Warfare

This month marks 75 years since the establishment of the United States Air Force (USAF). So to mark this anniversary, we wanted to follow up on listener Rick Harrison's request for more air power. Well Rick, we hope this will suffice!In this episode James is joined by Lt Col Whit 'Skate' Collins, a current USAF fighter pilot with the 64th aggressor squadron who is responsible for knowing, teaching, and replicating  adversary tactics in order to train aircrews of the US and its allies.Skate was kind enough to take us through the long, explosive history of jet fighter aircraft from the last months of the Second World War through to the constantly evolving Top Gun world of today.Note: Out of respect for the late Queen Elizabeth II, this episode was moved from the day of Her Majesty's funeral on Monday September 19 to Tuesday September 20. Warfare's normal Monday & Friday schedule will return next week.For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code WARFARE for two weeks free + 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Following the recent death of Mikhail Gorbachev at the age of 91, we've decided to take a look into the beginnings, career and legacy of the last ever leader of the Soviet Union.There was a mix of sadness in the West as well as sorrow, silence and indifference in Russia at the news of Gorbachev's passing on August 30, no surprise given how extraordinary his relatively short time in power would prove.In this episode James is joined by Dr Susan Colbourn to explore Gorbachev's contested legacy, focusing in on one of his most controversial achievements - his Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons for the first time ever.Susan's new book Euromissiles: The Nuclear Weapons That Nearly Destroyed NATO is available to pre-order here.For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code WARFARE for two weeks free + 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Chief Joseph W. Pfeifer was the first senior fire chief to arrive at the World Trade Center on 9/11. His actions, along with those of hundreds of other firefighters, helped save tens of thousands of lives on that fateful morning 21 years ago.Joe's key role in organising the emergency response on September 11 2001 was captured on tape by the Naudet brothers in their extraordinary film 9/11, and the Warfare podcast was honoured to welcome the retired chief - who now lecturers at Harvard - onto the podcast recently.Join James as Joe leads him through his own personal history of one of the pivotal events of our time.Joe's book Ordinary Heroes: A Memoir of 9/11 is available here.If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy our episode on 9/11: From the 105th Floor, which was also just shortlisted for a Lovie Award in the Best Interview/Talk Show Category.For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code WARFARE for two weeks free + 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

As a mark of respect and remembrance to the late Queen Elizabeth II, we've chosen to focus on Her Majesty's personal history as a veteran of the Second World War.For this episode, James is joined by Tessa Dunlop to learn more about how the inspirational, dedicated, and devoted monarch that was Elizabeth II went from a young girl living through the blitz, to serving as a second subaltern in the all-female Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) by the end of WW2.Note: This episode was recorded before the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II's death.Edited by Aidan Lonergan.

If Germany's audacious plan to invade Britain - Operation Sea Lion - had succeeded, what exactly would the country's last line of defence have looked like?Well much like the French Resistance, who were backed by the UK's very own Special Operations Executive (SOE), Britain had prepared its very own network of brave civilian saboteurs, spies, and assassins - many of whom went to their grave without revealing a word of what they'd been tasked to do.In this episode James is joined by historian & author Andrew Chatterton, who helps us understand exactly what a British Resistance movement would have looked like.Mark's new book Britain’s Secret Defences: Civilian saboteurs, spies and assassins during the Second World War is available here.For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code WARFARE for two weeks free + 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

The Battle of Salamanca was fought in Napoleonic Spain on 22 July 1812, during the Peninsula War. It pitted Lt Gen Arthur Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, against the French military master Marshal Auguste de Marmont.Despite being one of the lesser discussed Napoleonic battles, Salamanca defined Wellington's reputation as a defensive general and shattered French dominance on the Iberian peninsula.In this episode James is joined by Dr Zack White to learn more about the bloody & brutal battle that marked such a turning point in the Napoleonic Era on its 210th anniversary.You can support the Napoleonic & Revolutionary War Graves Charity here.For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code WARFARE for two weeks free + 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Their attacks of September 11 2001 sparked a War on Terror which has a legacy that very much lasts to this day, but where did Al-Qaeda come from, how did their ideologies form and what role do they play in the world today? In this episode James is joined by Dr Afzal Ashraf, an expert on the terror group's ideologies and violent religious extremism. Dr Ashraf spent over 30 years in the UK Armed Forces as a senior officer and is a Senior Government Advisor.A version of this episode was originally released in September 2021.For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code WARFARE for two weeks free + 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

After the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, the focus of the Pacific War moved closer to Australia. Japanese forces bombed Darwin and began to launch attacks on Papua New Guinea, with a view to capturing its capital Port Moresby.If the Japanese had captured that city, they would have been able to bomb vital Allied bases in northern Australia - potentially turning the tide of the war in their favour.In this episode, James is joined by author David W. Cameron to find out about the ferocious, desperate, and incredibly vicious seven-month struggle that followed: the Kokoda Track campaign - often claimed to be 'Australia's Thermopylae'.David's latest book The Battle for Isurava is available here via Simon & Schuster.Produced and edited by Aidan Lonergan.For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code WARFARE for two weeks free + 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

In 1970, the deadliest storm in modern history ripped Pakistan in two, leading the world to the brink of nuclear war after American and Soviet forces converged in the Bay of Bengal.Over the course of just a few hours, the Great Bhola Cyclone would kill 500,000 people and begin a chain reaction of turmoil, genocide, and war.In this episode James is joined by Scott Carney and Jason Miklian, who take us deep into the story of the cyclone and its aftermath, told through the eyes of those who lived through it - including the infamous president of Pakistan, General Yahya Khan, and his close friend Richard Nixon.Scott & Jason's book The Vortex: A True Story of History's Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation is available here.Edited by Aidan Lonergan.For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.

80 years ago today on 19 August 1942, a 6,000 strong combined Allied landing force took part in a raid on Dieppe, Northern France.Tragically, no less than 67% of these fighters - most of them Canadians - became casualties in what has gone down in history as an unmitigated catastrophe conceived chiefly by Lord Mountbatten.In this episode to mark the Dieppe Raid's 80th anniversary, James is joined by David O'Keefe who has uncovered declassified material proving how the disastrous raid concealed a secret pinch mission to steal one of the Nazis' Enigma code machines.David's book One Day in August: Ian Fleming, Enigma, and the Deadly Raid on Dieppe is available here.Edited by Aidan Lonergan.For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.