Air Date: Monday, August 11, 2025

• Background: Born 1831 in Massachusetts, civil engineer trained at Norwich University
• Pre-war experience: Railroad surveying in the Midwest, developing skills in cartography and logistics
• Military appointment: Colonel of the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry at start of Civil War
• Innovation in funding: Used fines and seized Confederate property to pay agents independently of Army records
• Recruitment strategy: Employed pro-Union Southerners, formerly enslaved people, and locals who could move without suspicion
• Early success: Battle of Pea Ridge (1862) - agents discovered Confederate flanking plan, Dodge blocked route with felled trees
• Network growth: By 1862, had over 100 operatives across Confederate territory
• Security protocols: Used code names/numbers, refused to share agent lists even with superior officers
• Multi-source approach: Combined spy networks with newspapers, refugees, prisoners, scouts, and detectives

• First systematic military intelligence operation in American Civil War
• Established practices that foreshadowed modern military intelligence
• Demonstrated strategic value of professional intelligence vs. casual reconnaissance

Air Date: Thursday, August 15, 2025

• Vicksburg Campaign (1863): Network infiltrated the fortress city, obtained pass from Confederate general
• Critical intelligence: Philip Henson reported Johnston's relief force was only 30,000 (half the claimed strength)
• Strategic impact: Grant could maintain siege pressure while sending minimal forces against Johnston
• Vicksburg surrender: July 4, 1863 - victory directly influenced by Dodge's intelligence
• Counterintelligence: Exposed Coleman's Scouts, captured Confederate courier Sam Davis
• Atlanta Campaign (1864): Served as field commander of XVI Corps while maintaining intelligence operations
• Grant's assessment: Called Dodge's command "much more important than that of a division in the field"
• Post-war career: Chief engineer of Union Pacific Railroad
• Legacy: Established enduring principles of military intelligence operations

• Human intelligence from embedded local operatives
• Operational security and source protection
• Multi-source intelligence verification
• Independent operational funding
• Integration of intelligence into campaign planning

• Pioneered practices still used in contemporary military intelligence
• Demonstrated information advantage could be as decisive as numerical/material superiority
• Established template for professional intelligence operations

These episodes showcase how American military intelligence evolved from ad hoc cavalry reconnaissance to systematic professional operations during the Civil War. Dodge's innovations influenced military thinking and established precedents that carried forward into 20th-century warfare.

• Both episodes feature mixed advertising for "The Death of the Admiral" (currently available) and "The Frederick Alliance" (September 2025 release)
• Episodes emphasize the strategic rather than just tactical value of intelligence operations
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• Content connects Civil War innovations to modern intelligence practices

Air Date: Monday, August 11, 2025

• Background: Born 1831 in Massachusetts, civil engineer trained at Norwich University
• Pre-war experience: Railroad surveying in the Midwest, developing skills in cartography and logistics
• Military appointment: Colonel of the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry at start of Civil War
• Innovation in funding: Used fines and seized Confederate property to pay agents independently of Army records
• Recruitment strategy: Employed pro-Union Southerners, formerly enslaved people, and locals who could move without suspicion
• Early success: Battle of Pea Ridge (1862) - agents discovered Confederate flanking plan, Dodge blocked route with felled trees
• Network growth: By 1862, had over 100 operatives across Confederate territory
• Security protocols: Used code names/numbers, refused to share agent lists even with superior officers
• Multi-source approach: Combined spy networks with newspapers, refugees, prisoners, scouts, and detectives

• First systematic military intelligence operation in American Civil War
• Established practices that foreshadowed modern military intelligence
• Demonstrated strategic value of professional intelligence vs. casual reconnaissance

Air Date: Thursday, August 15, 2025

• Vicksburg Campaign (1863): Network infiltrated the fortress city, obtained pass from Confederate general
• Critical intelligence: Philip Henson reported Johnston's relief force was only 30,000 (half the claimed strength)
• Strategic impact: Grant could maintain siege pressure while sending minimal forces against Johnston
• Vicksburg surrender: July 4, 1863 - victory directly influenced by Dodge's intelligence
• Counterintelligence: Exposed Coleman's Scouts, captured Confederate courier Sam Davis
• Atlanta Campaign (1864): Served as field commander of XVI Corps while maintaining intelligence operations
• Grant's assessment: Called Dodge's command "much more important than that of a division in the field"
• Post-war career: Chief engineer of Union Pacific Railroad
• Legacy: Established enduring principles of military intelligence operations

• Human intelligence from embedded local operatives
• Operational security and source protection
• Multi-source intelligence verification
• Independent operational funding
• Integration of intelligence into campaign planning

• Pioneered practices still used in contemporary military intelligence
• Demonstrated information advantage could be as decisive as numerical/material superiority
• Established template for professional intelligence operations

These episodes showcase how American military intelligence evolved from ad hoc cavalry reconnaissance to systematic professional operations during the Civil War. Dodge's innovations influenced military thinking and established precedents that carried forward into 20th-century warfare.

• Both episodes feature mixed advertising for "The Death of the Admiral" (currently available) and "The Frederick Alliance" (September 2025 release)
• Episodes emphasize the strategic rather than just...

Episodes 8-9: "Somerset Maugham: The Writer Who Spied" and "The Art of Literary Espionage" explore the dual career of one of the 20th century's most accomplished authors who also served as a British intelligence agent during World War One. These episodes examine how Maugham's experiences as Agent "Somerville" profoundly influenced his literary work and helped establish the foundation for modern espionage fiction.

Literary Intelligence: How writers' observational skills and psychological insight make them effective intelligence operatives Moral Ambiguity: The ethical complexities of espionage work and how they influenced Maugham's fiction Professional Duality: Balancing public literary fame with secret intelligence work Revolutionary Russia: Intelligence gathering during political upheaval and the collapse of governments Genre Innovation: The creation of realistic espionage fiction based on actual experience Psychological Costs: The personal toll of living with secrets and divided loyalties Cultural Influence: How real intelligence work shaped popular perceptions of espionage Art from Experience: The transformation of personal trauma and moral complexity into enduring literature

Maugham's intelligence career unfolded during World War One, when European powers desperately needed information about enemy intentions and neutral nation sympathies. Switzerland became a crucial intelligence hub where representatives from all belligerent nations operated. The Russian Revolution of 1917 created particular urgency for British intelligence, as Russia's potential withdrawal from the war would allow Germany to concentrate all forces on the Western Front. Maugham's mission to Russia represented one of the last attempts to keep Russia in the war through intelligence operations and propaganda.

• Maugham, W. Somerset. The Summing Up. London: Heinemann, 1938.
• Maugham, W. Somerset. Ashenden: Or the British Agent. London: Heinemann, 1928.
• Maugham, W. Somerset. A Writer's Notebook. London: Heinemann, 1949.
• British Foreign Office Files on Switzerland, 1916-1917. The National Archives, Kew.
• Secret Intelligence Service Records, 1916-1918. The National Archives, Kew.
• Maugham's correspondence with British intelligence officials, Imperial War Museums.

• Hastings, Selina. The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham. London: John Murray, 2009.
• Morgan, Ted. Maugham: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980.
• Curtis, Anthony. The Pattern of Maugham: A Critical Portrait. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1974.
• Rogal, Samuel J. A Somerset Maugham Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.
• Loss, Archie K. W. Somerset Maugham. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1987.
• Archer, Stanley. W. Somerset Maugham: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1993.

• Andrew, Christopher. The Secret Service: The Making of the British Intelligence Community. London: Heinemann, 1985.
• Judd, Alan. The Quest for C: Sir Mansfield Cumming and the Founding of the Secret Service. London: HarperCollins, 1999.
• Occleshaw, Michael. Armour Against Fate: British Military Intelligence in the First World War. London: Columbus Books, 1989.
• French, David. The Strategy of the Lloyd George Coalition, 1916-1918. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
• Figes, Orlando. A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution...