Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Enlightenment & Age of Revolutions

103 Episodes 20 Series 129 Figures 79 Events 281 Books 209 Authors

Spanning the late 17th through the early 19th centuries, this era covers Enlightenment ideas, political revolutions, imperial expansion and early industrialization. Content includes multi-episode series on the American Revolution (colonial prosperity, protest and war), the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar (naval strategy, geopolitics), Captain Cook (Pacific voyages and encounters), London Week (from Roman Londinium to later landmarks and personalities), and a four-part life-and-legacy study of Lord Byron. Sample episodes address the Industrial Revolution (interview with Emma Griffin), Henry Fielding (London: People Ep. 3), Nelson-era extras on Emma Hamilton, and the summer 1792 crisis in the French Revolution. Figures, events and books discussed include Louis XVIII, Sir John Jervis, Charles Cornwallis, Le Chapelier Law (1791), Glorious First of June (1794), Jacobite Rising (1745), the Industrial Revolution, Gulliver’s Travels, and An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States.

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Episodes Series Figures Events Books Authors

Episodes by year

Showing 12 of 103

2025

12 episodes

RIHC - Nelson EXTRA: The Fate of Lady Hamilton

This Rest Is History Club bonus episode provides a coda to the hosts' Nelson series by tracing the fate of Emma Hamilto…

RIHC: Hitler’s Speeches, Monarchical U.S. Presidents, and Napoleon’s Rise to Power

This Rest Is History club bonus features hosts Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland in informal discussion with subscriber…

RIHC: WWI Counterfactuals, 1970s Britain, and Pivotal Historical Figures

This episode is a Rest Is History Club Q&A with Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, framed around their new mini-series …

Nelson: The Battle of Copenhagen (Part 3)

Nelson (S2) · Part 3

This episode recounts Admiral Horatio Nelson's campaign in the Baltic and the Battle of Copenhagen (spring 1801). Hosts…

Nelson: Bonaparte Prepares to Strike (Part 4)

Nelson (S2) · Part 4

This episode focuses on Horatio Nelson's life and service during the temporary peace and early resumption of the Napole…

Nelson: The Gathering Storm (Part 2)

Nelson (S2) · Part 2

This episode of The Rest Is History (hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook) follows Admiral Horatio Nelson's return t…

Nelson: The Final Showdown (Part 5)

Nelson (S2) · Part 5

This episode chronicles Horatio Nelson's return to Britain in August–October 1805, his emotional farewell to Emma, Lady…

Nelson: Slaughter in Naples (Part 1)

Nelson (S2) · Part 1

What happened when the heroic Horatio Nelson, victor of the Battle of the Nile, sailed into the seething city of Naples…

Nelson: Glory at Trafalgar (Part 6)

Nelson (S2) · Part 6

This episode of The Rest Is History narrates the climactic Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) and the death of Horat…

Nelson’s Lover: The Scandalous Lady Hamilton

Nelson (S2) · Part 7

This episode focuses on the life and rise of Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon) up to her marriage to Sir William Hamilton a…

RIHC: Marie Antoinette: The First Fashion Icon

This bonus episode of The Rest Is History features host Tom Holland interviewing Sarah Grant, curator of the Victoria &…

RIHC: The Glorious Revolution, Whigs vs. Tories, and the Birth of Party Politics

This episode is an interview with George Hours about his book The Rage of Party, How Wig vs Tauri Made Modern Britain. …

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Series in this era

20 series

The French Revolution - Season 2 (July 2024)

9 episodes Aired: 2024-07-28 – 2024-08-14

Nelson (S2)

8 episodes Aired: 2025-10-08 – 2025-11-05

Nelson (S1)

5 episodes Aired: 2024-11-18

The French Revolution - Season 3 (October 2024)

5 episodes Aired: 2024-10-13 – 2024-10-14

American Revolution

4 episodes Aired: 2023-07-03

The French Revolution - Season 1 (March 2024)

4 episodes Aired: 2025-03-03

The Great Northern War

4 episodes Aired: 2025-05-11

Battle of Trafalgar

3 episodes Aired: 2022-10-17

Lord Byron

3 episodes Aired: 2024-04-14

Captain Cook

2 episodes Aired: 2023-10-22

Historical figures

129 tagged

Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I of the French)

41 episodes

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson

32 episodes

Marie Antoinette (born Maria Antonia of Austria)

27 episodes

Louis XVI of France

25 episodes

Maximilien Robespierre

20 episodes

Emma (Lady) Hamilton

18 episodes

George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron)

18 episodes

William Pitt (The Younger)

18 episodes

Benjamin Franklin

13 episodes

Edmund Burke

13 episodes

Historical events

79 tagged

French Revolution (1789–1799)

35 episodes

Seven Years' War

22 episodes

Napoleonic era (c. 1799–1815)

21 episodes

Battle of Trafalgar (1805)

19 episodes

Storming of the Bastille (14 July 1789)

19 episodes

American Revolutionary War (American War of Independence, 1775–1783)

17 episodes

Battle of the Nile (1798)

16 episodes

Flight to Varennes (1791, Varennes)

13 episodes

Reign of Terror (1793–1794, France)

13 episodes

Industrial Revolution

10 episodes

Books

281 tagged

Adventures in Time: Nelson, a Hero of the Seas

Author: Dominic Sandbrook

9 episodes

Dominion

Author: Tom Holland

7 episodes

Citizens

Author: Simon Sharma

6 episodes

A Tale of Two Cities

Author: Charles Dickens

4 episodes

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Author: National Constituent Assembly (France)

4 episodes

Pride and Prejudice

Author: Jane Austen

4 episodes

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Author: Edmund Burke

4 episodes

Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic

Author: Tom Holland

4 episodes

The Revolutionary Temper

Author: Robert Danton

4 episodes

A Place of Greater Safety

Author: Hilary Mantel

3 episodes

Authors

209 tagged

Dominic Sandbrook

12 episodes

Tom Holland

10 episodes

Simon Sharma

8 episodes

Charles Dickens

5 episodes

Jane Austen

5 episodes

Thomas Paine

5 episodes

Edmund Burke

4 episodes

Hilary Mantel

4 episodes

National Constituent Assembly (France)

4 episodes

Robert Danton

4 episodes