The Great Napoleonic Escape

The Great Napoleonic Escape

Lieutenant Charles Hare was a young British naval officer who made an extraordinarily elaborate escape from a French prisoner-of-war camp during the Napoleonic Wars... with the help of his English Terrier dog. Captured at just 14, Hare spent years in captivity before devising an audacious plan to flee dressed in the uniform of a French customs officer. He took a convoluted 'trains, planes and automobiles' style journey up the Rhine, through Germany, to the Netherlands and finally back home to England, deceiving both locals and officials of his true identity.


This tale of ingenuity and bravery was recently uncovered thanks to Hare's descendants, who recently handed over his disguise and firsthand account to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Curator Dr Katherine Gazzard regales Dan with the story in a world-exclusive story when he visited the museum to see the uniform for himself.


You can see Hare's disguise and discover more about his story at a new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and see it in our new History Hit documentary. Sign up HERE for 50% off for 3 months using code ‘DANSNOW’ to watch it.


Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore


Other episodes mentioned in this episode:

Thomas Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander


We'd love to hear from you - what do you want to hear an episode on? You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.


You can take part in our listener survey here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(1510)

The Scandalous Life of Lord Byron

The Scandalous Life of Lord Byron

WARNING: This episode includes discussion of sexual abuse and explicit language. He appalled and titillated Regency polite society in equal measure. Lord Byron was a poet, a lover, a rebel, a romantic...

4 Touko 44min

Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary

In 1553, Mary Tudor became the first woman to sit on the English throne - a reign of just five years, that history has remembered almost exclusively through the lens of her enemies. But today, we revi...

30 Huhti 49min

The Black Prince

The Black Prince

He was one of medieval England’s most formidable warriors. Today we hear how Edward of Woodstock - the Black Prince - earned that reputation, tracing his rise during the Hundred Years’ War and explori...

27 Huhti 53min

The Assassination of Trotsky

The Assassination of Trotsky

This is the true story of the plot to kill Stalin's greatest enemy. It involves ice axe, a bloody study in Mexico City, and a betrayal years in the making.At its centre is Ramón Mercader, a Soviet-tra...

23 Huhti 1h 4min

Churchill's Secret Army

Churchill's Secret Army

Trap doors under toilets, hidden radio rooms in the back of wardrobes, secret bases behind waterfalls....Dan investigates an extraordinary network of secret resistance cells set up during Britain's "d...

20 Huhti 51min

The Siege of Acre: The Last Battle of the Crusades

The Siege of Acre: The Last Battle of the Crusades

The desperate, violent last stand that ended two centuries of crusading in the Holy Land. We hear how, outnumbered, divided and desperate, the Christian defenders decided to fight to the bitter end ag...

16 Huhti 36min

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful figures of the medieval world: twice a queen, a crusader, a rebel and the architect of an empire. Through her marriages to Louis VII of France and Hen...

13 Huhti 54min

The Knights Templar vs the Order of Assassins

The Knights Templar vs the Order of Assassins

During the crusades, there was a legendary rivalry between two extraordinary medieval orders: the Assassins and the Templars. Separating myth from history, we uncover their beliefs, covert operations ...

9 Huhti 47min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
rss-ikiuni
mystista
totuus-vai-salaliitto
konginkangas
tsunami
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
rouva-diktaattori
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-peter-peter
apinan-vuosi
maailmanpuu
rss-marilynia-ja-maailmanhistoriaa
historian-nurkkapoyta