As you know I am still working on getting season 9 to the staring blocks. The good news is that we will be kicking off on October 3 embarking on journey that will take us to the council of Constance, the Hussite wars, the emergence of Burgundy and the rise of a completely new threat- the Ottoman empire. Everything changes as we leave the Middle Ages behind.

Even after that season we will still be a long way away from the 20th century, And I know that many of you are very interested in this period, in particular in the first world war. One question I often get how Germany managed to hold out for so long against the combined forces of Britain, France and Russia.

But help is at hand. I have mentioned the “Not so Quiet on the Western Front” podcast before and I must say Dan Hill and Dr. Spencer Jones are doing a brilliant job at explaining the military history of the First World War. And they have just released the episode that deals with exactly this subject and a few others besides. I have listened to this episode twice already and I just find it incredibly illuminating. I hope you will too.

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.

So far I have:

The Ottonians

Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy

Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen

Frederick II Stupor Mundi

Saxony and Eastward Expansion

The Hanseatic League

The Teutonic Knights

The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

The Emperor and King Charles IV (1316-1378) represents today an untouchable monument in Czech history, carved into the marble of admiration and clichés. Although a new and thorough study of his reign is yet to be written, it is nevertheless useful to introduce Charles IV from a new perspective. In many regards, historical research has already brought new findings, and thus we are now able to shed new light on both his life and his reign.

The book will be published this autumn but is already available for pre-order

here: Charles IV: Portrait of a Medieval Ruler, Žurek, Stone (uchicago.edu)

here: Charles IV: Portrait of a Medieval Ruler book by vaclav zurek, (Paperback) | Indigo

and also on Amazon:

Charles IV: Portrait of a Medieval Ruler: Amazon.co.uk: Žurek, Václav, Stone, Ian Finlay: 9788024655239: Books

This is the last episode of this season and it is time to say goodbye to Karl IV, Ludwig the Bavarian, Henry VII, Albrecht of Habsburg, Adolf von Nassau and Rudolf of Habsburg. These have been some eventful 138 years.

When Karl IV died in 1378 he left behind an impressive list of achievements but also a number of failures. And he left behind a son, Wenceslaus he had invested with so much hope and so many crowns, it not only broke the bank but even chunks of the political edifice he had so patiently built.

How and why is what we will discuss in this episode.

The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.

As always:

Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com

Facebook: @HOTGPod

Twitter: @germanshistory

Instagram: history_of_the_germans

Reddit: u/historyofthegermans

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.

So far I have:

The Ottonians

Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy

Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen

Frederick II Stupor Mundi

Saxony and Eastward Expansion

The Hanseatic League

The Teutonic Knights

The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356