.jpg "John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough")
The Historyzine Podcast is not just a podcast telling history, though it is also that. In a very enthusiastic tone, spread over four episodes, host Jim Mowatt tells about the War of the Spanish Succession. In addition to that he reviews other history podcasts and on the ones I also know (History according to Bob, Binge Thinking and Dan Carlin's Hardcore History), I mostly agree with the expressed opinion. Furthermore, the reviews are very well done - sharp, to the point and intelligent.As to the history, this is told very aptly as well. Jim reveals his podcasts are scripted, but his tone of voice is very natural and therefore very entertaining. he manages to tell the story, make some tangents and cleverly bring the story back on track. He effectively takes out a number of main characters and hands a in depth profile. Also the intricacies of the succession itself, how it came to be problematic, who were the pretenders and whose support they enjoyed is mapped out solidly.
Wikipedia lets the war span from 1701-1714, But Mowatt starts telling some two decades before. The good thing is, this makes the whole history very clear, but it leaves me wondering whether Mowatt would disagree with 1701 as the starting year and prefer to start maybe as early as 1689. Anyway. This is a podcast I am definitely going to follow more. I will also pick up the podcasts reviewed, in as far as I haven't run into them already.
My reviews of:
History according to Bob,
Binge Thinking History,
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.
1 comment:
Firstly, thanks for your review of Historyzine. It helps re-affirm that when I'm talking there are actually people out there listening. I see downloads but somehow that doesn't seem real.
Secondly, I wouldn't disagree with the start date of 1701 for the Wars of the Spanish Succession but I think it does have to be shown as part of the overall power struggles for the continent of Europe. Most European conflicts have their roots in a previous conflict so it is often quite difficult to get at the root causes for European animosities.
Ideally I should have began with the upheaval of the Roman invasion but I feared that I may be dead afore I got back to the War of the Spanish Succession so decided on just pulling the clock back 30 years or so.
Thirdly - many thanks for your history show recommendations. I shall devour those shows most greedily.
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