Following a succession of failed efforts in the East, Union forces score a narrow victory in the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg, Maryland). Though the battle falls short of capturing Lee's army, its results boost northern morale and...
McClellan's Peninsula Campaign having come to nothing, President Lincoln calls upon John Pope to lead Union forces in a fresh advance upon Lee's army near Gordonsville. Outmaneuvered and befuddled, Pope eventually attacks Stonewall...
In the wake of the Union defeat at First Bull Run, George B. McClellan turns the Army of the Potomac into a formidable fighting force yet reveals few gifts for field command in the Peninsular campaign. After advancing to the outskirts of...
With an army of 15,000 men, Ulysses S. Grant sets out from Cairo, Illinois, in an effort to end Kentucky's bid to remain neutral in the Civil War. Seizing Fort(s) Henry and Donelson, he next launches an even more ambitious campaign deep...
Following the Battle of First Bull Run, the war's center of gravity shifts westward to western Virginia (soon to become its own state), Kentucky, and Missouri. Though relatively obscure, these lesser engagements in the border states will...
After consulting his chief military advisors, President Lincoln decides to send General Irvin McDowell, at the head of newly-assembled Union forces in Washington, against a key railroad junction at nearby Manassas, Virginia. A capable yet...
In our first podcast to feature the text of "Fateful Lightning: the American Civil War" we trace the long history of slavery in America from its origins in the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to its central role in the...
Following the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon confronts the two remaining great powers on the Continent, Prussia and Russia. In hard-won victories at Jena/Auerstadt, Eylau and Friedland, France's new dominance of Europe is affirmed, and a...
Failure to abide by the terms of the Treaty of Amiens–alleged by both England and France–leads to the War of the Third Coalition (1803-1806) and two of the most consequential engagements of the Napoleonic Wars: the battles of Trafalgar...
Napoleon returns from Egypt to stage the coup d'etat of 19 Brumaire (10 November 1799), seizing control of the French Republic as First Consul. With a dramatic victory over the Austrians in the Battle of Marengo (14 June 1800), the...