The History Chap Podcast

Chris Green

Join Chris Green - The History Chap - as he explores the stories behind British history - the great events, the forgotten stories and the downright bizarre!Chris is a historian by training, and has a way of bringing history to life by making it relevant, interesting and entertaining.www.thehistorychap.com

  1. 12H AGO

    237: Marlborough's Forgotten Victory? Oudenarde 1708

    Send me a message Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life. The Battle of Oudenarde 1708, Marlborough's Forgotten Battle. The book I mentioned, and used as part of my research: "Marlborough: Britain's Greatest General" by Richard Holmes (This is my Amazon affiliate link) Ways You Can Support My Channel: Become A Patron Make A Donation "The Devil Must Have Brought Them" - The Battle of Oudenarde, 1708 When French general Vendôme learned that Marlborough's army had appeared on the banks of the River Scheldt, he was incredulous: "The Devil must have brought them!"  The Duke had marched 60 miles in just 72 hours to catch the French completely off guard. The Battle of Oudenarde, fought on 11 July 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession, was the Duke of Marlborough's third great victory over the French - yet it remains probably his most forgotten.  This video explores how Marlborough's lightning advance wrong-footed two quarrelling French commanders, how a future King of Great Britain had his horse shot from under him in the opening clash, and how French Huguenot officers tricked enemy stragglers into captivity by shouting regimental rallying cries in the gathering darkness. It is also a battle gifted by French dysfunction. Marshal Vendôme fought so furiously in the front line that he lost all command of his army, whilst his co-commander the Duke of Burgundy sat motionless with 60 battalions, refusing to attack.  Watching from Burgundy's staff was the 20-year-old Old Pretender, James Stuart - serving incognito as the "Chevalier de St George" against the countrymen he claimed as subjects. Among the British regiments were veterans of Blenheim and Ramillies including the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the Grenadier Guards and the Cameronians - battle-hardened redcoats who helped Marlborough encircle 50,000 Frenchmen in what one survivor called a "vast horseshoe of flame." Support the show

    26 min

  2. JAN 29

    236: "Get Off My Bloody Ship!" The Defiant British Last Stand, Shanghai 1941

    Send me a message HMS Peterel: The Royal Navy's Defiant Last Stand at Shanghai, 1941 Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life. Ways You Can Support My Channel: Become A Patron Make A Donation Hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a small Royal Navy gunboat faced impossible odds in Shanghai.  When Japanese officers boarded HMS Peterel demanding surrender, her captain - 62-year-old Lieutenant Stephen Polkinghorn - gave them a defiant reply: "Get off my bloody ship!" What followed was a one-sided battle against the armoured cruiser Izumo and shore batteries. With her main guns deliberately disabled, Peterel's crew fought back with Lewis guns and small arms.  She became the first British warship sunk by the Japanese in the Second World War - but she went down fighting, White Ensign still flying. This video explores why British and American gunboats were in Shanghai, the strange "Solitary Island" existence of the International Settlement surrounded by Japanese forces since 1937, and the dramatic events of 8 December 1941.  It also reveals the remarkable story of CPO James Cuming, who evaded capture and spent the entire war as a spy in occupied Shanghai. Support the show

    25 min

  3. JAN 22

    235: Blackadder at the Battle of Blenheim

    Send me a message The real Blackadder who fought at the Battle of Blenheim, 1704. Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life. Ways You Can Support My Channel: Become A Patron Make A Donation Sign up to my Newsletter Long before Rowan Atkinson's comic creation, a real Blackadder was fighting in some of the bloodiest battles in British military history. Lieutenant-Colonel John Blackadder was a Scottish soldier who served under the Duke of Marlborough and fought at the Battle of Blenheim—where he nearly died from a musket ball to the throat. Born in 1664 to a firebrand Covenanter preacher who died imprisoned on the Bass Rock, John Blackadder joined the newly-raised Cameronians in 1689. This distinctively religious Scottish regiment—nicknamed the "Psalm-singing Regiment"—would become his military home for over two decades. His first taste of battle came at Dunkeld, where 800 Cameronians held off more than 3,000 Jacobite Highlanders. During the Nine Years War, Blackadder fought at Steenkirk, Landen and the Siege of Namur. But his career was nearly derailed when he killed a fellow officer in a duel at Maastricht—an act that haunted this devout Presbyterian for the rest of his life. The War of the Spanish Succession brought Blackadder to Marlborough's greatest victories. He survived Schellenberg, was wounded at Blenheim, served at Ramillies, and was hit twice more at the Siege of Lille. At the catastrophic Battle of Malplaquet in 1709, Marlborough personally promoted him to Lieutenant-Colonel on the battlefield when his commanding officer fell wounded. After retiring in 1711, Blackadder returned to service during the 1715 Jacobite rebellion, commanding the Glasgow Volunteer Regiment. He ended his days as Deputy-Governor of Stirling Castle, and his diaries—published in 1824—remain an invaluable account of early 18th-century military life. Timeline of John Blackadder's Life: 1664: Born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland1689: Joins the Cameronians; fights at Battle of Dunkeld1691: Kills Lieutenant Robert Murray in a duel at Maastricht1693: Promoted to Captain1704: Fights at Schellenberg and Blenheim (wounded)1705: Promoted to Major1706: Present at Battle of Ramillies1708: Wounded twice at Siege of Lille1709: Battlefield promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel at Malplaquet1711: Sells commission and retires1715: Commands Glasgow Volunteer Regiment during Jacobite rebellion1729: Dies aged 64; buried in StirlingSupport the show

    14 min

  4. JAN 21

    234: The Battle of Ramillies 1706 - Greater Than Blenheim?

    Send me a message Fought in 1706, the Battle of Ramillies is arguably the Duke of Marlborough's greatest victory. Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life. Ways You Can Support My Channel: Become A Patron Make A Donation Sign Up To My Newsletter Support the show

    26 min

  5. JAN 16

    233: The Battle of Blenheim 1704

    Send me a message The Battle of Blenheim 1704: Marlborough's first of four great victories over the French. Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life. Ways You Can Support My Channel: Become A Patron Make A Donation In 1704, the Duke of Marlborough embarked on one of the most audacious military campaigns in British history.  With Vienna under threat from a combined French and Bavarian army, Marlborough deceived both his Dutch allies and his French enemies, marching 21,000 men 250 miles across Europe in just five weeks. This video tells the story of how Marlborough outmanoeuvred the rigid French command structure, linked up with Prince Eugene of Savoy, and brought the French to battle at a small village on the Danube that would give its name to one of England's most famous victories. The Battle of Blenheim saw Marlborough commanding a true coalition force — British, Dutch, Austrian, German and Danish troops fighting together against Marshal Tallard's veteran French army and their Bavarian allies.  The battle itself was a masterclass in combined arms warfare: infantry assaults on fortified villages, cavalry charges across boggy ground, and artillery moved forward at critical moments under Colonel Holcroft Blood. A single French error — packing 12,000 men into Blenheim village — handed Marlborough the advantage he needed. By nightfall, Tallard was a prisoner, thousands of French cavalry had drowned in the Danube, and Louis XIV had suffered his first major defeat in forty years. The victory saved the Habsburg Empire, knocked Bavaria out of the war, and earned Marlborough a palace that still bears the battle's name. It was England's greatest continental victory since Agincourt. KEY DATES: 19 May 1704 – Marlborough begins his march from Bedburg 10 June 1704 – Marlborough meets Prince Eugene at Mundelsheim 2 July 1704 – Storming of the Schellenberg 13 August 1704 – Battle of Blenheim 21 August 1704 – News reaches Queen Anne at Windsor Support the show

    30 min

  6. JAN 10

    222: Florence Nightingale: Legend and Reality

    Send me a message Florence Nightingale, the "Lady with the lamp" is one of the most famous British women in history. But, what did she really achieve? Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life. Ways You Can Support My Channel: Become A Patron Make A Donation Buy a copy of Mary Seacole's autobiography  https://amzn.to/4qfNoox (this is my Amazon affiliate link) Find out more about the Florence Nightingale Museum in London https://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk She's one of the most famous women in British history. Florence Nightingale, The Lady with the Lamp. The founder of modern nursing. The saintly figure who saved countless soldiers in the Crimean War. But how much of that story is actually true? In this documentary, we examine the real Florence Nightingale – a woman far more complex, more flawed, and ultimately more impressive than the sanitised legend suggests.  We discover that during the very winter the myth was being created, the Barrack Hospital at Scutari had a death rate of 42 percent – and Nightingale didn't understand why.  We meet the engineers whose sanitary reforms actually turned the tide. We encounter the other Crimean War nurses whose contributions have been overshadowed: Mary Seacole, Betsi Cadwaladr, the formidable Mother Bridgeman, and the tragic Martha Clough. But we also explore what Nightingale achieved after the war – the statistical analysis, the political campaigning, the 853-page reports written from her sickbed that transformed military medicine and public health across the British Empire.  The revolutionary coxcomb diagram.  The nursing school that professionalised healthcare. The workhouse reforms that laid foundations for modern welfare. This is a story about Victorian myth-making and what happens when the reality is finally allowed to emerge. Florence Nightingale Timeline 1820 – Born 12 May, Florence, Italy 1837 – Receives religious "calling" aged 16 1850 – Rescues Athena the owl; trains at Kaiserswerth, Germany 1853 – Superintendent, Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen, Harley Street 1854 – Departs for Crimea (21 October); arrives Scutari (4 November) 1855 – Death rates peak 42% (February); Sanitary Commission arrives (March); rates fall to 2% (June) 1856 – Returns to England; meets Queen Victoria at Balmoral 1857 – Royal Commission on Health of the Army established 1858 – Publishes 853-page report; first female Fellow, Royal Statistical Society 1859 – Publishes Notes on Nursing 1860 – Nightingale Training School opens, St Thomas' Hospital 1861 – Sidney Herbert dies; Nightingale becomes bedridden 1865 – Professional nursing introduced to Liverpool Workhouse 1907 – Awarded Order of Merit (first woman) 1910 – Dies 13 August, aged 90 Support the show

    52 min

  7. 12/17/2025

    221: The Battle of Hong Kong 1941 (Part 2)

    Send me a message This is Part 2 of my story about the battle (and fall) of Hong Kong in December 1941. Listen to Part 1 Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life. Ways You Can Support My Channel: Become A Patron Make A Donation Just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour, the Japanese invaded the British colony of Hong Kong on the 8th December 1941. Smashing through the wonderfully named Gin Drinkers Line (which British military planners had optimistically called the “Oriental Maginot Line”), the British commander, General Christopher Maltby was forced to evacuate his entire force to Hong Kong Island after just five days.    Now, his 14,000 British, Canadian, Indian and local troops waited the final assault. They knew that there was no help coming - they knew that before the invasion even started - with no air and almost no naval support - they awaited the inevitable. This is part 2 of my story about the battle of Hong Kong in 1941. Support the show

    32 min

  8. 12/16/2025

    220: The Battle of Hong Kong 1941 (Part 1)

    Send me a message The battle for Hong Kong fought between the 8th and 25th December 1941, is overshadowed by the British defeat at Singapore and thus is  often a forgotten chapter in World War 2.    And yet, the British, Indian, and Canadian troops plus local volunteers who fought a grim and bitter battle against a Japanese enemy that outnumbered them is one that should be told and remembered.    It is the story of the Gin Drinkers defensive line, a Dunkirk-style evacuation, a massacre at a field hospital on Christmas Day, a desperate escape to freedom led by a one legged Chinese admiral, the first Canadian Victoria Cross of the war, and a loyal dog who would receive the animal version of the Victoria Cross. In fact it is such a fascinating story that I have broken it into two episodes. This is episode one. I hope that you enjoy it. Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life. Ways You Can Support My Channel: Become A Patron Make A Donation Support the show

    28 min
See All (220)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Join Chris Green - The History Chap - as he explores the stories behind British history - the great events, the forgotten stories and the downright bizarre!Chris is a historian by training, and has a way of bringing history to life by making it relevant, interesting and entertaining.www.thehistorychap.com

Information

  • Creator
    Chris Green
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    220
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The History Chap Podcast
  • Show Website
    The History Chap Podcast

You Might Also Like