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.

Timeline Subway

Episodes Series Figures Events Books Authors

Episodes by year

Showing 12 of 103

2022

7 episodes

Germans Behaving Badly

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview historian Andrea Wolff about her book Magnificent Rebels, which trace…

Portugal: Gold, Earthquakes, and Brazil (Ep 3)

Portugal · Part 3

This episode — the third in the hosts' multi-part history of Portugal — traces Portuguese fortunes from the late 16th c…

Introducing Empire with William Dalrymple

This Rest Is History episode features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interviewing William Dalrymple about his …

Holidays: Byron's Grand Tour (Ep 1)

Holidays · Part 1

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the history of holidays, tracing the practice from early pilgrimages and the …

London: People (Ep 3)

London Week · Part 3

This London Week episode has Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook each selecting a London figure. Sandbrook profiles Henry…

American Civil War: The Causes (Ep 1)

American Civil War (1861 to 1865) · Part 1

This episode is the first of a series on the American Civil War and examines the causes of the conflict. Hosts Tom Holl…

Smuggling

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook host novelist Alex Preston to examine the history and myths of smuggling in Britain. …

2021

5 episodes

27 Dec: Port wine and Darwin sets sail

12 (or 13) Days of Christmas · Part 4

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue their seasonal "12 (or 13) Days of Christmas" run (27 Decemb…

RIHC: History's greatest clubs

This bonus episode — the inaugural Rest Is History Club instalment for paying members — explores the history and cultur…

Napoleon in Egypt

This episode examines Napoleon's Egyptian expedition of the late 1790s — its military drama, cultural consequences and …

The Echo of a Coffee House

This episode examines whether modern social media is genuinely novel by tracing historical precedents for rapid, divisi…

The Industrial Revolution

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Emma Griffin (professor of modern British history and presi…

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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