Best Voices Of The Armistice Podcasts (2024)

Did you enjoy this series? Then you'll love James Early's new show "Key Battles of American History." Check it out on the podcast player of your choice or go to keybattlesofamericanhistory.com. Listen here to a snippet of his episode where he and a guest discuss the World War One movie "All Quiet on the Western Front."…

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24: The Eternal Legacy of the First World War 56:02

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3+ y ago56:02

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World War One was the most consequential social event in centuries. 10 million soldiers died, creating 3 million widows and 10 million orphans. Many Europeans felt disillusionment and even anger about the war. They questioned earlier notions of honor, duty, and bravery. Europe lost its economic centrality. New York replaced London as the financial …

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23: The Sad Afterlives of WW1's Leaders: The Humbling (and Exiling) of Generals, Emperors, and Sultans 51:46

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From 1914-1918, the leaders of World War One were generals who commanded millions of men, emperors who inherited dynasties with centuries of accumulated wealth, and Sultans who claimed a direct line of connection to the Prophet Muhammed. After the war, many of them lost all their money and power and were forced into lonely exile. British Chief of S…

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22: The 1919 Paris Peace Conference Laid The First Bricks of the Road to World War Two 45:03

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The Paris Peace Conference opened on January 18, 1919. Its task was the writing of five separate peace treaties with the defeated separate powers: Germany, Turkey, Bulgaria, Austria, and Hungary (now separate nations). The defeated Central Powers were not allowed to participate in the negotiations. The terms would be dictated to them. Russia was al…

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21: WW1 Ends with Armistice -- The Moment of Silence That Sounded Like the Voice of God 51:26

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After Germany's' failed spring offensive, realized the only way to win was to push into France before the United States fully deployed its resources. The French and British were barely hanging on in 1918. By 1918, French reserves of military-aged recruits were literally a state secret; there were so few of them still alive. The British, barely main…

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20: The 1918 Battle of Meggido Shattered the Ottoman Empire and Created the Modern Middle East 38:59

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The Battle of Megiddo was the climactic battle of the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the First World War, with Germans and Ottomans on one side, and British and French forces on the other (with Arab nationalists led by T.E. Lawrence). The actions immediately after it were a disaster for the Ottomans. They now had permanently lost control over thei…

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19: The Empire Strikes Back -- Germany's Final Push to Win WW1 in Spring 1918 43:37

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Many thought that Germany was capable of winning World War One until the very end. Unlike World War 2, in which the Allies believed that victory was inevitable as early as 1943, this was not the case with the Great War. It is also easy to assume that German defeat was inevitable at the hands of an Allied coalition richer in manpower, weapons and mo…

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18: Tank Warfare--How Military Tech Took a Quantum Leap at the Battle of Cambrai (1917) 21:47

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The British developed the tank in response to the trench warfare of World War I. In 1914, a British army colonel named Ernest Swinton and William Hankey, secretary of the Committee for Imperial Defense, championed the idea of an armored vehicle with conveyor-belt-like tracks over its wheels that could break through enemy lines and traverse difficul…

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17: The Yanks Are Coming -- America Enters World War One 50:52

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Most Americans are indifferent about the nation's involvement in World War One (under half say the U.S. had a responsibility to fight in the war; one-in-five say it didn't). Many figure it entered the conflict too late to claim much credit, or intervention was discreditable. Some say the U.S. had no compelling national interest to enter the Great W…

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16: The Slog of War -- the Passchendaele Campaign of 1917 37:21

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The best way to describe the Third Ypres (Passchendaele) Campaign of 1917. It’s ‘slog.’ When you think about a drudging act that seems to accomplish nothing, this battle is it. Mud. Mud to your waist. Everything sinks down several feet into mud. Tanks, Cars, guns, horses, everything stuck in mud. Images of a battlefield landscape with pockmarked ho…

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15: The Russian Revolutions of 1917-1923--A Bigger Threat Than the Kaiser? 43:15

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We’ve looked at many battles in this series, but we’ve only tangentially touched on how this war fundamentally altered European society. The Great War is the watershed between the pre-modern and early modern era. As an example, all we have to do is look at Russia. Before World War One, it was an autocracy, very conservative, very religious, and onl…

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14: Why WW1 Was the Graveyard of Empires (Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian) 45:13

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World War One shattered the empires of Russia, the Ottomans, and the Austro-Hungarians, which had all existed in one form or another for centuries. That's because it broke the fragile alliances that kept these Empires alive. In this episode, we explore the Southern Fronts of World War One in 1916-1917. Starting with Italy, since Italy’s entry into …

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13: The Battle of the Somme Caused 1 Million Casualties But Was a Turning Point for WW1 46:09

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The 1916 Battle of the Somme caused a total of 1 million casualties on all sides. the total is over a million casualties. The Allies had gained very little ground. At the end of the battle, they had gained only 7 miles and were still about 3 miles short of their goal from the first day of the war. The Somme, along with Verdun and the Brusilov Offen…

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12: The Flying Aces of World War One 41:32

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Since the first successful flight of an airplane, people had imagined and dreamed of airplanes being used for combat. H. G. Wells's 1908 book (The War in the Air was an example. When World War One broke out, there were only about 1000 planes on all sides. Planes were very basic. Cockpits were open, instruments were rudimentary, and there were no na…

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11: The Brusilov Offensive: Russia's Mortal Blow to Austria-Hungary 29:37

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By James Early & Scott Rank, PhD

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10: WW1 At Sea: The Battle of Jutland (1916) 54:34

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Although overlooked today, the war at sea was a crucial part of World War I overall. The German use of the Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (in which non-military ships could be blown up by submarines without the latter surfacing, making it impossible for innocent men, women, and children to abandon ship) against commerce not only threatened the Alli…

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9: Verdun - The 299-Day Battle That Killed 300K Soldiers And Still Scars The Earth With Unexploded Shells 48:12

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The Battle of Verdun--fought from February 21-December 18 1916 in the Western Front of France--was horrifying and hellish even by the standards of World War One. Over a 299-day-period, there were 1 million total casualties. The French were bled white, but so were the Germans. Of these, 300,000 were killed, which is about 1 death for every minute of…

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8: How 1915 Became World War One's Year of Poison Gas, Genocide, and Millions of Refugees 43:23

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In 1915, the Central Powers and Allies dug in their heels and tried desperately to break the stalemate of the war, still hoping for a short conflict on the scale of a few months. Poison gas was used for the first time. Germans experimented with flamethrowers and armored shields, while the French began using hand grenades. In April, Germans began th…

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7: The Battle of Gallipoli (1915) How Ataturk and the Ottomans Hurled the Allies (Including Winston Churchill) Into the Sea 45:41

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The Allies desperately wanted to take control of the Dardanelles (the straights connecting Constantinople with the Mediterranean). They were crucial to Russia and would make it possible for Russia to (in effect) have a warm-water port. The only problem is the Ottomans had controlled the Dardanelles for five centuries and were backed by Germany and …

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6: World War 1 Trenches Were A Labyrinth of Rats, Disease, Decaying Flesh, and the Omnipresent Threat of Death 48:06

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By James Early & Scott Rank, PhD

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5: The Average WW1 Soldier Was a 110-Pound Villager Who Suffered Disease, Hunger, and PTSD 49:06

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By James Early & Scott Rank, PhD

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4: Germany's Plans For Total French Defeat in 1914 Failed at the Battle of the Marne 59:32

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The beginning of World War One was marked the breakdown of the western powers’ war plans. Leaders on both sides experienced surprises, shocks, and the failure of plans. The first few months saw shocking violence on a scale never experienced before, at least not in Western Europe. During the first few months of the war, an average of 15,000 lives we…

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3: Germany So Completely Annihilated Russia At the WW1 Battle of Tannenberg That A Russian General Committed Suicide 50:18

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The Battle of Tannenberg was the first major battle of World War One, fought between Germany and Russia, who surprised everyone with its fast mobilization. This muddled the plans of Germany, which sought to quickly fight a two-front war against France and Russia, knock France out of the war, then focus its resources on Russia. The plan didn't work,…

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2: Europe's Pre-WW1 Alliances Were a Doomsday Machine That Pulled the Entire Continent Into War 48:31

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An impossibly complex web of alliances that maintained a fragile peace in Europe (and surprisingly held it together since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815) always threatened to unravel. The 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, by Serbian nationalists, made Austria declare war on Serbia. A doomsday m…

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1: Europe in 1914 Had Absolutely No Idea They Were About To Enter The Most Hellish War Ever 52:46

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World War One is the watershed moment in modern history. The Western World before it was one of aristocrats, empires, colonies, and optimism for a future of unending progress. After four years of hellish trench warfare, shell fire, 10 million combat deaths, and another 10 million civilian deaths, the world that emerged in 1918 was irrevocably chang…

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Voices of the Armistice: Treaty of Versailles 7:47

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Extracts from the Treaty of Versailles that ended the war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Original document catalogue reference: FO 93/36/76By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: Chinese celebrations 5:53

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The announcement of the Armistice in China and details of celebrations and commemorations. Original document catalogue reference: CO 873/547By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: court martial 5:34

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The proceedings and evidence from the case of a private, shot for desertion and pardoned in 2006. Original document catalogue reference: WO 71/671By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: prisoner of war 5:06

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Account by Able Seaman C Jones about conditions as a prisoner of war after his capture at Antwerp in 1914. Original document catalogue reference: WO 161/100/576By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: with love from Hetty 8:24

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A series of love letters found in the service record of William Crawford. Original document catalogue reference: WO 400/289By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: King's Battalion, Liverpool Regiment in 1918-19 7:06

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Extracts from the unit war diary during 1918-19. Original document catalogue reference: WO 95/2926By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: King's Battalion, Liverpool Regiment in 1917 4:52

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Extracts from the unit war diary during 1917. Original document catalogue reference: WO 95/2926By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: King's Battalion, Liverpool Regiment in 1916 7:03

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Extracts from the unit war diary during 1916. Original document catalogue reference: WO 95/2926By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: peace negotiations 19:03

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An account of the negotiations of the terms of the Armistice which took place between 8 and 11 November 1918. Written by the interpreter, Commander W T Bagot. Original document catalogue reference: ADM 1/8546/319By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: Haig's war diary, 11 November 1918 4:20

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Final extract from the diary of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, from Armistice day. Original document catalogue reference: WO 256/37By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: Haig's war diary, 29 October 1918 3:44

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Third extract from the diary of Field Marshal Douglas Haig. Original document catalogue reference: WO 256/37By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: Haig's war diary, 19 October 1918 5:04

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Extract from the diary of Field Marshal Douglas Haig in the final weeks of the war. Original document catalogue reference: WO 256/37By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: Haig's war diary, 10 October 1918 5:31

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Extract from the diary of Field Marshal Douglas Haig in the final weeks of the war. Original document catalogue reference: WO 256/37By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: German soldier's war diary 10:38

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The translation of a German soldier's diary from August to September 1916. Original document catalogue reference: CAB 45/166By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: Gas attack! 6:43

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An account of a gas attack in May 1915. Original document catalogue reference: WO 32/5169By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: letters from the Front, March 1918 3:37

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Final extract of correspondence from employees of the Great Western Railway on active service. Original document catalogue reference: RAIL 253/516By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: letters from the Front, October 1917 3:55

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The third extract of correspondence from employees of the Great Western Railway on active service. Original document catalogue reference: RAIL 253/516By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: letters from the Front, March 1916 4:20

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Further correspondence from employees of the Great Western Railway on active service. Original document catalogue reference: RAIL 253/516By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: letters from the Front, August 1915 4:23

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Correspondence from employees of the Great Western Railway on active service. Original document catalogue reference: RAIL 253/516By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment 15:58

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Extracts from the war diary, following the battalion from 1915 to setting off for home in 1919. Original document catalogue reference: WO 95/1495By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: the Private's diary 9:17

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More from the diary of Private Pattenden of 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment Original document catalogue reference: WO 95/1495By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: the Private's diary 11:08

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The diary of Private Pattenden of 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, dated September 1914. Original document catalogue reference: WO 95/1495By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: Two voices from the Front, part 2 10:29

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Further extracts from the diaries of Lieutenant Colonel Hicks and Private Pattenden of 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment. Original document catalogue reference: WO 95/1495By The National Archives

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Voices of the Armistice: Two voices from the Front, part 1 5:35

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Extracts from the diaries of Lieutenant Colonel Hicks and Private Pattenden of 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, August 1914. Original document catalogue reference: WO 95/1495By The National Archives

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