Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Enlightenment & Age of Revolutions

110 Episodes 23 Series 133 Figures 80 Events 298 Books 216 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 110

2026

7 episodes

RIHC: London’s Golden Age EXTRA - James Boswell’s Secret Diaries

In this Rest Is History bonus episode, host Tom Holland (joined by guest Adam Sisman) revisits the legacy of James Bosw…

London’s Golden Age: The Mad Life of Dr Johnson (Part 1)

London's Golden Age · Part 1

In this episode of The Rest Is History, hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore the extraordinary friendship be…

London’s Golden Age: The Shadow of the Madhouse (Part 4)

London's Golden Age · Part 4

In this episode Tom Holland explores the complex relationship between Samuel Johnson and the Thrale family, focusing on…

London’s Golden Age: Sex and Scandal in Georgian Britain (Part 2)

London's Golden Age · Part 2

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook trace James Boswell’s whirlwind early career in 18th‑century London, …

London’s Golden Age: The Ghosts of Culloden (Part 3)

London's Golden Age · Part 3

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore Samuel Johnson’s 1773 journey to the Scottish Hebrides with h…

Greatest Paintings: Age of Enlightenment - Raeburn's Skating Minister - FULL EPISODE

Greatest Paintings with Laura Cumming

This Rest Is History club episode (Greatest Paintings with Laura Cumming) examines Henry Raeburn's celebrated portrait …

RIHC: Joan of Arc's Afterlife, Witchcraft, and Angels

This bonus episode (a members' extra) continues the hosts' exploration of Joan of Arc by tracing her afterlife from the…

2025

5 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 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 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…

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Series in this era

23 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

London's Golden Age

4 episodes Aired: 2026-03-09

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

Historical figures

133 tagged

Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I of the French)

42 episodes

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson

33 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

Samuel Johnson

18 episodes

William Pitt (The Younger)

18 episodes

Edmund Burke

17 episodes

Historical events

80 tagged

French Revolution (1789–1799)

37 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)

18 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

Insurrection and attack on the Tuileries (10 August 1792)

10 episodes

Books

298 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

216 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