Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Enlightenment & Age of Revolutions

121 Episodes 25 Series 144 Figures 85 Events 315 Books 229 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 121

2022

12 episodes

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: 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 …

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…

The Regency Revolution

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

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…

How Prime Ministers Fall

Recorded on the evening of 6 June, this special Rest Is History episode frames the Conservative confidence vote in Bori…

Page 9 of 11 (page size 12)

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Series in this era

25 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

Founding Fathers

5 episodes Aired: 2026-06-28 – 2026-07-23

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

Historical figures

144 tagged

Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I of the French)

42 episodes

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson

37 episodes

Louis XVI of France

28 episodes

Marie Antoinette (born Maria Antonia of Austria)

27 episodes

George III (King George)

23 episodes

Samuel Johnson

21 episodes

Maximilien Robespierre

20 episodes

Emma (Lady) Hamilton

19 episodes

George Washington

19 episodes

William Pitt (The Younger)

19 episodes

Historical events

85 tagged

French Revolution (1789–1799)

36 episodes

Napoleonic era (c. 1799–1815)

22 episodes

American Revolutionary War (American War of Independence, 1775–1783)

19 episodes

Battle of Trafalgar (1805)

19 episodes

Storming of the Bastille (14 July 1789)

19 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

315 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

229 tagged

Dominic Sandbrook

12 episodes

Tom Holland

10 episodes

Simon Sharma

8 episodes

Thomas Paine

6 episodes

Charles Dickens

5 episodes

Jane Austen

5 episodes

Edmund Burke

4 episodes

Hilary Mantel

4 episodes

National Constituent Assembly (France)

4 episodes

Robert Danton

4 episodes