121: England’s Best Sword Knocked from Her Hand

This 2005 photograph of one of the battlefields at Verdun reveals how the scars of the artillery bombardments still show on the landscape a century later.

 
The year 1916 begins with a new German offensive on the French fortifications at Verdun.

Listen:

Download.

Transcript.

 


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Pictures at an Exhibition
Composed in 1874 by Modest Mussorgsky; orchestral arrangement by Maurice Ravel. Public domain.
Performed by The Skidmore College Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

 

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

2 thoughts on “121: England’s Best Sword Knocked from Her Hand

  1. Mark,
    This is another well-told episode in World War I. And I think, not for the first time, as I listen to you tell this story where are Spain and Portugal? How did they avoid getting drawn into this war?

    Keep up thethe and work,
    Kathleen
    Chicago IL

    • Thanks. A Portugal-centric episode is in the queue. Portugal enters the war in 1916. I haven’t really devoted enough attention to Spain yet (as some of my Spanish listeners have also pointed out) and I hope to rectify that soon. It’s partly a question of finding the right moment in the narrative to raise the topic, and I’m still looking for that moment.

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