The year 2014 marks a hundred years since the beginning of the First World War- a war which started in Europe and tore the continent apart. It is a time for reflection on its legacy. This podcast acts as an introduction to the series of podcasts telling the history of Europe from the Ancient Greeks to the First World War ..read more

A recent guest episode for the History of England podcast on the End of the Hundred Years War, in brief the years after Agincourt 1415, but focusing on the last four years from 1449-1453 and the Battles of Formigny and Castillon. In England the victories at Agincourt, Crecy and Poitiers are well known, but less so, the events around the end of the war, and how the French eventually drove the English from all the continent, except for Calais. www.historyeurope.net ..read more

King John of England in his first year or two of rule achieved some successes, but his lack of tact and diplomacy, plus poor decision-making lost him many allies in France. The focus of the escalating conflict between the Plantagenets and Capetians became Chateau Gaillard, a magnificent fortress in the key borderlands between Normandy and the French royal demesne around Paris. www.historyeurope.net ..read more

The sons of King Henry II of England, impatient for power of their own and encouraged by Louis VII and then Philip II Augustus of France, rebel against their father and end up damaging the cause of their dynasty, the Plantagenets. www.historyeurope.net ..read more

The story of France in the High Middle Ages, the reigns of Louis VI and Louis VII. As the twelfth century opened the kings of France barely controlled much land beyond Paris, but these two monarchs began to build the foundations for the French kings' great rise in power and prestige. www.historyeurope.net ..read more

William the Conqueror's conquest of England in 1066 and the division of his lands between England and Normandy sowed the seeds for centuries of Anglo-French conflict. This episode covers the reigns of Henry I of England, the Anarchy (civil war over Henry's succession) and the formation of the Angevin Empire of France and England under Henry II www.historyeurope.net ..read more

When crusaders arrived at Constantinople in 1203 they gazed in wonder, having never imagined that there could be so fine a place in the world. The 'Queen of Cities', founded by Constantine The Great in the early fourth century, had become imbued over the centuries with legends and Christian myths that gave the place a spiritual aura to match its physical grandeur. Yet in 1204 the city would be violently sacked and the once mighty Empire brought to its knees. www.historyeurope.net ..read more

In the year 1204, Constantinople, the largest and most splendid city by far in Europe was sacked, not by Muslims but by fellow Christians - and not only sacked but gutted by fire and indiscriminate violence. Part 1 describes the build-up and first steps of the crusade, including a history of early Venice. www.historyeurope.net ..read more

After the disaster at Hattin in 1187 Saladin appeared on the verge of completely wiping out the Crusader States from the Middle East. Instead he was met by stubborn resistance at Tyre, and the Acre. And when the kings of France and England arrived at Acre the tide began to turn in favour of the Christians, who now set the sights on recapturing Jerusalem. www.historyeurope.net ..read more

The Battle of Hattin fought on 4th July between Saladin and a considerable Christian army was a major turning point in the history of the Crusader States www.historyeurope.net ..read more