When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

And so it ends. After 82 episodes and what feels like thirty actual years, we finally wrap up this fascinating period of history. Thanksss so much for tuning in!Make sure to stay to the end to learn about our plans for the Thirty Years' War book, my Matchlock series, the new Delegation Game, and other PhD details.Where do we go after this? What's next for WDF? We cover that here too!**FOLLOW THESE LINKS!**1) To support the podcast financially in return for some extra audio content, check out Patreon!2) To find a community of history friends, look at our Facebook page and group!3) To keep up to date with us, follow us on Twitter!4) Matchlock and the Embassy, our new historical fiction novel, is out NOW! Get it here5) Researcher? Student? Podcaster? Use Perlego to access a massive online library of books, and get a week for free!

The final episode of our series involves no shortage of intrigue, scheming and mistrust, yet it is also the moment when diplomacy arguably succeeded. After three decades of war, Europe, and the Holy Roman Empire in particular, had come to terms with the cost of conflict. Perhaps, in the future, things would be different? Perhaps, but as a brief look at our back catalogue shows, the post-Westphalian world was by no means free from the curse of war.Thanksss so much for following this series over the last four years - or is that thirty years? Can hardly believe we made it, but be sure to look out for the conclusion episode, where we will wrap these things up in a satisfying bundle!**FOLLOW THESE LINKS!**1) To support the podcast financially in return for some extra audio content, check out Patreon!2) To find a community of history friends, look at our Facebook page and group!3) To keep up to date with us, follow us on Twitter!4) Matchlock and the Embassy, our new historical fiction novel, is out NOW! Get it here5) Researcher? Student? Podcaster? Use Perlego to access a massive online library of books, and get a week for free!

Although the Dutch and Spanish had made their peace, 1648 had room for one more campaign, and there had arguably never been so much on the line. With warfare came the chance to secure more leverage at the peace table, but the Franco-Swedish allies faced problems of its own. How were the Swedes to settle the impossibly high wage bill of so many thousands of unpaid soldiers? How were the French going to pacify the many elements within society who were sick and tired of being squeezed for barely palpable returns? And what about Portugal or the amnesty of rebels? Questions remained to be answered, then, but one final campaign had the potential to provide this answer, before the quills could be set to the parchment, and peace be finally made. I hope you'll join me to see how they did it, in our penultimate episode of this whopper series!**FOLLOW THESE LINKS!**1) To support the podcast financially in return for some extra audio content, check out Patreon!2) To find a community of history friends, look at our Facebook page and group!3) To keep up to date with us, follow us on Twitter!4) Matchlock and the Embassy, our new historical fiction novel, is out NOW! Get it here5) Researcher? Student? Podcaster? Use Perlego to access a massive online library of books, and get a week for free!

Please consider supporting our podcast friend Benjamin Jacobs during this difficult time. In this special episode, Thom Daly joins me to rant about the state of education in America, how Republican ideologues ban what they don't understand, how misinformation and scaremongering replaced proper political discourse, and whether he has much hope that it will actually improve.I then discuss Brexit, explaining what it means, the different types of trade arrangements, how this affects Northern Ireland and why it has me so irate as I watch the situation deteriorate. Was Brexit worth it, or just a massive con which was kept vague from the beginning? After listening in, I'm sure you'll see where I stand.Thanksss for listening, and please do support our friend Benjamin Jacobs if you can.

Here, in our third-last episode of the series, we take the time to analyse Cardinal Mazarin's motives. What kind of role did religious motivations, strategic motivations, political or economic or any other kind of motivation have upon his behaviour? Was he fighting for French security, or future French expansion?In line with this, we look at the religious question in the Empire, which had appeared like an impossible riddle in previous years. How was it possible to make everyone happy, particularly when everyone involved had such conflicting ideas of justice, and such differing opinions on compromise. Only a joint effort could possibly bring about peace in such a sensitive arena, but if they could manage it, one of the great roadblocks in the way of a final settlement would be removed.The Dutch may have watched these events with smug satisfaction - they managed to finalise their peace with Spain in early 1648, but not before making some fascinating proposals towards their French ally. Matters stuck fast on Lorraine though, as Mazarin proved unwilling to compromise on such a sensitive border region. Lorraine's complex fate was just one element in the tangled web of manouevre and intrigue, but one could argue that the writing was on the wall when it came to peace. The question was, would this writing be read, or erased as before?**FOLLOW THESE LINKS!**1) To support the podcast financially in return for some extra audio content, check out Patreon!2) To find a community of history friends, look at our Facebook page and group!3) To keep up to date with us, follow us on Twitter!4) Matchlock and the Embassy, our new historical fiction novel, is out NOW! Get it here5) Researcher? Student? Podcaster? Use Perlego to access a massive online library of books, and get a week for free!

As the war raged, Maximilian of Bavaria was forced to reconsider his position towards his Emperor. As the Habsburgs' most faithful and important German ally since the beginning, the rumours that Max was contemplating a truce had to be taken seriously. One thing was clear though - the wily Bavarian Elector had made his name by identifying the most advantageous course, and whatever decisions he made, they would be for Bavaria and Bavaria alone.**FOLLOW THESE LINKS!**1) To support the podcast financially in return for some extra audio content, check out Patreon!2) To find a community of history friends, look at our Facebook page and group!3) To keep up to date with us, follow us on Twitter!4) Matchlock and the Embassy, our new historical fiction novel, is out NOW! Get it here5) Researcher? Student? Podcaster? Use Perlego to access a massive online library of books, and get a week for free!

By the end of 1646, two massive problems plagued the negotiators. For France, the matter was Alsace, a huge chunk of territory along the sensitive Rhine region, which had long served as a buffer between the French and Imperial spheres. For Sweden, Pomerania, a slice of land along northern Germany's Baltic coast, was the central issue. The process by which the powers solved these questions, the compromises they agreed, and the implications they had, are all examined here. Although in the context of Westphalian negotiations, the decisions reached were important, it is in them that we see the birth of new empires - the French, the Swedish, and one fascinating outlier, that of Brandenburg-Prussia. Truly, the foundations for such significant political and strategic acts which later defined early modern Europe were laid here. I hope you'll join me in checking them out!**FOLLOW THESE LINKS!**1) To support the podcast financially in return for some extra audio content, check out Patreon!2) To find a community of history friends, look at our Facebook page and group!3) To keep up to date with us, follow us on Twitter!4) Matchlock and the Embassy, our new historical fiction novel, is out NOW! Get it here5) Researcher? Student? Podcaster? Use Perlego to access a massive online library of books, and get a week for free!

Check out our series Diplomacy: Britain vs America to nerd out on a forgotten era of Anglo-American confrontation, complete with war scares, gunboat diplomacy, and me pronouncing many things incorrectly!It's time to get all emotional, as we tie up the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish and Dutch, which had formed an integral part of the Thirty Years' War in its earlier phase, but which had, from 1645, effectively been relegated to a sideshow of the larger war. The Dutch, and its House of Orange, had made a substantial contribution to the war, directing anti Habsburg energies towards several schemes, and chipping away at Spanish prestige and power even as the Habsburg dynasty reached the peak of its powers. By 1646 though, Frederick Henry lay dying, and although none could accuse him of under performing, it was his grandson William III that made arguably the most significant mark not just on British, Irish and European history, but also on the world we live in today.**FOLLOW THESE LINKS!**1) To support the podcast financially in return for some extra audio content, check out Patreon!2) To find a community of history friends, look at our Facebook page and group!3) To keep up to date with us, follow us on Twitter!4) Matchlock and the Embassy, our new historical fiction novel, is out NOW! Get it here5) Researcher? Student? Podcaster? Use Perlego to access a massive online library of books, and get a week for free!