Breaking Nation: A Civil War Podcast
When the political system of compromise that had served the United States for decades utterly and epically fails to deal with slavery at a national level, the mid-nineteenth century leaders of the nation and states must choose where their loyalties lie.
Will they save their way of life and solve the sins of cruel bondage before the land and its people are torn apart and shredded by violence and prejudice?
When Abraham Lincoln takes the oath of office as the sixteenth President on March 4, 1861, he faces a crisis unlike any other faced by his predecessors.
The country is on the brink of breaking as a nation…
Breaking Nation: A Civil War Podcast will take you on a revelatory and surprising journey through the years of the American Civil War, as if you had no idea how the events surrounding you would play out.
Recent Episodes
S2E1 – Little Napoleons
Interview with Chris Mowery
Interview with Robert Tracy McKenzie
S1E6 – The Island in the Harbor
S1E5 – Stars and Banners
S1E4 – A Political Free-For-All
Listen On
Recent Blog Posts
The Forgotten Civil War Battle That Shook Lincoln’s War Plans
The Battle of Front Royal on May 23, 1862, was one of the most dramatic turning points in Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s famed Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Coming only two weeks after Jackson’s victory at …
Why the Loss of Norfolk Meant Doom for CSS Virginia
The Union occupation of Norfolk on May 10, 1862, and the subsequent loss of the ironclad CSS Virginia the following day marked a decisive turning point in the naval and strategic balance of the American Civil War. These twin events effectively ended…
The Peninsula Campaign’s First Real Test: Williamsburg
The Battle of Williamsburg, fought on May 5, 1862, occupies an important if sometimes underappreciated place in the Peninsula Campaign. Coming on the heels of the Confederate evacuation of Yorktown, the battle was less a set-piece clash than a confu…