When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #11

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In this penultimate episode of our series, we learn how the Earl of Aberdeen managed to cajole, manipulate, persuade and basically leverage every trick in the book to convince Britons and his peers that national honour was not at s...

30YearsWar #76: The Emperor's Dilemma [1645]

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The Battle of Jankau in 1645, followed by Allerheim later in the year, confirmed that the Emperor could expect few miracles from the battlefield. Bavaria seemed teetering on the edge, making secret moves towards the French, while t...

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #10

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By the end of 1845, Foreign Secretary the Earl of Aberdeen felt he had little left to lose. The Tory government under Sir Robert Peel looked destined to divide over the Corn Laws, imbuing Aberdeen with a certain sense of fatalism. ...

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #9

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Super juicy diplomacy time has arrived, as we draw from a range of sources to depict the sense of distrust between the British, American, and French camps, twinned with a sense of looming despair over a war which no power seemed ab...

30YearsWar #75: Westphalian Woes [1645-46]

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The wide range of interests and powers that gathered at the two Westphalian cities each tell a fascinating story. Whether it was the two French agents that loathed one another; the Dutch tradition of representing each of the seven ...

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #8

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With the Maine boundary resolved, the final issue of note between the US and UK by 1844 was that of Oregon. Its status had been unusual and contested from the beginning, but with a new President on the scene, refusing to honour old...

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #7

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After a few weeks patting themselves on the back, Sir Robert Peel's government soon came to realise that the Webster-Ashburton Treaty wasn't all they had hoped for. Worse, Palmerston's warnings seemed justified, as the United State...

30YearsWar #74: Destination Westphalia [1645]

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After so long dancing around the issue, here we finally look at the moment when the Westphalian towns of Osnabruck and Munster hosted delegates from all across Europe and the Empire. Why were the French so eager to arrive with an e...

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #6

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Herein we examine the months of autumn 1842, where reaction to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty varied and changed as the year progressed. Were the agreements made with Washington the beginning of something special in Anglo-American re...

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #5

The journey to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty was long and painful, but the Earl of Aberdeen would have to persevere if the improvement in Anglo-American relations - and the boost in trade - was to be grasped. The Americans protested over Right of S...

30YearsWar #73: The Pen and the Sword [1644]

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Yes, I do still exist! 

In this episode we examine how the French coped with the sudden absence of Sweden, which had turned its attention to the Danes. France had to contend with several fronts, particularly along the Rh...

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #4

In this latest installment, we see how Alexander McLeod's fate was finally sealed. Did he serve as the cause of an Anglo-American War? SPOILER - not quite, but he did compel the new Conservative government under Sir Robert Peel to send out a diplo...

30YearsWar #72: Torstensson's War [1643-45]

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By late 1643, one could be forgiven for expecting Lennart Torstennson, the Swedish commander in Germany, to take stock of his situation and plan for a new campaign in the new year. But such plans were placed on hold, because a lett...

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #3

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Thanksss so much for supporting WDF! 

By spring 1841, Palmerston was running out of patience. New York remained entirely uncooperative, and Washington refused to intervene in Alexander McLeod's predicament. Unwilling to ...

National Honour and Victorian Diplomacy

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It's about time I dropped my research on you guys, so in this episode we'll be plumbing the depths of something I've mentioned many times, but rarely taken the time to define or explain properly - national honour. What was it, wher...

Diplomacy: Britain vs America #2

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Just when you thought it was safe to step outside of Lockport jail, a New York mob trains a cannon on your cell! This was the situation facing Alexander McLeod in late 1840. McLeod had been deemed the scapegoat by an enraged New Yo...

Introducing Diplomacy: Britain vs America 1838-1846

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Oh boy, it's finally time! Now you get to see what I've been working on over the Christmas break, an extremely chunky and detailed twelve part series examining Anglo-American relations from 1838-1846. Expect fractious diplomacy, wa...

30YearsWar #71: Au Revoir Richelieu

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The Battle of Rocroi was a signal French triumph, but it did not transform the face of the war, either in the Netherlands or in Europe. A Bavarian victory later in the year at Tutlingen made 1643 a year of ups and owns, but of far ...

30YearsWar #70: Enter Torstensson [1641-42]

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1641 was the year when Lennart Torstensson was finally appointed commander of Sweden's mostly German army. Having hunkered down for many years in the north of the country, Torstensson understood that Sweden had to strike hard again...

30YearsWar #69: Maiming Spain [1640-41]

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By 1640, two rebellions shook Madrid to its core, and had a dramatic knock on effect on Spain's ability to support its Habsburg cousins in Vienna. In summer, Catalonia erupted in revolt after years of provocations and intransigence...

Frederick the Great and the Invasion of Silesia - With Alec Avdakov

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In this episode I'm joined for a great conversation about Frederick the Great's 1740 invasion of Silesia, by a guy who knows a whole lot about it - Alec Avdakov from the Life and Times of Frederick the Great Podcast! Liste...

30YearsWar #68: With Allies Like These [1640-41]

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By 1640, both the Habsburgs and their foes had reached something of a crisis. There were opportunities to be had, if a new campaign could be pursued, but where to find the money, and how to support the soldiers in lands no longer s...

30YearsWar #67: The Ravages of War

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War is hell, as the saying goes, but just how bad was the war by the late 1630s, after two decades of fighting? As we learn here, the worst aspects of the conflict didn't come from the deaths in battle, but what went along with the ...

30YearsWar #66: A Tale of Two Crowns [1639-40]

King Philip IV of Spain and King Charles of Britain had a surprising amount in common by the late 1630s. Both were presiding over a deteriorating situation domestically and abroad, and during the Battle of the Downs in October 1639, both came off ...

The Future of WDF

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When will I be finished the PhD? What series do I have planned to follow the Thirty Years War series? What will patrons get next? Will we ever see a second Delegation Game? all of these are pressing questions, and if you'd like the...

My Ten Favourite Podcast Guests

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After ten years of podding, we've seen a wide range of fascinating guests brave enough to nerd out with yours truly, but who is my favourite? Find out here, in this long-delayed episode, to see if your fave made the cut, and don't ...

30YearsWar #65: A Tour of the War [1637-38]

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The war which began in the Habsburg humiliation at Prague had arguably crystallized by the late 1630s, and thus begins perhaps my favourite period of the conflict! We now have battles raging in Northern Germany, where Johan Baner's...

{FIXED} 30YearsWar #64: Death of an Emperor [1637]

Get 50% off your first month and a week's free trial when you sign up to Perlego with my link! Us...