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Theodore Winthrop: A Civil War Narrative Aborted by Death

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War & Military
Chapter: 6 | Listen:

Theodore Winthrop (1828 – 1861) was a charismatic writer, lawyer, and world traveler. In the New York Seventh Regiment, he was one of the first Union officers killed in the American Civil War. He wrote two articles for The Atlantic Monthly, the first of an intended series on the nascent civil war. He was killed in the Battle Of Big Bethel in June 1861 before he finished the third article. This librivox recording consists of the two finished articles and the Atlantic Monthly obituary which itself contains the third article. These articles are from The Atlantic Monthly for June 1861, July 1861, and August 1861. Note: In article three, “contraband” means African Americans. – Summary by david wales [chương_files]

Art of War (Neville Translation)

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War & Military
Chapter: 15 | Listen: 2

The Art of War (1521) is the only book published by Niccolo Machiavelli during his lifetime, and he saw it as one of his finest achievements. The Art of War develops many themes introduced in Machiavelli’s earlier works “The Prince” and “Discourses” and presents them as the collected wisdom of a fictional leader Lord Fabrizio Colonna. The book is constructed as a series of dialogues supposedly held during a summer afternoon spent in the Orti Oricellari gardens in Florence. The stated aim is “To honor and reward virtue, not to have contempt for poverty, to esteem the modes and orders of military discipline, to constrain citizens to love one another, to live without factions, to esteem less the private than the public good, and other such things which could easily be added in these times.” As in “The Prince” Machiavelli develops the idea of limited warfare, where force is used as an extension of politics, but now also introduces elements of psychological warfare. In the first part of the book Machiavelli strongly warns that any state establishing a standing army must take special measures are taken to prevent military leaders gaining too much control. If the state ignores this it risks a military coup: something we still see today. The Art of War was a standard text on military tactics for three hundred years, only losing favour when developments in the range and accuracy of firearms made the Linear Tactics it described obsolete. This translation by Henry Neville was published […]

Running the Blockade

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War & Military
Chapter: 13 | Listen:

The first-person experiences and adventures of blockade runner during the American civil war. – Summary by Delmar H. Dolbier [chương_files]

Brown Book of the Hitler Terror

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War & Military
Chapter: 22 | Listen: 2

The Brown Book was the first English publication to detail events which were currently happening in occupied Germany in 1933; book-burning and the destruction of universities, the development of concentration camps for Jewish people, forced labour and the use of the “shot while trying to escape” excuse for murder by police. This was the first time such events had been brought into the public consciousness, and the book was supported by documentation with names and dates – substantial evidence of the brutality which was taking place. (Please note the confronting and graphic nature of the content of Chapters 7, 9 and 10 before listening.) Lord Marley described the book as “a contribution to the fight against Hitler Fascism. This fight is not directed against Germany; it is a fight on behalf of the real Germany.” (Summary by Beth Thomas and the Introduction) [chương_files]

Prison Life in Andersonville

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War & Military
Chapter: 16 | Listen:

A firsthand account of the deplorable conditions within the most infamous prisoner-of-war camp of the Confederacy. Though functioning only during the last year of the Civil War, nearly 13,000 of 45,000 incarcerated Union soldiers died under inhumane conditions. – Summary by Jeffery Smith [chương_files]

Fort Concho; Its Why And Wherefore

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War & Military
Chapter: 5 | Listen: 2

Fort Concho was a U.S. Army post in central Texas from 1867 to 1889. It figured considerably in the Indian Wars, notably against the Comanches. It mainly served to protect frontier settlers, stagecoaches, wagon trains, the U.S. mail, and trade routes. This 1957 book, published by the museum at the site of the fort, is the story of its activities. – Summary by David Wales [chương_files]

Nothing of Importance

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War & Military
Chapter: 18 | Listen: 2

Fighting in France during the Great War, Bernard Adams, an officer with a Welsh battalion, was moved to chronicle what he saw and experienced: the living conditions and duties of officers and “Tommies” (enlisted men) in their dank, rat-infested trenches and behind the lines; the maiming and deaths; and the quiet periods described in official reports as “nothing of importance”. Adams relates his wounding in June, 1916 and its aftermath. The concluding chapter, which he wrote during his convalescence in “Blighty” (soldiers’ slang for England), is an impassioned reflection on war. Following several months of recuperation Adams returned to the front where, on February 26, 1917 he was wounded again. The following day he died. (Lee Smalley) [chương_files]

Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi

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War & Military
Chapter: 4 | Listen: 9

In the American Civil War, the Vicksburg campaign (December 1862-July 1863) was a pivotal victory for the Union under the generalship of Ulysses S. Grant, who as a result was promoted by President Lincoln to command of all the North’s military forces. Historian James M. McPherson called Vicksburg “The most brilliant and innovative campaign of the Civil War.” A U.S. Army field manual called it “the most brilliant campaign ever fought on American soil.” National Park Service Historical Manual number 21 published in 1954. – Summary by David Wales [chương_files]

Somme Battle Stories

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War & Military
Chapter: 20 | Listen: 2

Stories of World War I warfare, published in 1916 in the midst of the war. (That’s why names of persons and units are literally “blanked” out.) Alec John Dawson (1872 – 1951), generally known as A. J. Dawson (pseudonyms Major Dawson, Howard Kerr, Nicholas Freydon) was an English author, traveller and novelist. During World War I he attained the rank of Major, and was awarded the MBE and Croix de Guerre in recognition of his work as a military propagandist, a work the listener may want to keep in mind. (Terminology note: “Boche” means the Germans, singular or plural; “Blighty” means hospitalization in England; “The Push” means fighting in the Somme offensive.) The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme, German: Schlacht an der Somme), also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on either side of the River Somme in France. The battle was one of the largest of World War I, in which more than 1,000,000 men were wounded or killed, making it one of humanity’s bloodiest battles…. 1 July 1916 was also the worst day in the history of British Army, which had c. 60,000 casualties,… The British Army on the Somme was a mixture of the remains of the pre-war regular army, Territorial Force and the Kitchener Army which was composed of Pals battalions, […]

History of the Four Georges in Four Volumes, Volume 2

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War & Military
Chapter: 22 | Listen: 4

Justin McCarthy (1830-1912), liberal member of Parliament and historian. He brings the great 18th Century personalities to life: Walpole and Swift, Bolingbroke and Mary Wortley Montagu, the Old Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and the four King Georges. This second volume brings us the terrible death of Queen Caroline, Swift and Stella, the Jacobite rising of 1745, the Wesleyan Movement, Clive’s victories, and the struggle for Canada. – Summary by Pamela Nagami [chương_files]