So no, I didn't die or anything. And better yet, I'm back! First, a bit of catchup.Support the Show.

Happy (late...) Halloween!Sources: Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918, Second Edition. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.Keegan, John. The First World War. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.Marshall, Samuel Lyman Atwood. World War I. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Bantam Dell, ...

The climactic showdown of the First Battle of the Marne now comes to a decisive, bloody end.Please feel free to visit our sponsor, the WYLD Gallery!IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODESources: Churchill, Winston. The World Crisis: Vol. I. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1923.Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918, Second Edition. London: Bloomsbury, 20...

“Now, as the battle is joined on which the safety of the country depends, everyone must be reminded that this is no longer the time for looking back. Every effort must be made to attack and throw back the enemy. A unit which finds it impossible to advance must, regardless of the cost, hold its ground and be killed on the spot rather than fall back. In the present circumstances no failure will be tolerated.”Sources: Brose, Eric Dorn. A History of the Great War: World War One and the Inter...

We return to the narrative on the Western Front, to see how the French and British will plan their last desperate attempt to halt the German advance on Paris at the beginning of September, 1914.IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODESources: Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.Keegan, John. The First World War. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Bantam Dell, 20...

This episode concludes our two week digression from the narrative. In it, we discuss some basic, fundamental military concepts and theories that have existed and been refined for millennia.NEW PAGE ON THE WEBSITESourcesClausewitz, Carl von. On War (Third Edition). London: N. Trübner & Co., 1873.Councell, Clara E. War and Infectious Disease. Public Health Reports Vol. 56, No. 12, March 21, 1941.Dodge, Ayrault Theodore. Alexander: A History of the Origin and Growth of the Art of War. Boston...

Instead of plowing ahead with the narrative, for the next couple weeks we're going to pull back and examine some fundamental concepts of military organization and practice. In this episode, we examine the unit structure and rank hierarchy of the Armies of the First World War.NEW PAGE ON WEBSITESourcesSteuben, Baron von. Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States. Boston: Thomas and Andrews, 1792.Boff, Jonathan. Military Structures and Ranks. British Museum, 20...

In the course of less than a week, the Russians went from looking like they could take Berlin at their leisure to having half their invasion wiped out, with the other half falling back in panic. Now Hindenburg and Ludendorff turn their army against the Russian forces still in German territory to kick them out once and for all.IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODESources:Buttar, Pritt. Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914. Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 2014.Gozdawa Turczynowicz, Laura ...

Today we discuss one of the most pivotal battles of the First World War: the Battle of Tannenberg, as well as explore the personalities of and relationship between the rising team of Hindenburg and Ludendorff.IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODESources:Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.Meyer, G.J. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Bantam Dell, 2006.Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August. New York: The R...

Today, we watch as the Russian and German Armies on the Eastern Front begin to dance around one another in 1914, upon a land that had seen wars between these two peoples for centuries, in anticipation for the great climactic showdown that may very well determine the fate of the entire war.IMAGES FOR TODAY'S EPISODESources:Cartwright, Mark. Northern Crusades. https://www.ancient.eu/Northern_Crusades/Hart, Peter. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University ...