The Year 2014 marks 100 years since the beginning of the First World War, a war which started in Europe and tore the continent apart.

Europe has had its fair share of bloody conflicts, but this so-called Great War probably topped

all others for its brutality and loss of life. Over the next four years the different events

of the war will be commemorated from its beginning to end around the continent.

It would be a time for reflection on its legacy.

In this podcast series I will reflect on the whole history of Europe, from the ancient Greeks

up into the First World War.

Welcome to my podcast, A History of Europe, Key Battles.

A History of Europe, Key Battles, Part 1, Introduction.

My name is Carl Rylatt and I live near Oxford in England.

In this podcast series I am to explain the shape of modern Europe based on its history.

Why does Europe exist as a separate continent at all? What allowed such a diversity of cultures within the small part of the world?

What has determined the borders of and within Europe? I will use a series of key battles to help answer these

questions by telling the story of Europe through the ages. Countries and boundaries are not laid

up in heaven. They are shaped by men. And what men shape they may also choose to reshape.

Europe was of course defined not only by wars, but such things as migration, economics,

dynastic accidents, and natural events, but to a large extent, today's political and cultural

maps have been forged by sheer brute force, and for the purposes of this podcast I have chosen

about 40 key battles that will act as milestones in this story.

Why did I write this podcast? Well, one reason is that gives me an excuse to research areas of history I am less familiar with, but curious about.

Secondly, it is a type of history that I would have wanted to hear when I began getting interested in the subject.

I wanted to know how the various fragments of historical knowledge I knew fitted together.

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