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  • St Crispin’s day, 1415: Henry V stands victorious, after a tremendous defeat of the French forces at the Battle of Agincourt. He is just about to make a historic speech which will be retold by Shakespeare nearly two centuries later. There are mounds of bodies, too many dead for the chroniclers to count. Those who escaped the bloodshed have been taken prisoner back to England, including the young Duke of Orleans, on the day before his twenty-first birthday. And a month later, across the Channel, the Count of Armagnac comes to power in Paris, and rules so brutally that the residents of the French capital start to hope for an English invasion. Henry V is taking no time to rest, and begins planning his next offensive…

    Join Tom and Dominic in the fourth instalment of our series on the Hundred Year’s War, as Henry V considers his next move after his triumph at Agincourt.
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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. 

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”.

    The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 endures as perhaps the most totemic battle in the whole of English history. Thanks in part to Shakespeare’s masterful Henry V, the myths and legends of that bloody day echo across time, forever enshrining the young Henry as the greatest warrior king England had ever known. So too the enduring idea of the English as plucky underdogs, facing down unfavourable odds with brazen grit. And though the exact numbers of men who fought in the two armies is hotly contested, the prospect was certainly intimidating for the English host looking down upon the vast French force amassed below them the day before the battle. Hungry and weary after an unexpectedly long march, and demoralised by the number of French that would be taking to the field, the situation certainly seemed dire for the English. One man amongst them, however, held true to his belief that the day could still be won: Henry V. An undeniably brilliant military commander, he infused his men with a sense of patriotic mission, convincing them that theirs was truly a divinely ordained task, and therefore in this - and his careful strategic planning the night before the battle - he proves a striking case of one individual changing the course of history. However, the French too had plans in place for the day ahead: total warfare. In other words, to overwhelm the English in a single devastating moment of impact, sweeping the lethal Welsh archers aside. So it was that dawn broke on the 25th of October to the site of King Henry wearing a helmet surmounted by a glittering crown and bearing the emblems of both France and England, astride his little grey horse, and riding up and down his lines of weathered silver clad men, preparing them to stride into legend…then, as the French cavalry began their charge, the sky went black as 75,000 arrows blocked out the sun. What else would that apocalyptic day hold in store?

    Join Tom and Dominic as they describe the epochal Battle of Agincourt. From the days building up to it, to the moment that the two armies shattered together in the rain and mud of France. It is a story of courage and cowardice, kings and peasants, blood and bowels, tragedy and triumph. 
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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. 

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  • On the 11th of August 1415, King Henry V of England - an austere, pious, thoughtful and terrifying warlord in only his late-twenties - set sail for France. He embarked in the largest ship ever built on English soil at the head of some 15,000 ships, his nobles, brothers and hordes of Welsh longbow-men in tow. Two days later, they made land, and their target: the Port of Harfleur, a nest of state-sponsored pirates. Henry’s intention was to use it as a spring-board to a wider campaign in France, capitalising on the chaos that raged there, before eventually annexing Normandy. The assault on Harfleur that followed was bloody and brutal. The first Norman town to be pulverised by artillery, the English canons created a hellish scene of smoke and fire. However, the siege went on longer than Henry had hoped, inflicting terrible devastation upon the city and his forces. Furthermore, large numbers of his men were falling sick and their supplies growing thin. Finally, after four long weeks of terrible siege warfare, the city fell. However, a massive French force was now assembling to recapture the fallen city, potentially undermining all the money and men that Henry had already spent on the campaign. With the clock ticking for the English towards the end of 1415, what would Henry’s next move be? First, in a daring move of legendary chivalry, he challenged the portly French Dauphin to a duel, to no avail. So it was that he decided to march right across France and take Calais; a bold public proclamation of his right to the whole of France. Would Henry’s plan prove overly ambitious, or would he get the decisive battle he craved…?

    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Henry V’s first bloody forays into France, enacting his claim to the French crown that he truly believed was his by divine ordination, and thereby reigniting the tumultuous Hundred Years’ War….
    _______

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “Once more unto the breach, dear friends. Once more, we'll close the wall up with our English dead […] And upon this charge, cry God for Harry, England and St. George!”
    Such was Henry V’s call to arms at the siege of Harfleur, as written by Shakespeare. The son of the Usurper King, Henry V has decided to take up the English claim to the French throne, thereby putting an end to the truce that had marked a pause in the Hundred Years’ War. And so, in the late summer of 1415, Henry has decided to lay siege to the massive port of Harfleur, in Normandy, a renowned nest of state-sponsored pirates. The English king has waited a long time for this moment, and the odds may never again be so favourable to him:  a civil war looms in France, as the formidable Burgundians, led by John the Fearless, jostle for power with their sworn enemies, the Armagnacs. The powerless French king, Charles VI, and his son, the Dauphin, can do nothing but watch the infighting unfold…

    Join Tom and Dominic in the first part of their return to the story of the Hundred Year’s War, as Henry V takes up a decades-old claim to the French throne…

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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in New York, San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Boston.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______
    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook
    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The year is 1403, and the Usurper King, Henry IV, faces a seemingly insurmountable challenge to his rule. He has been brought the news that his old friend, Harry “Hotspur” Percy, has betrayed him, and plans to lead his army against the King. Meanwhile, to the West, the revolt in Wales continues, at its head the formidable welsh king Owain Glyndŵr. And even in Scotland, where Henry IV thought he’d settled things down by silencing the terrifying Earl of Douglas, there is more trouble: a kitchen boy is claiming to be Richard II. And having made it halfway up to Scotland with his army to quell the newfound unrest, Henry IV must turn around, and march his men towards Wales, to face Hotspur at Schrewsbury...
    Join Tom and Dominic as they dive into the biggest revolt against Henry IV’s rule, the making of his son and heir, Prince Hal, and the fate of the real Sir John Falstaff, abandoned by his dear friend Hal.

    _______
    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. 
    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______
    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook
    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown…”

    Henry IV has been portrayed as both a shadowy, obscure figure, and a strong king who was loved by his people. Prior to ascending the throne, Henry, the son of John of Gaunt, was admired for his glamour, clemency, courage and strong faith, but these sympathies quickly turned to suspicion when he became a ruling regicide. Indeed, after a failed rebellion in 1388 against Richard II, Henry led a second coup against the king, and successfully usurped the throne in 1399. Once king, keen to gain legitimacy, he delivered his claim to the throne in English, and vowed to respect the will of the people. But he had inherited a divided country, which was surrounded by enemies in France, Scotland and Wales. And, despite being elected to the throne by his peers, and, as some sources claimed, prophesied by Merlin and selected by a greyhound, Henry quickly lost popularity, and himself faced violent rebellions. When the brewing uprising in Northern Wales finally erupted in the autumn of 1400, with the Scots following suit not long thereafter, Henry would need all his allies to stand firmly by his side…
    Join Tom and Dominic as they explore the life and reign of Henry IV, an epic tale of plunder, rivalry and jealousy.

    _______
    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. 
    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______
    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook
    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The unexpected evolution of Italian food can serve as a tantalising doorway into some of the greatest moments of Italian history: from medieval monarchs, murdered popes, and the Renaissance, to secret societies, and Mussolini’s fascist propaganda. Yet the history of Italian food is also riddled with myths and ambiguities, particularly the rustic, romantic idea of it as deriving in the homes of rural peasants. In truth, though the distinctive culinary identity of different Italian cities endures - rising and falling with the fates of their cosmopolitan foundations - the beloved Italian staples of today bear little resemblance to their historical antecedents. For instance, Venetian food was once renowned for its Middle Eastern spices, and an alarming quantity of eels, sweetbreads and sugar is recorded from a feast in Renaissance Ferrara. When was it, then, that Italian food developed its unique identity and reputation? Can it in any way be traced back to the food of the Roman Empire? Did pasta really originate in China before being brought to Europe by Marco Polo? And, does margarita pizza really originate in the whims of a famous 19th century queen?

    In today’s episode, Dominic and Tom are joined by historian John Dickie to indulge in a colourful journey through the piquant history of Italian food, dispelling and corroborating a few enshrined myths and legends as they go…

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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. 

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • In Sussex, in 1912, men quarrying in a gravel pit near Piltdown village turned up a human skull. According to Charles Dawson, a lawyer and amateur archeologist with a remarkable track record for finding ancient treasures, it belonged to a palaeolithic man, possibly millions of years old, and was therefore the earliest trace of mankind ever found in England. Greater still, Piltdown man as he came to be known, seemed to be the ‘missing link’ between apes and men. The discovery inflamed and delighted British society, confirming and buttressing dearly held beliefs about the evolution of modern Europeans, and radically transforming understandings of the origins of humanity. In the wake of the find and the widespread corroboration of its authenticity by some of the best academics of the age, further digs were conducted in the area, which unearthed even more wondrous discoveries - a jawbone, primitive tools, and strangest of all, a cricket bat; perhaps the first hint that all was not as it seemed…was the greatest discovery of all time nothing more than an audacious and extraordinarily skilful hoax? And if so, who was the culprit in this grand mystery? 

    Join Tom and Dominic, as they describe the most mystifying archaeological discovery in English history, and one of the most unscrupulous tricks of all time, revealing as they do the truth behind the history of mankind.
    _______

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. 

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • Twelve months after the dramatic Women’s March on Versailles, the Revolution proper was well into its stride, and while Paris overflowed with a sense of unbridled political freedom, the King and Queen were little more than prisoners in their echoing palace. For the past year Louis XVI had feigned cooperation with the National Assembly, all the while torn by his profound Catholicism and frozen by indecision about how to overcome his predicament. Then at last, following a traumatic experience over the easter of 1791, something changed and the contingency plan formulated several months earlier, was put into action. With the help of a disguised Axen Von Fersen, the royal couple and their children would flee to Belgium in an enormously ostentatious carriage. The date for their escape was set for the 20th of June, but before leaving Louis poured his hatred of the revolution into a letter, which if found would surely spell his political doom…that night the royal family, replete with accomplices, deceptions and disguises, set their audacious plan into action. What ensued was a heart-racing cat-and-mouse thriller of near misses, foolhardy naivety and extraordinary encounters, with appalling consequences…

    Join Dominic and Tom for the thrilling conclusion to their astounding series on the early years of the French Revolution. With the King and Queen of France on the run from the nightmare their lives have become, will they make it across the border to freedom? Or, will they get caught and devoured by the ravenous hoards of the Revolution? 
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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • By the summer of 1789 the different sections of the Revolution were at loggerheads, and the recently created National Assembly riven in two. Both factions, the radicals on the left and the more moderate revolutionaries on the right, upheld different interpretations of how the new system of governance, so firmly rooted in the idea of ‘la nation’, should be organised, particularly as concerned the authority of the King and the power of his veto. Tensions mounted, with many opposed to the idea of even a constitutional monarchy, and disgusted by the National Assembly’s willingness to treat with Louis XVI. None more so than the citizens of Paris, who progressively came to embody an amorphous but growing sense of ‘the people’. By July, there was a widespread feeling that some sort of violence would inevitably break out in the city against the royal family, thanks in part to the rising bread prices. The form it took in October of that year would prove more dramatic than any could have foreseen. After a lavish banquet in Versailles, an outcry began building in the marketplaces of Paris, with a swelling contingent of peasant women decrying the hunger of their children, and blaming it upon the Queen and the vampires of the court. Then, in a move that would change the fate of France and particularly Marie Antoinette forever, the army of women marched on and entered the palace…

    Join Tom and Dominic as they describe one of the most terrifying and savage events of the entire French Revolution: the Women’s March on Versailles, which saw the queen - barefoot and sobbing - hostage to a head-hacking mob that clamoured for her entrails.

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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “Liberté, égalité, fraternité!”

    Alongside violence, the French Revolution is a story of principles and values. It is the ultimate intersection of brutality and Enlightenment idealism, as epitomised by the Fall of the Bastille. So too the creation and implementation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man - a totemic manifesto for the French state, which seemingly embodied a shockingly overt rupture from the past. Not only one of the decisive moments of the French Revolution, the declaration would prove transformative for all world history, and galvanised France as the cradle of of modern nationalism. So, just as the walls of the Bastille were abolished, the words of the document tore down something just as old and once impenetrable: the taint of absolutism, handing sovereignty from the king to the nation. By the 4th of August 1789 this amorphous beast was gripped by a great hysterical, almost paranoid passion, and it was amidst this turmoil that the French Assemblée Constituante voted unanimously to abolish feudalism, in one fell swoop eliminating everything that had come before. What would this consciously manufactured new beginning hold in store for Revolutionary France, or was it merely a bombastic continuation of the past?

    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the groundbreaking ideas behind the French Revolution, along with the deep history of the ideals its enshrined. So too the stories behind some of its most famous iconography, and the long-term repercussions of this transformative upheaval for the modern world.
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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “It was violence that made the revolution revolutionary”.

    The storming of the Bastille is viewed by many across the world as a moment of celebration, when the French people were liberated from the shackles of tyranny and royal despotism. Yet, it was also a moment of horrific violence and chaos, culminating in countless acts of blunt, bloody murder. With a widespread sense of social unrest throughout France at the beginning of July 1789, things finally reached a peak following the King’s dismissal of his finance minister, Necker, a great favourite of the people. The arrival of 20,000 troops into Paris to maintain order triggered even greater panic in the streets, with the already febrile atmosphere being whipped into a frenzy by firebrand orators. Finally, with fighting breaking out between the soldiers and the mob in the Vendome, and then spilling over into the Tuileries Gardens, the Royal Commander of Paris gave the order to evacuate the city entirely, leaving it in the hands of the rioters. It was then that the mob, in a final desperate effort to procure gunpowder for its plundered weapons, turned its sites on the Bastille, the ultimate monument to repression …

    Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the apocalyptic Storming of the Bastille fortress, and the truth behind the prison's famously grotesque reputation. Given the gory events that unfolded on that momentous day, was violence innate to the French Revolution from the very beginning - its driving force - and its bloody denouement therefor inevitable?
    _______

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • In the summer of 1788, a monstrous storm swept across France, wiping out the crucial wheat harvest. With the nation already in the throes of political and financial calamity, this meteorological disaster - followed by an apocalyptic drought, and latterly the cruellest winter France had ever known - exacerbated the growing sense of catastrophe. With bankruptcy declared that August and unemployment record high, all eyes turned to Jacques Necker, the newly appointed finance minister. However, the amalgamation of political and financial crisis, the cultural atmosphere of virtue and passion, and the rising social unrest had already contrived to destabilise the situation permanently. By March there was food rioting, law and order had broken down in the countryside, and in April the bloodiest day of the revolution so far erupted in Paris. At last, in June, the Estates General met for the first time since 1614-15, and the mounting pressure to replace the traditional Three Estates with a single assembly resolved itself into the formation of the National Assembly; a body determined to take the fate of the nation into its own hands. With the elements gathering against them, what will Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette do? 

    Join Dominic and Tom as they recount the dramatic series of calamities that unravelled the nation and spiralled into the infamous Tennis Court Oath of June 1789, and the Revolution itself. From natural disasters and bread riots, and financial ruin, to political instability, Dr Guillotin, and disreputable republican firebrands….
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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. 

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • With seismic antecedents such as the Glorious Revolution in England and the American War of Independence, what was it about the French Revolution that saw it become arguably the most important episode in all early modern political history? And what unique combination of factors converged to unleash this colossal, world-shaking event; the paradigmatic example of a people trying to reshape their society? By the start of the 18th century, France was the largest kingdom in continental Europe, and a powerhouse of agriculture, trade, and military might. But it was also a multilayered and very complex machine, still heavily founded in its ancient hierarchies and the dominion of the ancien régime. The King, Louis XVI, though in no way despotic and in some ways an enlightened man, did not have the strength to fix the creaking system he had inherited. And while the 18th century was an age of enormous dynamism, energy and modernity into which a new discourse of the self had been born, it was also a time of terrible violence in France, long before the revolution. The nation had also been running up stratospheric debts ever since the 1720s, and the poverty of the monarchy - the plight of every 18th century monarch - was exacerbated by its efforts to fund the American War against the British. Finally, the unravelling situation came to a head when, in 1786, Louis XVI was confronted with the news that the looming financial abyss had finally engulfed France, triggering a series of events that, from 1787, would unleash the doom-spiral of the revolution, and lead to his eventual overthrow…  

    Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the causes behind the French Revolution. From the innovative, enlightened culture of 18th century France, set beside its enduringly hierarchical and deeply violent society, the amiable but feeble Louis XVI with his clueless finance ministers, to the American Revolution, financial cataclysms, and angry mobs. 
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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • In August 1785 a shocking affair came to light which would prove so detrimental to the reputation and standing of the French King Louis XVI, and more especially his already unpopular wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, that it would become a decisive moment in the rising tide of the French Revolution. It concerned a gaudy but incalculably expensive diamond necklace commissioned by Louis XV for his mistress, Madame du Barry. Embroiled in the affair was a young prostitute by the name of Nicole Le Guay d’Oiva with an uncanny resemblance to the Queen, a naive Cardinal named Louis-René de Rohan, desperate to return to Marie Antoinette’s good graces, an aristocratic confidence trickster, Jeanne de la Motte, and a Freemason occultist, Alessandro Cagliostro. The web of lies and deceptions that they wove - in many ways capitalising upon the simmering tensions of court life at Versailles - and the scandal that subsequently erupted, would inflame the entire nation.

    Join Tom and Dominic as they divulge, gem by glittering, salacious gem, the twists and turns of the famous Affair of the Diamond Necklace. An intrigue of such devilish guile and duplicity, with so colourful a cast of characters, that it near bellies belief. But also, with repercussions for the French monarchy that would destabilise it forever….

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    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The French Revolution is one of the great seismic events of global history. A devouring conflagration of bloodshed, violence and utopianism, it changed France and then latterly the whole of Europe forever. Yet, amidst the panoply of colossal, colourful names that defined this cataclysmic event, few have endured as iconically as that of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, who has in many ways come to embody the revolution in the popular imagination. Yet, from the moment of her arrival from Austria at the tender age of fifteen, Marie Antoinette was a contentious figure in France, with rumours circulating throughout her life of her insatiable sexual appetite and frivolity, her sapphic proclivities, and even her vampirism. But who was the real Marie Antoinette - voraciously decadent 'it' girl and snob or a well-meaning but naive scapegoat? Under what circumstances did she come to marry the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, and to what extent did she truly spark the French Revolution, with her calls to “let them eat cake!”?

    Join Tom and Dominic for the first instalment of their magnificent sweep through the outbreak and first years of the French Revolution, as they discuss the early life and character of one of its most celebrated and lambasted figures - an icon of style, a beacon of whimsical, bucolic giddiness, a rapacious monster - Marie Antoinette.

    _______

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”
    In the early days of August 1914, the British press has become increasingly vocal about the prospect of war breaking out amongst the great European powers. But the Kaiser still believes he can count on his ambassador in London, and his dear cousin, George V, to make sure Britain stays out of the war, giving the Germans an easy go at the French. And a telegram from the British capital apparently brings the best possible news: Britain declares itself neutral, and will make sure that France does the same…

    Join Tom and Dominic in the final instalment of our series on the outbreak of the First World War, as the storm clouds of war finally reach Western Europe…
    _______

    LIVE SHOWS

    *The Rest Is History BOOK TOUR*
    To celebrate the launch of our second book, “The Rest Is History Returns”, Dominic and Tom will be appearing onstage in both Oxford and Cambridge in September!

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. 

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • “We have been forced to draw the sword”.
    Following the expiry of Austria’s Ultimatum on Saturday 25th July 1914, the Kaiser and the Tsar - friends and cousins, long desirous of peace between their two nations - found themselves in a new and highly precarious situation. Even so, there was still a widespread sense across Europe that war could be avoided, with Sir Edward Grey determined to mediate between Serbia, Russia, Austria and Germany. His efforts would be frustrated when, a month after the assassination, emperor Franz Joseph finally signed the declaration of war on Serbia. That same afternoon the power brokers of St. Petersburg were urging a reticent Tsar to declare war. Then, in the early hours of the following day, there was a mighty explosion outside Belgrade, where a contingent of Serbians, embroiled in the assassination of the Archduke, had blown up a major railway bridge connecting Belgrade to Austria. Following this, there emerged from the darkness three Austro-Hungarian warships, their sights set on revenge….

    Join Dominic and Tom as they describe the most dramatic day in the lead up to the First World War so far. With the world hovering on the edge of a gaping precipice, the British cabinet subsequently met again to discuss Germany’s next course of action, their thoughts inevitably turning to “plucky little Belgium”…

    _______

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • On the 24th of July 1914, in London, the Liberal British Cabinet met to hear the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, read them the Ultimatum handed to Serbia by the Austro-Hungarian Empire the day before. The world held its breath, awaiting Serbia’s response. With Germany determined to stand by Austria, and the French against them, focus now turned turned to Britain. Historically a German ally despite their naval race in 1913, it had recently adopted a policy of “splendid isolation”, its enormous empire having in some ways been something of a millstone, forcing them into protective alliances with other powers with which they may not otherwise have aligned. Regardless, the cabinet’s response to the Ultimatum was one of unanimous shock, with Sir Grey himself - a man of languid superiority - especially worried by the situation simmering in Europe. How, then, would Britain and the other great powers of Europe respond to the Ultimatum? And graver still, what would Serbia do?

    Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the entangled web of European diplomacy in 1914, the British reaction to Austria’s Ultimatum, and the fascinating, comical and often deeply impressive cast of characters operating matters behind the scenes, as the countdown to war begun.
    _______

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • On the 20th of July 1914 the heads of state of two great European powers - France and Russia - met in St Petersburg. Little did they know, though they may have suspected, that the Austrians were simultaneously writing up an Ultimatum, and waiting for the departure of the French to hand it to Serbia. Russia, at that time a vast continental empire under the leadership of the conservative, nervous Tsar Nicholas II, posed a major threat to the Austrians. It had modernised quickly and was in a far more confident position than it had been ten years earlier. Moreover, it had invested interests in the Balkans - the axis of their grain reserves - and little sympathy for the Austrians and their assassinated Archduke. Meanwhile, France felt itself to be a country in decline, long the whipping boy of Europe, and threatened by Germany - the growing, encroaching industrial shadow on its border. The time had come to recover French prestige in the world, and a war in the Balkans, guaranteeing the intervention of their most useful ally, Russia, may have seemed the answer…So it was that in the wake of their summit, both powers parted having cemented their alliance, eager to drive Britain into the conflict with them, and determined take a firm hand with whatever broke out in the Balkans. Three days later, Austria delivered its Ultimatum to Serbia...

    Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the intrigues and interests of the formidable Franco-Russian alliance, their historical relationship with the Austrians, and the part they played in bringing the apocalyptic First World War to fruition. Also, the moment that Austria-Hungary finally dealt Serbia its inflammatory Ultimatum, and their response to it. With time ticking, the thunder clouds of war were closing in.
    _______

    LIVE SHOWS

    *The Rest Is History BOOK TOUR*
    To celebrate the launch of our second book, “The Rest Is History Returns”, Dominic and Tom will be appearing onstage in both Oxford and Cambridge in September!

    *The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
    Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

    *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
    If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. 

    Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
    _______

    Twitter:
    @TheRestHistory
    @holland_tom
    @dcsandbrook

    Producer: Theo Young-Smith
    Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
    Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices