The Napoleonic Wars Podcast

In the second instalment of the Birth of America series we welcome Peter Kastor to discuss the presidency of the most famous Founding Father... Creating a Federal Government project: https://creatingafederalgovernment.wustl.edu/ Peter Kastor's profile: https://history.wustl.edu/people/peter-kastor

Religious discrimination is a problem as old as religion itself. For those living in Britain in the early 19th Century a long shadow of religious turmoil lay thick over society. Memories of papist plots, civil wars and the religious roller coaster of succesive Tudor monarchies may have been more than a century in the past but they had dominated the conversaion leading to stigmatisation and the exculsion of Catholicism on a government sanctioned scale. But what, if anything did this mean for the British Army? Catriona Kennedy returns to the podcast the soulsearching, the challenges and the barriers facing Irish Catholics in the British Army.

Brendan Tam joins us to talk about friendship in politics, why party political alliances are much murkier than we tend to think, and how patronage could become an instrument of blackmail in the 18th century. Support our work at https://www.patreon.com/c/thenapoleonicwarspod

Andrew Dorman and Zack have a 'ding dong' about whether civilian courts were more or less lenient than military ones, and why the Irish Military Establishment really wasn't as rubbish as people claim. We also discuss wardrobe malfunctions and Zack whines about the cold for the umpteen-thousandth time. Support our work at https://www.patreon.com/c/thenapoleonicwarspod

Seth Le Jacq joins us to discuss his research in how the Royal Navy prosecuted homosexuality during the 18th century, in an interview that set fire to the question list and was run entirely off the cuff, in possibly the most lively and wide-ranging episode we've ever done. Find out more about Seth's work: https://www.sethlejacq.com Support us at https://www.patreon.com/c/thenapoleonicwarspod

Dr Clementine Garcenot, Severine Angers and Ella Harford take time out of the British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Conference to talk about their research into women in the French Revolution, mourning in the Napoleonic Wars, and women's sexual deviancy in the 18th century.

Why do the Hessians get all the blame for pretty much every war crime committed during the American War of Independence?  Professor Friedericke Baer joins us to talk about her book on the Hessians, who they were, where they came from, and why the often-repeated claims about them simply don't stack up with the reality. Buy Friedericke's book at: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/hessians-9780190249632?cc=gb&lang=en& Support our work at https://www.patreon.com/c/thenapoleonicwarspod

Amy Wilson joins us for a vox-pop on her work looking at women and maternity in the 18th Century, with a particular focus on why Queen Charlotte was never painted as being pregnant, despite spending a total of 16 years of her life pregnant. Find out more about Amy's work at https://amywilsonstorey.com

Thomas Whitfield from the Georgian Group explains about the organisation's important work, how they negotiate with property owners to protect the heritage of crucial Georgian buildings, and the range of events that are open to its members. Support the Georgian Group and find out more at https://georgiangroup.org.uk  

1812 was a transformative year in the Napoleonic Wars. Whilst Napoleon lauched his disastrous invasion of Russia, at the other end of the European continent his 'Spanish Ulcer' which was the Peninsular War began to bleed. As the Allies won key victories at Ciudad Rodrigo in January, Badajoz in April and Salamanca in July it opened up an opportunity that had not even been a dream for three years, the liberation of Madrid. Maintaining that liberation would be more challenging than it first appeared. Allied troops marched into Madrid, stayed an Autumn and then left, how were they treated by the locals? Gavin Daly returns to the podcast to discuss all this and more. Gavin Daly's works; The British Soldier in the Peninsular War: Encounters with Spain and Portugal, 1808-1814 | SpringerLink Storm and Sack