
Pax Britannica: A History of the British Empire
Pax Britannica is a narrative history podcast covering the empire upon which the sun never set. Shortlisted for the 2023 Independent Podcast Awards, Pax Britannica follows the events which created an empire that dominated the globe. Hosted by Dr Samuel Hume, a historian of British Imperial history, Pax Britannica aims to explain the rise and eventual fall of the largest empire in history. After all, how peaceful was the 'British Peace'?
Latest episodes

Dec 20, 2020 • 41min
Bonus - The Ancient Britons by the Early Stuart England Podcast
A guest episode from the Early Stuart England Podcast! The King's Welsh subjects rally to his cause, turning the western borderlands into one of the key strategic theatres of the war.Listen to the show here: https://pod.link/1405626360 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 4, 2020 • 31min
02.11 - Hearts and Minds
With the Short Parliament dissolved, Charles raises a new army as best he can without English taxation. But across the kingdom, resentment and unrest spreads, and unpopular officers and Laudian churches face the consequences. Fanning the flames were an endless stream of Covenanter propaganda, circulated along Puritan networks and plastered across towns and cities, while the Royalists mount their own campaign for public opinion.Listen to Human Circus HERE: https://pod.link/1194921513Check out the podcast websiteCheck out Pax Britannica Merch!Facebook | Twitter | Patreon | DonateFor this episode, I found the following publications particularly useful:
Adams, Goodare, Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions
Russell, C The Causes of the English Civil War
Kishlansky, M, Monarchy Transformed
Macinnes, Allan, The British Revolution, 1629-1660
Harris, T. Rebellion
Keynon, Ohlmeyer, The Civil Wars
James Miller, ‘The Scottish mercenary as a migrant labourer in Europe, 1550-1650’, in Erik-Jan Zürcher (ed), Fighting for a Living Book Subtitle: A Comparative Study of Military Labour 1500-2000
Smith, David, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689
Alexia Grosjean, Steve Murdoch, Alexander Leslie and the Scottish generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
Steve Murdoch (ed), Scotland and the Thirty Years' War
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Oct 18, 2020 • 1h 1min
Bonus - The Philosophy of Empire
To understand the past, sometimes we need to examine our values and subject them to philosophical analysis. The British Empire was a complex, varied entity that stretched across the world and changed over the centuries. How do we understand the mindset of those people in the C19th who created it, or lived in it? This episode is designed to get you thinking and analysing big questions and unpleasant moral problems. Ultimately the answers will be down to your judgements. Be warned some material is upsetting and contains references to genocide, racism, slavery, the holocaust, abortion and critiques of religion. I hope you find it stimulating.Listen to Age of Victoria here: https://pod.link/1234105258 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 11, 2020 • 34min
02.10 - The Trouble With Peace
After the Peace of Berwick, parliaments meet in England and Ireland. The Irish Parliament goes off without a hitch. The English... not so much.Listen to Agoraphobia here: https://pod.link/1068901505Check out the podcast websiteCheck out Pax Britannica Merch!Facebook | Twitter | Patreon | DonateFor this episode, I found the following publications particularly useful:
Adams, Goodare, Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions
Russell, C The Causes of the English Civil War
Kishlansky, M, Monarchy Transformed
Macinnes, Allan, The British Revolution, 1629-1660
Harris, T. Rebellion
Keynon, Ohlmeyer, The Civil Wars
James Miller, ‘The Scottish mercenary as a migrant labourer in Europe, 1550-1650’, in Erik-Jan Zürcher (ed), Fighting for a Living Book Subtitle: A Comparative Study of Military Labour 1500-2000
Smith, David, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689
Alexia Grosjean, Steve Murdoch, Alexander Leslie and the Scottish generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
Steve Murdoch (ed), Scotland and the Thirty Years' War
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 4, 2020 • 30min
02.09 - The Calm Before the Storm
After signing a treaty with the king, the Covenanters find it wasn't worth the paper it was written on. The General Assembly meets once more, but the Parliament of Scotland is held up in procedure for weeks, before being prorogued. Aware of the danger of foreign intervention, the Covenanters continue their diplomatic offensive with fantastic results.Listen to Agoraphobia here: https://pod.link/1068901505Check out the podcast websiteCheck out Pax Britannica Merch!Facebook | Twitter | Patreon | DonateFor this episode, I found the following publications particularly useful:
Adams, Goodare, Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions
Russell, C The Causes of the English Civil War
Kishlansky, M, Monarchy Transformed
Macinnes, Allan, The British Revolution, 1629-1660
Harris, T. Rebellion
Keynon, Ohlmeyer, The Civil Wars
James Miller, ‘The Scottish mercenary as a migrant labourer in Europe, 1550-1650’, in Erik-Jan Zürcher (ed), Fighting for a Living Book Subtitle: A Comparative Study of Military Labour 1500-2000
Alexia Grosjean, Steve Murdoch, Alexander Leslie and the Scottish generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
Steve Murdoch (ed), Scotland and the Thirty Years' War
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 27, 2020 • 42min
Bonus - The Sinking of the Arandora Star
This was the talk I gave at this year's Intelligent Speech conference. I follow three interned 'enemy aliens' during the Second World War, as the British Government arrested them. Their eventual fates were very different, but first they would all have to pass through the crucible of the Arandora Star.Check out the podcast websiteCheck out Pax Britannica Merch!Facebook | Twitter | Patreon | Donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 20, 2020 • 48min
Bonus - Plague, War and Hellfire with Rebecca Rideal
After reading and loving 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire I asked historian, author, producer and podcaster Rebecca Rideal on to talk about it.Buy the book HERE.Register for the Regicide event HEREListen to Killing Time with Rebecca Rideal HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 13, 2020 • 1h 5min
02.08 - The First Bishops' War
King and Covenanter call up their forces and prepare for war. Alexander Leslie returns to Scotland. We look at how the armies are armed and trained, and how Scotland's famous castles held up in the era of gunpowder.Check out the podcast websiteCheck out Pax Britannica Merch!Facebook | Twitter | Patreon | DonateFor this episode, I found the following publications particularly useful:
Adams, Goodare, Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions
Russell, C The Causes of the English Civil War
Kishlansky, M, Monarchy Transformed
Macinnes, Allan, The British Revolution, 1629-1660
Harris, T. Rebellion
Keynon, Ohlmeyer, The Civil Wars
James Miller, ‘The Scottish mercenary as a migrant labourer in Europe, 1550-1650’, in Erik-Jan Zürcher (ed), Fighting for a Living Book Subtitle: A Comparative Study of Military Labour 1500-2000
Alexia Grosjean, Steve Murdoch, Alexander Leslie and the Scottish generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
Steve Murdoch (ed), Scotland and the Thirty Years' War
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 6, 2020 • 40min
02.07 - ‘No Matter What Master We Serve’
Veterans of the Thirty Years War were invaluable in the early Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and this episode looks at why. Why did so many Scots sign up to fight on the continent? Gold? Glory? Escaping a debt? Because they were arrested and forced to? All of the above.Check out the podcast websiteCheck out Pax Britannica Merch!Facebook | Twitter | Patreon | DonateFor this episode, I found the following publications particularly useful:
Keynon, Ohlmeyer, The Civil Wars
MacKenzie, Kirsteen, The Solemn League and Covenant of the Three Kingdoms and the Cromwellian Union, 1643-1663
Miller, James, 'The Scottish mercenary as a migrant labourer in Europe, 1550-1650', in Zürcher, Erik-Jan (ed.), Fighting for a Living: A Comparative Study of Military Labour 1500-2000
Murdoch, Steven and Grosjean, Alexia, Alexander Leslie and the Scottish generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
Murdoch, Steven, Scotland and the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
For a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 30, 2020 • 1h 6min
Bonus - The Pre-History of Maryland
Jared Books from A History of Maryland covers the winding background of the colonyListen to A History of Maryland : https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jared-books/a-history-of-maryland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices