
The Napoleonic Wars Podcast
Who was Napoleon Bonaparte? What was his legacy on history? And why, more than 200 years later, does the conflict which he gave his name to still matter?
Join award-winning Napoleonic historians Dr Zack White, Dr Luke Reynolds, Liam Telfer and Josh Redden as they host Europe's leading show devoted to the American War of Independence, French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.
From interviews with leading researchers, to deep dive debates on some of the big questions, this show is ideal for those who want to start building their knowledge deepen their understanding of the period.
Latest episodes

Feb 16, 2025 • 1h 4min
Redcoat Officers
Kevin Linch joins us for the fourth part of a long-anticipated and fascinating series on all things British Army.
Check out Kevin's book, the inspiration for this series here: Pen and Sword Books: The British Army, 1783–1815 - Hardback
Kevin's other work includes: Britain and Wellington's Army: Recruitment, Society and Tradition, 1807-15 | SpringerLink
Check out our socials, join our mailing list or browse our shop at: https://linktr.ee/napwarspod

Feb 12, 2025 • 1h 8min
Washington's Government
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

Feb 9, 2025 • 1h 5min
Catholics of the British Army
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.

Feb 8, 2025 • 13min
Political Friendship - A BSECS Special
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

Feb 6, 2025 • 15min
Hanging Soldiers - BSECS Report
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

Feb 5, 2025 • 1h 37min
Kiss Me Hardy
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

Feb 3, 2025 • 12min
Sexual Deviancy, women and mourning - A BSECS Special
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.

Feb 2, 2025 • 1h 5min
Hessians - Scapegoats of the American Revolution?
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

Feb 1, 2025 • 15min
Maternity in the 18th Century - A BSECS Special
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

Jan 31, 2025 • 11min
The Georgian Group - A BSECS Special Report
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