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.

Timeline Subway

Episodes Series Figures Events Books Authors

Episodes by year

Showing 12 of 110

2025

3 episodes

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 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 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: …

2024

9 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: Hero of the Seas (Part 1)

Nelson (S1) · Part 1

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook introduce a multi-part series on Horatio Nelson, covering his Norfolk childhood…

Nelson: The Hunt for Napoleon (Part 4)

Nelson (S1) · Part 4

This episode (the end of part one) focuses on Admiral Horatio Nelson's elevation from a wounded, private man to a natio…

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…

Nelson: God of War (Part 3)

Nelson (S1) · Part 3

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook recount Horatio Nelson's rise to national fame at the Battle of Cape St. Vincen…

Nelson: Attack the French! (Part 2)

Nelson (S1) · Part 2

This episode of The Rest Is History (hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook) follows Horatio Nelson's early Mediterran…

RIHC: The Roman Conquest of Britain EXTRA

This bonus episode reunites Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook to answer a listener’s question about how people across t…

Page 3 of 10 (page size 12)

← Previous Next → Show all

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