netherlands and Denmark in a mutual defensive alliance, and England even went to war with Spain shortly afterwards. But Frederick had been here before, when his allies appeared to save him, only to fall at the last hurdle. This time, it could be different. After all, the King of Denmark Christian IV, was on the case, and he was critical to the pace and shape of the Thirty Y...
2021-04-05 05:01:00 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
After dancing around the conflict for so long, here we get deep into the story of the War of the Polish Succession, and examine how its furies spread all across the continent, particularly in Italy and the Rhine. Just as important as the campaigns themselves was the peace treaty negotiations. Here, it was revealed just how impressive the Bourbon victories had been, as France was able to trade its newly seized gains for even better returns.
Tuscany in exchange for Lorraine was a major highlight, and who should inha...
2021-03-31 08:22:50 +0000 UTC
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[PATRONS]
Have I got a story for you, or rather, a play. With the failure of the Spanish Match, the anti-Spanish sentiments were bound to soar in England, but when a not so subtle play - A Game at Chess - was released to the Globe theatre in August 1624, this was too far for King James and company. The King was embarrassed, but it was to be the final such scandal of his reign. His reign not long or this world, and within a few months, he'd be replaced by Charles, and the looming Hague Alliance. Frederick's dream of restitution remained...
2021-03-22 06:01:00 +0000 UTC
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