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
Why Lincoln Refused to Fire McClellan When His Own Party Demanded It
President Abraham Lincoln’s decision on January 6, 1862, to reject a move by Radical Republican senators to force the removal of Major General George B. McClellan was a revealing moment in the political and military balancing act of the Civil …
From Campfires to Parlors: Christmas 1861 Across America
The first Christmas of the American Civil War, celebrated in December 1861, carried a significance far deeper than the routine observance of a holiday. It marked the moment when Americans—North and South alike—faced the collision between…
Did Prince Albert of Britain Prevent a U.S.–British War in 1861?
Prince Albert’s death on December 14, 1861, came at a moment when the Atlantic world was already vibrating with tension from the Trent Affair, and the timing alone shapes much of its historical significance. The American seizure of Confederate…