223. Blood, toil, sweat and tears

223. Blood, toil, sweat and tears

This episode includes several extracts from recordings of speeches by Churchill, so that we can enjoy listening to his actual voice – on the other hand, I apologise for the background noise on the recordings, but they sound inauthentic if I try to remove it.

We also meet a number of people who will continue to have a significant role later: a man who deserves to be better-known, the brilliant theoretician and practitioner of armoured warfare (sadly on the German side), Heinz Guderian; Erwin Rommel; Charles de Gaulle; Friedrich Pauls, attending an enemy’s surrender now though better known for offering his own later; and Bertram Ramsay, another man who deserves to be far better known than he now is.

All this is against the background of the devastating defeat of British and French forces in France, once Germany decided to end the phoney war (which had already started to be a lot less phoney in Norway) and, using the Blitzkrieg tactics favoured by Guderian, of rapidly-advancing armoured forces backed by air support and followed by infantry, broke though the French defences and rounded on the British Expeditionary Force and French troops in Northeastern France, pinning them against the Channel coast.

Those Allied troops were caught in a vice that was closing on them. It was only the extraordinary ability of the man Churchill chose to organise their evacuation from Dukirk, Admiral Bertram Ramsay, and Churchill’s own leadership, that allowed Britain to save the core of its army from destruction.



Illustration: Troops waiting to be taken off the beaches at Dunkirk. Photo: EPA.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License


Jaksot(274)

41. Sex and Sickness

41. Sex and Sickness

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an extraordinary woman, both in her personality and in her contribution to the world, specifically in medicine.  This episode looks at both aspects, trying to pick out th...

7 Kesä 202114min

40. Bye, bye Anne. Hello, George. And bye, bye James yet again

40. Bye, bye Anne. Hello, George. And bye, bye James yet again

In the dying days of her reign, we see Queen Anne refusing royal assent to a bill, a historic moment only because it was the last time ever that a British monarch blocked a bill passed by both Houses ...

3 Kesä 202112min

39. Great Britain

39. Great Britain

It's time for a new country. Time to shake off the old bickering small nations around the island of Britain. It's time for Great Britain to emerge as a powerful new player on the world stage, bringing...

28 Touko 202114min

38. Malbrough s’en va-t-en guerre

38. Malbrough s’en va-t-en guerre

The War of the Spanish succession was really just the continuation of the Nine Years' War, but this time with the specific issue of the succession to the Spanish throne at stake. That, incidentally, m...

23 Touko 202114min

37. Who'll take the decisions?

37. Who'll take the decisions?

As William III, reigning alone since the death of his wife Mary II, approached the end of his reign, there was clearly a vital issue to address. Mary's sister Anne was the only Protestant heir to the ...

18 Touko 202114min

36. Just one war after another

36. Just one war after another

Just as soon as William III could free himself up from wars in the British Isles, to secure his throne (and his wife Mary II's), he got stuck into the fighting on the Continent, on behalf of his home ...

13 Touko 202113min

35. Bloodless? Did I say bloodless?

35. Bloodless? Did I say bloodless?

That’s it: we’ve reached the great and dreadful moment of the Battle of the Boyne, an event that casts its shadow right down to the present day. Each year – on an oddly chosen anniversary date – Orang...

8 Touko 202110min

34. Another theatre in a wider war

34. Another theatre in a wider war

It's the run up to the Battle of the Boyne. So we're chatting about the many motivations for William III's invasion of England. Yes, the aims of the Glorious Revolution, protecting or simply implemen...

3 Touko 202111min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
rss-ikiuni
tsunami
konginkangas
totuus-vai-salaliitto
rouva-diktaattori
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
apinan-vuosi
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-peter-peter
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
historiaa-suomeksi
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast
matakuu