The Cloak and Dagger Podcast

On a misty morning off the Yemeni coast, the jewel of the Mughal Emperor's treasure fleet sails slowly eastwards. She is carrying a full cargo of solid gold bullion and jewels from Mecca to Surat. . With its complement of 500 elite marines and crew of 250 seasoned sailors, the captain feels entirely secure. On the horizon he has noticed the puny western pirate ships with their ragged crews and rusty cannon - they pose no threat to his ship. . Or do they? This is the story of Henry Avery - the most successful pirate to ever sail the seven seas!

Icelanders are a people forged in the fires of volcanoes and tempered in the frosts of glaciers. They are the descendants of Vikings who found the freezing winters of Norway too gentle. And they are masters of a land and sea which the gods themselves think twice about before entering.So when a foreign power dares to lay claim to the treasures of Iceland, you can be damn sure these hardy folk will fight tooth and nail to defend their island. This is the tale of one of the most important wars on the 20th Century, if not all of human history…If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loop License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The glorious revolution is a tale that almost every country in world considers part of its history, in one form or another. An underdog tale of dashing revolutionaries taking on insurmountable odds in the name of freedom, liberty and justice. And while tragedy may befall them for a time, all these tales end in the toppling of statues and the triumphant horns of victory. Sadly, this sort of tale is a rarity . Our history is littered with failed coups and crushed revolts. And this is one such failed revolution. If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming assassinations, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loop License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

This one is a special case, that's for sure. Jacques Bizard - a Swiss Calvinist mercenary - met a French Catholic general called Louis de Frontenac. Their bond might well have gone from friendship to something more. Make your own mind up after listening!

After reading the histories of civilisation (or just by listening to this podcast) you may get the idea that war is humanity’s natural state. But the truth is that we fight just as hard to forge peace as we do to start a war. And while we have racked up a shockingly small number of years where no one has been at war (268, or just 8 percent of recorded history), we still have the tales of those who strove to put an end to generations of bloodshed.In this week’s episode of the Cloak & Dagger Podcast, we tell the tale of a First Nations chieftain who came to the small trading post the locals called Montreal, to forge such a peace.If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loop License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Will and Patrick delve deep into the purge of the Cathar faith in Southern France. Sanctioned by the Pope and supported by the King of France, crusading knights and templars threw themselves against the walls of Cathar Carcassonne - attempting to crush the so-called heretics. But killing an idea is much harder than the destruction of a city. Tune in to find out more!

How far would you go to live up to a family name? If your ancestry included not one but two founders of empires, do you really have much choice in what life you are destined for?Afghanistan has seen the rise of dozens of empires over the course of the thousands of years people have called it home. And at the dawn of the 16th century, one of these empires rose to unite a fractured land torn apart by quarrelling princes. This is the tale of the man who forged this empire, an empire which one day would stretch all the way from the middle east to the Indian subcontinent, and the tale of the great power he held that made his enemies tremble…If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loop License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

War is hell. Unfortunately however, when an empire grows large enough it starts to forget that fact. Which makes it all the more horrifying when that harsh reality comes crashing down upon the poor foot soldiers of said empire.By the mid 19th century, Britain was rapidly growing into the largest empire in history, so conquering one small city in Central Asia must have seemed easy.  That however would be a mistake that the people of Kabul made sure the British Empire would never forget...If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loop License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Or that's at least how the saying goes. And a cursory glance at the last 12,000 years of human history would seem to confirm this rather bleak outlook. But is it always true? Can one hold absolute power and still maintain a modicum of civic virtue?Ask a Roman this question, and they might just tell you the tale of one of Rome's favourite sons. A man who rose to become a Dictator but, in remarkable divergence from your standard Roman dictator (*cough* Julias), managed to not let this supreme power go to his head…If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loop License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Are Science and Religion perhaps the oldest of rivals? Reason vs faith. Scripture vs hypothesise. Maybe, or maybe it’s just the power-hungry people who live their life by one or the other who perpetuate this eternal rivalry.This week’s episode follows a man who epitomises this rivalry. A man of science whose flagrant disregard for ecclesiastical teachings brought down upon him the wrath of the Catholic Church. So was he a hero or a heretic? We’ll let you decide…If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loop License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Long before the rise of his brother Adolf Hitler to Fuhrer of the Third Reich, Alois Hitler left his home in Austria and landed on the Emerald Isle to start a new life. Tune in to find out what happened in this odd twist of history.

Will and Patrick had the great honour of being asked to make an episode for the History of England Podcast and this was the result! 1307, Westminster. King Edward I has moved his court to York whilst he wages war on the Scots. Westminster is almost empty of people, however, a small gang of lowly functionaries are drinking in the pub one night and decide to steal from the king. This story is remarkable in both its improbable success and the amount of wealth we are talking about - approximately £1 trillion! Listen in to find out the details of medieval London's answer to Ocean's 11.

The bankers and merchants of Venice's storied past would claim it was coin and trade that was the lifeblood of the City on the Water. But the poets would say it was love and romance that made Venice what it was. While today we might argue that it was lust rather than love that inspired the many romance tales of this city.And who's tale was more full of love and lust than the notorious Giacomo Casanova. But was he the hero or the villain of his time? In this week's episode of the Cloak and Dagger podcast, we hear the intriguing and dark story behind history's greatest womanizer… If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loopLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Power and prestige. Two things that kings, queens and emperors have sought since civilisation began. But how far would you go to obtain them? For the people of Venice, the answer turns out to be quite far.From the ashes of the fallen Roman empire, the city of Venice gained power through trade and commerce as a gateway between the east and west. But for prestige, it needed something more. Something that would elevate this strange city built upon a lagoon into the mighty city state it would soon become. And in 829 CE, two humble merchants would find the key to Venetian prestige half a world away…If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loopLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Tranquillity and a sense of peace are two qualities that Japanese culture has a deep respect for. Even in the busy docks of Edo a state of serenity is desirable. But on a misty morning in July 1853, any hint of equanimity was shattered when Edo Bay was forcibly entered by four black ships billowing steam from their funnels.Japan had been a closed country for over two centuries - suddenly all of that changed. These ships literally began the process of ushering Japan into the modern age and shattering the status quo.If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loopLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

To live and die by the sword is a life honoured throughout most of the world, and no place is it respected more than in Japan. Tales of this ancient land are filled with noble samurai and pious monks who fought with honour to protect the helpless and vanquish evil. But history is never so black and white, and even in this land of heroes there are those whose lives are far more grey than we might care to admit.In the slums and back streets of 17th century Edo, the great city which would one day be named Tokyo, a new type of warrior was gaining infamy. Warriors who came from the lowest rung of Japan's crushing social order and who many would name as criminals. In this week's episode of the Cloak and Dagger podcast, we explore the origins of Japan's infamous criminal syndicates, the Yakuza.If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming assassinations, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loopLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

They came from the east bringing fire and blood; a black cloud of dust stretching for miles in every direction like a breaking storm. 150,000 warriors, the largest Mongol army ever formed, bearing down on the once great capital of the Abbasid Caliphate.Could the forty foot thick walls of the city of Baghdad withstand the might of the Mongol hordes, or would the heart of Islamic learning and religion come crashing down?If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming assassinations, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loopLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

In the west, scientific discovery all but died after the fall of the Roman empire. It would take a thousand years for the likes of da Vinci, Copernicus and Galileo to revitalise the quest for knowledge during the Renaissance, and for that they are known to history as the fathers of modern scienceBut in the middle east, the art of discovery was not so easily lost. A golden age of science, philosophy and culture blossomed under the rule of the burgeoning Islamic Caliphate, and one city in particular rose out of the desert to become the centre of the scientific world, the City of Baghdad.If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming assassinations, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loopLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The streets of Victorian London could be a grizzly place. Abject poverty, deadly disease and choking smog were par for the course for most Londoners living below the salt. But a chopped up body, stuffed into a chest and thrown into the river? Even the ‘ardest Londoners' would turn green at the site of that.But on a chilly January morning in 1879, that is exactly what a poor coal porter would find. And in this week's episode of the Cloak and Dagger Podcast, we hear the bloody tale behind this horrific discovery...If you want to see this episode’s accompanying images, bonus facts and a sneak peek of upcoming assassinations, follow us on Instagram - @cloakanddaggerpodcast Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loopLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

1012CE was not a great year for London or England as a whole. Viking raiders were far superior to the Anglo Saxon defences which were in disarray. To make matters worse, the holiest site in the kingdom - Canterbury - had been sacked and the Archbishop had been taken hostage. Listen in to find out what happened next!Music:Positive Fat Bass Intro Loop by WinnieTheMoogLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6093-positive-fat-bass-intro-loopLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license