The Battle of Assaye has been called Arthur Wellesley’s first great victory, a clash that set the stage for his later fame as the Duke of Wellington. Outnumbered six to one by the mighty Maratha Confederacy, Wellesley’s 6,500 men faced a storm of cannon fire, disciplined infantry, and thousands of cavalry in a battle that could easily have ended in disaster. Instead, through bold gambles, ruthless determination, and sheer grit, Assaye became a defining moment in both the Second Anglo-Maratha War and in Wellesley’s own meteoric career.

In this episode of the Napoleonic Wars Podcast, we sit down with historian and author Josh Provan to break down this bloody, high stakes showdown. We explore the political intrigue that led to war in India, the geography around the village of Assaye, and the snap decision that saw Wellesley launch his outnumbered army into one of the fiercest fights of his life. From desperate bayonet charges to Wellesley himself rallying troops in the thick of battle, Assaye has it all: courage, chaos, and consequences that reshaped British power in India.

If you love epic battles, leadership under fire, and the origins of a legend, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

More of Josh Provan's work can be found here Joshua Provan - Biography | Helion & Company | Military History Books

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Ready to blast through the walls of Napoleonic history? In this pounding episode of the Napoleonic Wars Podcast, we talk to Dr Zack White about his edited collection An Unavoidable Evil - Siege Warfare in the Age of Napoleon. Discover how the era of Napoleon wasn't all about Austerlitz and Waterloo; from the fortresses of Izmail and Braila to Wellington’s Peninsular sieges, we uncover the dramatic and gritty stories of sieges that shaped empires.

We'll explore how siege warfare evolved during this period and why modern historians are turning their sights back on these crucial events. Dr White shares fresh insights from a team of top historians, bridging scholarly depth with battlefield excitement. Tune in as we delve into the strategies commanders used to crack fortress defenses, the challenges soldiers and civilians faced under relentless bombardment, and the lessons these epic sieges teach us about war and society. This is a must listen for military history enthusiasts craving a new perspective on the Napoleonic era's most explosive episodes!

Zack's edited collection can be found here An Unavoidable Evil | From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 | Helion & Company

Have you ever wondered how Britain’s redcoats marched across Europe with full bellies, coin in their pockets, and plenty of ammunition? In this episode, award winning historian Professor Kevin Linch returns to our British Army series to help us break down the gritty reality of military logistics behind the lines.

We explore what was in a soldier's daily ration and how it was cooked up on campaign. We dig into how the army kept its soldiers paid, clothed, and armed in the heat of battle. From supply-line nightmares and busted boots to cunning contractors and a dash of black-market intrigue, nothing is off the table. It's a punchy, behind-the-scenes ride through the unglamorous but crucial "sinews of war" that kept the army fighting fit from the 1790s to Waterloo.

Find more on Kevin's work here Pen and Sword Books: Titles by Kevin Linch

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Why did Britain break its mould with the Waterloo medal? Were medals really that rare? And why do they matter?

Expert auctioneer Robert Wilde-Evans joins Luke and Zack to discuss how you tell the real ones from the fakes, and what a Waterloo medal really represents. We discuss how they highlight a shift in attitudes to how the British soldier is viewed during the time, what the Holy Grail is when it comes to Waterloo medals, and much more, as we discuss possibly the most famous medal of the entire Napoleonic Wars.

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What did ordinary Britons really think about the American and the French Revolutions as war erupted across the globe? In this lively episode of The Napoleonic Wars Podcast, we’re joined by Professor Emma Macleod of the University of Stirling to dig into the fascinating world of 18th Century Britain through the letters of two remarkable men: Rev. James Wodrow, a Scottish minister in Ayrshire, and Samuel Kenrick, an English merchant and banker from Worcestershire.

Drawing on her brilliant work editing The Wodrow-Kenrick Correspondence, 1750–1810, Emma helps us unpack the fierce debates that divided Britain: Tory loyalists versus reformers, pro-war voices versus critics accused of radicalism, and the contrasts between urban and rural opinion. We explore how Britain viewed war with Revolutionary France compared to the American colonies, how politics, religion, and everyday anxieties shaped public opinion, and what these letters reveal about life on the home front during an age of revolution.

This is a fresh, human perspective on the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, one that goes beyond Kings, Generals, and battles to show how ordinary people wrestled with extraordinary times.

Professor Macleod's puplished works The Wodrow-Kenrick Correspondence, 1750–1810 can be found here The Wodrow-Kenrick Correspondence 1750-1810 - Martin Fitzpatrick, Emma Macleod, Anthony Page - Oxford University Press

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Following the disaster of the Corunna campaign, we again turn our attention to Portugal for the next phase of our Peninsular War saga. We talk about Napoleon's unrealistic ambitions for the second French invasion of Portugal, Britain's uncertainty about committing more troops to the defence of Spain and Portugal, and the challenges that both French Marshal Soult, and British General Arthur Wellesley faced in trying to execute a successful campaign.

We also discuss the geography of the city, how Wellesley picked his audacious crossing point, and the way in which the macro and micro came into play with the planning of this campaign.

Support the show on patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/c/thenapoleonicwarspod

How do you celebrate a war hero? Both during and in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain had to find an answer to this complex question. The answer took many forms, one of which was monuments to the fallen 'heroes'. Abercrombie, Moore, Nelson and many others became the focus of a multi-million pound national project to instal monuments to their memory in St Paul's Cathedral. All of it came under the oversize of the 'Committee of Taste'.

Today these beautifully sculpted pieces of marble remind us of the service and sacrifice of some of the key figures of the Napoleonic era. But if you scratch the surface, you find layers of meaning, rivalries, coded messages, and monumental clashes of egos underpinning these relics of history.

PhD Researcher Gemma Shearwood helps us unpack what on earth was going on in the 'Committee of Taste', why it matters, and what these memorials were meant to mean to us all.

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Professor Kevin Linch joins us again for what is Act 2 covering all things rank and file careers, join us as we uncover the truth behind how a British soldiers career prgressed through pay, promotion and punishment.

Professor Linch is a Professor of Modern History at the University of Leeds. He specialises in the history of Britain in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, focusing on the history of Britain's armed forces and their relationship to wider political, social, and cultural trends. He is the author of the recently published, Templar Prize winning ⁠Pen and Sword Books: The British Army, 1783–1815 - Hardback⁠ and ⁠Britain and Wellington's Army: Recruitment, Society and Tradition, 1807-15 | SpringerLink⁠.

Working with Dr Simon Quinn, he has also recently launched an online database of British Army Officers, available at ⁠georgianarmyofficers.org⁠.

We discuss the men behind the thin red line and how they came to be one of the greatest fighting forces that Britain has ever deployed. We'll be covering combat, past times, pay, and of course with Dr Zack White in the house, punishment.

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