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© Paul Fordyce
Description
Paul conducts the guided tour at the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum, Cairns every Saturday at 10:30 am. Paul’s tour’s like what Carlsberg says about their beer, probably the best tour of an armour and artillery museum in the world. The Trip Advisor reviews of his Tour speak for themselves. This Podcast is like the Tour – only infinitely better. It looks at military history, in incredible detail, the likes of which you’ve never heard before. Never rushed – the topic is exhaustively covered in as many parts as are needed to do the topic full justice.
267 Episodes
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Who issued this legendary order: All privates will retreat, all commanders will cover their withdrawal.
Victor Davis Hanson
Tag words: Phalanx; Persians; Aemilius Paulus; Battle of Pydna; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Spartans; Battle of Plataea; Thucididyes; History of the Peloponnesian War; hoplites; Aratos; Aristophanies; god Phobos; god Pan; Nelson Mandela; Guderian; Rommel; Israeli Defence Force; IDF; The Israeli Army; Edward Luttwak; Dan Horowitz; Palmach; operation Nachson; Harel Brigade; Corinthian helmet;
True or false? You could grab a Greek’s spear and break its head off with your bare hands.
Victor Davis Hanson.
Tag words: Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; hoplite; thrusting spear; Persians; Aeschylus; The Persians; Marathon; Salamis; Plataea; Darius; Battle of Thermopylae Pass; Homer;
The Greek phalanx was normally eight ranks deep. Which rank did the Greeks place their best troops in? This is a trick question. I’ll give you the answer during the programme.
Victor Davis Hanson
Tag words: Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Shield; Helmet; Greaves; Breastplate; phalanx; hoplite; Spartans; Romans; killing zone; Persians; Persian Wars; Corinthian helmet; coif; phalangites; Missiles; spears, swords, javelins, arrows, stones; bullets;
The men of Patton’s Third Army had a boast andt the Greeks, who had been at Marathon, had theirs too, that they said to their dying day. What was it?
Victor Davis Hanson.
Tag words: Patton’s Third Army; Battle of Marathon; phalanx; Herodotus; Persian Army; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Aeschylus; Battle of Salamis; greaves; a shield; breastplate; helmet; spear; sword; shield; Spartans; Plutarch; Death Road; Highway of Death; Gulf War
Just after Mardonius had reached Thebes, where he intended to give battle to the Greeks on ground of his own choosing, he was invited by a wealthy Theban man, together with 50 of his most distinguished nobles, to a sumptuous banquet. 50 of Thebans great nobles also attended this feast.
One of the Persian nobles there told the Theban that he was seated next to, a remarkable thing.
Tag words: Mardonius; Herodotus; JFC Fuller; Xerxes; Thermopylae; Salamis; Spartans; Athenians; Argos; Argives; Pausanias; John Marincola; Lacedaemonian; Thersander;
Themistocles, the Athenian general had master minded the Greek victory at Salamis. But the war with Persia wasn’t won. Mardonius still occupied northern Greece with a large force of elite Persian troops, including the Immortals. Poised to descend on southern Greece, and Athens, yet again. What did the Athenians do to induce Themistocles to stick around, to work a little more of his magic? You wouldn’t believe me if I told you – which I’m about to do.
Tag words: Themistocles; Persia; Mardonius; Xerxes; Persian Empire; Athenians; Lacedaemonians; Spartans; Leonidas; Artabanes; Herodotus; Richard Nelson; Armies of the Greek and Persian Wars;
Gratitude – Let me offer the way the King of the Persians displayed his gratitude to the sea captain who saved his life – I bet you can imagine. On second thoughts … definitely not.
What about the Athenians? Themistocles, the man who took the right meaning from the Delphi Oracle’s prophecy, no easy thing, then masterminded the whole Salamis thing getting everybody to do what he wanted even though in almost every case it was the exact opposite of what they wanted to do – Persians and Greeks – what can you do for the man who saved Athens. Who saved all of Greece.
Well you won’t believe the real answers.
Tag words: Themistocles; Delphi Oracle; Battle of Salamis; Persians; Greeks; Athens; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture; Saronic Gulf; Xerxes; trireme; Eurybiades; Herodotus; Histories; Napoleon; Retreat from Moscow; Grande Armée; Mardonius; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Delphi Oracle; Darius; Aeschylus; The Persians; Battle of Plataea;
As it became clear that the tide had turned against Xerxes at the Battle of Salamis, he made a statement remarkable for its day, but strangely one that we today, in more enlightened times, are completely comfortable with - My men have turned into women, my women into men.
Just now, you should be asking what the hell he meant by that.
Tag words: Xerxes; Battle of Salamis; Artemisia; John Marincola; Herodotus; Histories; Persians; Mardonius; Damasithymus; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture;
The brother of which famous author had his hand cut off by a Persian wielding an axe? And what was his hand doing anywhere near someone who might want to do such a heinous thing? This part goes rapidly downhill from there.
Tag words: Battle of Salamis; Xerxes; Aeschylus; The Persians; Michael Stephenson; Alan H Sommerstein; Cynegeirus; Herodotus; Histories; Darius; Sardis; Psytaleia; Richard Cohen; Making History; John Marincola;
Where does Salamis rate, since the beginning of this history to modern times, in the number of dead in that battle to naval battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and Midway? The answer will surprise you.
Tag words: Battle of Salamis; Aeschylus; The Persians; Herodotus; Histories; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture; Artemesium; Michael Stephenson; Battleground; Xerxes; Richard Nelson; Warfleets of Antiquity; Joseph Cummins; Turn Around and Run Like Hell; trieres; triremes; marines; archers; Persians; Medes; Sakae; The Western Way of War; Themistocles; Ariabignes; Thermopylae; paean; war cry; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Ionian Greeks;
There was a spy, at the very highest level, in the Greek command and he was about to send some vital intelligence to Xerxes, the Persian ruler. If this act of betrayal was ever uncovered it would mean his instant death.
Tag words: Battle of Salamis; Divine Salamis; spy; Xerxes; Persians; Pelopennes; Artemesium; Herodotus; Histories; Eurybiades; Athenians; Themistocles; Sicinnus; Joseph Cummins; Turn Around and Run Like Hell; Straits of Salamis; Michael Stevenson; Battlegrounds; Persian fleet; Ariabignes; Flavius Renatus Vegetius; De Re Militari; Victor David Hanson; Carnage and Culture; triremes; Psyttaleia; Aeschylus; The Persians;
There was an important email from the gods that Xerxes wasn’t copied in on. Boy, I bet he would soon be wishing that he had been. What did it say?
Tag words: Xerxes; Delphi Oracle; wooden wall; Divine Salamis; Themistocles; Persia; Greece; Athens, Sparta; Artemesium; Thermopylae Pass; Eurybiades; Herodotus; Histories; Mnesiphilus; John Marincola; Demaratus; Dicaeus; Demeter; Persephone;
Who was the spy in Xerxes court? And how genius was the way he got his message to the Greeks that revealed Xerxes’ plans for the invasion of Greece?
Tag words: Xerxes; Spartans; Thermopylae Pass; Persians; kill ratio; Darius; Herodotus; Histories; Demaratus; best fighting men in the world; Victor Davis Hanson; Carnage and Culture; JFC Fuller; The Decisive Battles of the Western World; John Lewis Gaddis; On Grand Strategy; Salamis;
You’d be surprised at the last words spoken by Leonidas before he died with his fellow 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae Pass in 480 BC.
Then again, maybe you wouldn’t be. Let me tell you what they were and you can decide for yourself.
Tag words: Leonidas; 300 Spartans; Battle of Thermopylae Pass; the Immortals; Persians; Mardonius; Hydarnes; Ephialtes; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Spartan pipes; Herodotus; Histories; Churchill; Carnage and Culture; Xerxes;
For the last stand at Thermopylae, only some of the Greeks would remain. There were compelling reasons for Leonidas and the Spartans to stay and die. They had been sent to defend the Pass and they would never leave.
Well – there’s always one exception I guess, and I’m going to tell you about the one Spartan that got away. One minute, there were two that got away. This is the story of how that happened.
Tag words: Thermopylae Pass; Leonidas; Xerxes; Herodotus; Histories; The Immortals; Persians;Ephialtes; Spartans; Richard Nelson; Armies of the Greek and Persian Wars; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Aristodemus; Dieneces; Plato; The Republic;
The Greek soldiers blocking the Thermopylae Pass that Xerxes army needed to pour through to get into Greece, appeared pretty warlike and fierce. But Xerxes understood men. He knew exactly what was needed to drive this small band of peasant farmers out of his way and how to motivate his men to achieve this task. Now he was going to unleash them.
Tag words: Thermopylae Pass; Leonidas; Persians; Xerxes; Battle of Marathon; Herodotus; Victor Davis Hanson; Spartans; The Western Way of War; Socrates; Hoplites; Carnage and Culture; Richard Nelson; Armies of the Greek and Persian War; Hydarnes; Immortals; Old Guard; Waffen SS;
As unbelievable as it is, this was Xerxes first move soon after his mighty army arrived at the Thermopylae Pass when he found it was defended and when he discovered that the defenders would not flee.
Tag words: Xerxes; Thermopylae Pass; Herodotus; Histories; John Marincola; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Adolf Hitler; Leonidas; Spartans; Sparta; Heracles; Hercules; Zeus; Plutarch; Sun Tzu; Carneia; John Lewis Gaddis; Lacedaemonians; Persians; Demaratus; Artabanus; Darius; Cyrus the Great;
You’ll never believe what the Spartans did just before they faced the final attack by Xerxes mighty army – knowing they would be wiped out to a man. Herodotus tells us that they were being observed from a distance by a Persian spy who watched them in astonishment.
Tag words: Spartans ; Xerxes; Thermopylae Pass; Herodotus; Histories; Persians; Heracles; Argo; Golden Fleece; J.F.C. Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Salamis; Italian campaign; Inchon landing; King Leonidas; Euboean Channel; Pysttaleia; Pass at Tempe; Thessalians; Euanetus; Themistocles; Artemisium;
Who was it that was crucified – but then was taken down before he died and survived?
Tag words: Crucifixion; survival, anatomical effects; emergency room; Dr Mark Eastman; Koinonia House
Now some friction, as Clausewitz called it, was going to enter Xerxes life and planned invasion, in the form of an unknown unknown, in the form of what Herodotus tells us the people in the area called a Hellespontian, which is a south-easterly gale. Perhaps this was the wind that the Oracle at Delphi had told the people of Delphi to pray to. If they did, they must have set up their alter at Thyia, that I spoke of in Part 13, in record time – and not a moment too soon.
Tag words: Clausewitz; Herodotus; The Histories; Oracle at Delphi; JFC Fuller; Decisive Battles of the Western World; Euboean Channel; Eurybiades; Xerxes; Darius; Crucifixion; Artemisium; Diodorus Siculus; Richard Nelson; Warfleets of Antiquity; diekplus; John Marincola; Homer; Troy; Iliad; Odyssey; Larry Siedentop; Inventing the Individual;
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