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

8 episodes

The Great Northern War: The Battle of the Baltic (Part 1)

The Great Northern War · Part 4

This episode continues The Rest Is History's series on Peter the Great and the Great Northern War. Tom Holland and Domi…

The Great Northern War: Slaughter on the Steppes (Part 3)

The Great Northern War · Part 3

This episode (the fifth and concluding instalment of the mini-series) recounts the climactic Battle of Poltava (1709) a…

The Great Northern War: Murder in Moscow (Part 4)

The Great Northern War · Part 1

This episode is the concluding part of the hosts' Peter the Great series. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the…

The Great Northern War: Revenge of the Cossacks (Part 2)

The Great Northern War · Part 2

This episode of The Rest Is History, hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, continues their multi-episode account…

The French Revolution: The September Massacres (Part 1)

The French Revolution - Season 1 (March 2024) · Part 1

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook place the September Massacres of 1792 in their political and military context: …

The French Revolution: The Execution of the King (Part 4)

The French Revolution - Season 1 (March 2024) · Part 4

This episode of The Rest Is History (hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook) recounts the trial and execution of Louis…

The French Revolution: The Monarchy Falls (Part 3)

The French Revolution - Season 1 (March 2024) · Part 3

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the pivotal weeks of autumn 1792 when the National Convention abolishes…

The French Revolution: The First Feminist (Part 2)

The French Revolution - Season 1 (March 2024) · Part 2

This episode examines the symbolic emergence of Marianne alongside key political developments in 1792 France. The hosts…

2024

4 episodes

Beethoven: Napoleon and the Music of War LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall Orchestral Shows · Part 1

Ludwig Van Beethoven, like his precursor and possible acquaintance Mozart, is one of the most famous figures in Western…

Mozart: History's Greatest Prodigy LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall

This episode is a live, staged Rest Is History show recorded at the Royal Albert Hall focused on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozar…

RIHC: Jane Austen, Smugglers, and the Napoleonic Wars

This bonus episode of The Rest Is History features a solo host conversation with biographer Jenny Ooglo about her book …

Nelson: The Battle of the Nile (Part 5)

Nelson (S1) · Part 5

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the Battle of the Nile (1 August 1798) and Horatio Nelson’s audacious t…

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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