Today's United States of America boasts one of the largest and most expensive militaries in the world. But this wasn't always a guarantee.

In this episode, we're hearing how the professional military was created despite it's existence being at odds with the Republican ideals the nation was founded on.

Don is joined by friend of the podcast, Cecily Zander. Cecily is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Wyoming and author of “The Army under Fire: Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era” and “Abraham Lincoln and the American West".

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On June 6, 1944, a combined Allied force carried out the largest amphibious invasion in history. They were led by an American.

What was General Eisenhower's role in D-Day? How was American officer training key to the strategy used? And how did the British weather change everything?

Don's guest is John C. McManus, professor of military history at Missouri University of Science and Technology and host of the podcasts 'Someone Talked!' and 'World War 2 Live'.

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've asked some of our favorite historians for their number one moment from these 250 years of the United States' History. For this episode, we're honored to welcome Jill Lepore back to the show.

How do the life and letters of Jane Franklin, beloved sister of THE Benjamin Franklin, reflect the nature and constitution of America?

You can read more about this in Jill's book THESE TRUTHS: A History of the United States, the Jubilee Edition of which is out now.

Jill is a Professor of American History at Harvard University and a staff writer at The New Yorker.

Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.