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

2023

2 episodes

The First Abolitionist

This episode examines the life and activism of Benjamin Lay (1681–1759), an eccentric Quaker activist whose experiences…

RIHC: The American Revolution, Dutch history, and excessive tweeting

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook open with light conversation about Tom's trip to the Netherlands to see the Vermeer e…

2022

10 episodes

Drink

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook record from Berry Brothers with guest Henry Jeffries to discuss the history of …

England: Beef and Liberty

Great World Cup Saga · Part 32

This episode examines the cultural and political history of roast beef as an English national emblem. Tom Holland and D…

Cameroon: The Slave General of Peter the Great

Great World Cup Saga · Part 25

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook present a Rest Is History World Cup special episode about Avram Petrovich Ganni…

RIHC: Treason, Trafalgar and Teaching (livestream)

This live bonus episode is an informal, wide‑ranging conversation between hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook recor…

Treason in Modern Britain (Ep 2)

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook visit the National Archives exhibition "Treason: People, Power and Plot" with N…

RIHC: Trafalgar, Julia Gillard, and Producer Jack

This members-only bonus episode is hosted by Tom Holland with Jack Davenport filling in for Dominic Sandbrook. It opens…

Trafalgar: A World at War (Ep 1)

Battle of Trafalgar · Part 1

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook open a multi-episode series on the Battle of Trafalgar, placing the 1805 engage…

Trafalgar: Countdown to Annihilation (Ep 2)

Battle of Trafalgar · Part 2

This episode is the second instalment in the podcast's multi-part account of Trafalgar. Holland and Sandbrook profile t…

Trafalgar: Victory (Ep 3)

Battle of Trafalgar · Part 3

This episode concludes the hosts' multi-part Trafalgar epic, narrating the approach, tactics and carnage of the Battle …

The Regency Revolution

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook are joined by fashion historian Hilary Davidson to discuss Regency-era dress an…

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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