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1204 Sir Harry Smith - Part 1

Author: TheHistoryNetwork.org
Sun, Feb 12, 2012

Lieutenant General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith, 1st Baronet of Aliwal was one of the most incredible soldiers of the British Empire making his name during the Napoleonic Peninsular Campaign, where he would rescue his future Spanish born wife, before volunteering to service in America where he witnessed the burning of Washington. Dur: 32mins File: .mp3

In the summer of 1779, American Major General John Sullivan marched his 5,000 Continentals into the Finger Lakes region of western New York. Known as Sullivan's Expedition, it was the longest military campaign of the American Revolutionary War. Ordered by General George Washington, this campaign was a direct invasion into the once impenetrable Iroquois Confederacy lands in retaliation for several brutal massacres by British Rangers and their Indian allies. Dur: 43mins File: .mp3

On May 7th 1954 the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrendered to Ho Chi Minh's Communist forces. For the last 54 days it had been cut off and the surrender was the culmination of an operation that had seen the French troops almost constantly under-fire for 209 days. Comprehensibly beaten it signaled the end of French Indochina. Dur 22mins File: .mp3

The Late Roman Empire and its successor state, the Byzantine Empire, relied heavily on mercenary units to make up the bulk of their armies, as well as personal bodyguards to the emperors. The Varangian Guard was one such elite unit, forever immortalised in history for their famed "berserk-rage" and unwavering loyalty to the throne. Dur: 37mins File: .mp3

During the American Civil War, the common term used was "sharpshooter", which pays tribute to the Sharps Rifles that were used at the time by civil war snipers. The Sharps rifle was renowned for its long range and accuracy, and they were issued only to the best shots. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

Now in control of much of the Middle East, the British occupied the land with little thought of the future. The Secretary of State for India had asked her opinion on which way the political winds were blowing among the various constituencies: the educated Sunnis in town, the Shiite majority in the provinces, the large Jewish community in Baghdad, the Christians in Mosul. The British did not know how they would govern the territory and requested the advice of their experts. Dur: 34mins File: .mp3

In 1918, after years of devastating warfare, the Ottoman Empire finally collapsed and the British, expanding into the Middle East, attempted to control the area. However, the area proved to be too vast and troublesome for the British Empire. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

The wounding of Joseph Johnston at the battle of Seven Pines in 1862 gave General Lee his first major field command with the Army of North Virginia. The coming year would catapult him to the most prominent soldier in the confederacy and prove his doubters of the previous year wrong...those who had criticism him for his lack of aggression. Dur:34mins File:.mp3

Robert E Lee commanded the Confederate forces to their defeat during the American civil war and in doing so he created a myth around himself. He was a statesmen, a gentleman, a great commander, keeping overwhelming northern forces at bay for 3 years - an American Hannibal (as it were) fighting a lost cause. In defeat he has become an iconic American hero mentioned in the same breath as George Washington. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

The Anglo-Irish conflict of 1919-21 is a deeply complicated and contradictory issue in Irish history. This is reflected in the fact that there is no agreed title for it: it is variously referred to as the Anglo-Irish War, the Sinn Fein War, the War of Independence, the Tan War or, more simply, the Troubles. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

On the 31st of January 1713, Turkish artillery opened fire on a small Swedish camp located in the town of Bender, the westernmost town of the Ottoman Empire, located in present-day Moldavia. These were the opening shots of what would soon develop into a prolonged engagement known as the Kalabalik. Dur:32mins  File:.mp3

The names of the Roman emperors Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius are well known, and so too are their stories. Hardly known at all is the story of Tiberius' brother and Claudius' father, the man known to historians as Drusus the Elder, who was considered in his own lifetime as an all-Roman hero, a potential successor to Augustus and the person who might restore the Republic. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

For three years Great Britain and the United States fought a war ultimately the outcome of which would in essence be to neither's advantage. To Britain, mired in war with Napoleonic France, it was little more than a side show, in America it would see their capital Washington captured, burned and initially her armies humiliated before honour could be restored. Dur: 23mins File: .mp3

One of the most famous encrypted messages to be intercepted was The Zimmerman Telegram in 1917. The Telegram was part of a German effort to distract the U.S. and divert American aid going to the Triple Entente, being the United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire. Germany had long sought to incite a war between Mexico and the U.S., which would have tied down American forces and slowed the export of American arms. Dur: 31mins File: .mp3

In 1940 18 year old trainee navigator, Frank Stone, was shot down on his second bombing mission.

He eventually ended up in Sagan StalagLuft III - the camp made renowned in the classic war movie "The Great Escape". One of the infamous three tunnels, Tom, Dick and Harry, was dug from the hut in which Frank was billeted.

For the past thirty years Frank has been sharing his experiences of the camp, explaining how they planned and achieved everything and telling of his own part in the greatest escape story of the Second World War.

This is the first of four excerpts from a full 87 minute DVD which is available direct from Frank.

For more information on the full DVD please see our website. All proceeds to the Bomber Command Memorial Fund.

While many have a nostalgic love affair with the Spitfire, and rightly so, and many view it as synonymous with the Battle of Brittain - and it was - it was in fact the Hawker Hurricane, first emerging from Sir Sydney Camm's drawing board in 1934, which accounted for over half of the German Aircraft shot down by the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

Fancisco "pancho" Villa's journey though his 45 years of life certainly wasn't ordinary! Born a humble peasant, he became an outlaw, a revolutionary, the Americans invaded Mexico in pursuit of him, before eventually retiring on a Generals salary from the government he tried to bring down. He has become a "Robin Hood" type hero, brutal and violent he forced the wealthy into funding him, he even had his own money printed in competition with the Mexican Peso. His luck did of course run out when he was gunned down by a gang in the street. Dur: 19mins File: .mp3

The day after Napoleon proclaimed France an Empire and volunteered himself as Emperor, in 1804, he elevated 18 men to the status of Marshal's of the Empire. All were from the military but from extremely eclectic backgrounds...some former Royalist military officers and soldiers, others had risen rapidly through the ranks during the years of revolutionary fervour. By the time of his eventual fall from power, after Waterloo, 26 would have held the Marshal's baton, three would die in battle, others had betrayed their Emperor and Country, some would mutiny leading to Napoleon's downfall and yet others would serve their country loyally beyond Napoleon's tenure... Dur: 16mins File: .mp3

The idea for submarines had been around throughout the 19th century but it was only during the First World War that they were a viable weapon. These early craft were used basically as under water attack boats, it wasn't until Allied Command in 1918 had a problem of attacking Austrian ships in port did two Italian officers trained in underwater demolition come forward with the idea of a small underwater chariot to carry them into the harbour. This niche craft would be built by all major nations to attack harbours and inlets, it would be a midget submarine that suffered the first Japanese casualties of world war two hit by the first shots fired by an American of world war two, at Pearl Harbour. Dur: 17mins  File: .mp3

Audie Murphy came from humble begins to find fame during the second world war. After a number of heroic actions and feats of dering-do he finished the war as Americas most highly decorated combat soldier. One of his 33 medals was the Medal of Honour... Dur: 16mins File: .mp3

The Graf Spee at the outset of the second world war was one of the most modern and feared ships of the German fleet. A Deutschland class cruiser, what the British referred to as a “pocket battleship”, she was considerably smaller than a true battleship, her armor and guns far inferior to those of battleships and battle cruisers, however, she could outgun any contemporary cruiser. In the first major naval engagement of the war she had been raiding in the South Atlantic when on her way home she spotted a British Cruiser Squadron and attacked. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

Two new troops of Artillery were formed in 1813 and were armed with the new rockets, which General Congreve had been developing, testing, and advocating for some years previously. Dur: 19mins  File: .mp3

After the stunning German victory at Tanga the war seemed to peter out as quickly as it had flared up in East Africa. The British General Aitken was relieved of command following the disaster but his successor, General Wapshare fared little better. Denied reinforcements by the War Cabinet in London he launched a small scale offensive into German territory capturing a German plantation at Jassini. Dur: 31mins  File: .mp3

The lasting image of the First World War is that of trench warfare. However, far away from the trenches of the Western Front an extraordinary struggle was fought in a remote corner of Africa. When Germany went to war in August 1914 it possessed but few colonial possessions mainly situated in Africa. Dur: 23mins File: .mp3

In 1857 the Indian troops of the British East India Company mutinied at the town of Meerut, this would be the spark that triggered rebellion throughout British controlled central and northern India. Within days Sir Henry Lawrence, 1700 troops and some 1200 civilians were under siege at Lucknow defending the British Commissioner's residency. Dur: 23mins File: .mp3

The battle of Quebec was one of the culminating actions of the Seven Year’s War, and can be regarded as the climax in North America, from there on in the British would steal a series of victories, against the French, leaving her (if only for a brief moment) with undisputed control of the whole of North America. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

At its height stretching from Korea to Hungary, the mongol empire would be the largest continuous land empire in the history of the world! A tribesman would unify the tribes and like a whirlwind from the Mongolian Steppes of central Asia, the world would know the name of Genghis Khan. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

The Carthaginian power was built round trade, the city was founded in 814 BC on the coast of what is now Tunisia. At its height her merchants dominated the trade routes along the north African coast, controlled large areas of what is now Spain, Sardinia and parts of Sicily. All this was achieved with no regular army. It was inevitable that a large empire such as Carthage would eventually come into conflict with Rome...Dur: 15mins File: .mp3

Clausewitz is best remembered for his tome On War and this came from a life immersed in the military from an early age. His writings have influenced leaders and military strategists from across the world. Over 150 years have passed since his death and yet he remains the most frequently cited and one of the most controversial of all strategic theorists. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

Introduced first by the Swedes, the Howitzer, with a shorter barrel than a cannon, is ideal for indirect fire, but with a barrel length longer than a mortar they can also be employed in direct fire if the target is in sight. This artillery piece really came to the fore during the trench warfare of world war one, where massed batteries, sat back from the front lines, would bring down huge barrages on the enemy. Dur: 14 mins File: .mp3

On the morning of 7th of December 1941 the Japanese launched Operation Z, the surprise attack on the American Naval base of Pearl Harbour, Hawai. This was the start of the War in the Pacific. Like a typhoon Imperial Japanese forces were unleashed across the Pacific and for almost six months had victory after victory. Hong Kong, Singapore, Guam, the Philipines, Burma - all would fall. The Japanese had swept across the Pacific knocking on the doors of both Australia and India. Even the American presence in the Pacific would be under threat. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

Medieval Europe saw an array of wars and battles fought for a plethora of reasons; defensive wars fought against invading vikings or Ottoman Turks; wars of expansion such as the invasion of Britain in 1066; then of course there were the great Crusades for Christendom. At the other end of the scale there were rebellions of peasants against nobles, nobles against their Lord, Barons against their King. The eruption of violence for one reason or another was fairly common, but how was this waged? Dur: 20 mins File: .mp3

1903 saw the birth of fixed-wing aircraft. In January of 1912 Lieutenant Charles Samson flew a Shorts S27 biplane off a platform constructed on the stationary battleship H.M.S Africa. Just four months later, and Samson flew a plane of a moving ship, Hibernia, during the Royal Fleet Review at Weymouth. The development of naval air power had begun. The aircraft carrier was born. Dur: 21 mins File: .mp3

The 8.8cm Flak was originally designed by the Germans solely for the use as an anti-aircraft gun. But the German's saw their potential in a variety of roles and thus they were also put to use with devastating effect as anti-tank and anti-personnel guns during the Second World War. Dur: 17mins  File: .mp3

Sargent Alvin York was not untypical of many of the Dough-boys arriving in France, from America, in 1918. Born in a two room log cabin in Tennessee, he had up-until that point never traveled more than 50 miles from his home. God fearing, poorly educated but a crack shot, York would become an all American hero for his exploits in France, which would win him the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Dur: 18mins  File: .mp3

The war between Russia and Japan in 1904-5 looked at first like no contest for Russia, this huge Imperial power against Japan an asian power perceived as being underdeveloped. This would turn into a David and Goliath contest, the consequences of which would lead to the first Russian Revolution of 1905 and a shifting of power in the East. It could also be said to be a full military dress rehearsal for the First World War, with trenches, machine guns, indirect fire, barb wire and submarines! Dur: 24mins  File: .mp3

Although Italy was allied with the Central powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary at the outbreak of the first world war she chose to remain neutral, until 1915 when with British aid and financial help she attacked Austria. Within months the Italian army had suffered over 200,000 casualties and the offensive had ground to a halt. By the armistice, in 1918, casualties had reached nearly a million. German troops reinforcing Austria had almost brought the Italian army to its knees (but for the intervention of the French and British) yet in a remarkable role reversal by the end, Italy brought the Austro-Hungarian armies facing her to the brink of collapse. Dur: 26mins  File: .mp3

Rome had been a Republic for more than 450 years when the Battle of Actium ensued. The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44BC created a power vacuum, where two men would initially work together against common opponents, but eventually they would face each other seeking to take ultimate control. One would be gravely defeated. The other would eventually rise to be the first Emperor of Rome and form the foundation of the next 400 years of its history. Dur: 23mins  File: .mp3

The early 20th Century saw the armed forces of the world investigate the possibilities of the aeroplane, with the first tentative steps taken by the Italians using planes for bombing in Libya. As the century progressed the wars became total wars enveloping the whole population in war work. The means of manufacturing, infrastructure and the means of a nation to make war became targets... Dur: 26mins  File: .mp3

The origins of Drones, goes all the way back to the mid 19th century, but their sophistication and development has accelerated in recent times, and they now are given an ever increasing situational awareness and combat role in modern theatres of war. As their development and deployment continues apace we look back to their origins and the characters who pioneered their first steps. Dur: 17mins  File: .mp3

Quatre Bras would be the prelude to the battle of Waterloo, here Napoleon sent Marshal Ney to seize a vital cross-roads which would prevent the Prussians meeting up with Wellington's Anglo-allied army, and allow Napoleon to dispose of the allied forces one at a time so giving him the numerical advantage. The speed and surprise which Napoleon achieved, would almost lead to disaster for the allies. Dur: 21mins  File: .mp3

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