Zachary Twamley

Dr Zack Twamley is an Irish author, podcaster, researcher, and academic. He is also obsessed with history.

Since 2012, Zack has run the history podcast When Diplomacy Fails, and in that time, recorded over 10 million downloads. His mission with the podcast was simple - to examine wars throughout history and explain why they happened. This mission led him from the 17th century to the 20th century, in series as varied as the Thirty Years' War, First World War, the Wars of Louis XIV of France, the Korean War, the Treaty of Versailles, the Franco-Prussian War, and many more conflicts besides.

In fact, Zack's fascination with the Thirty Years' War led him to explore it on another level - through historical fiction, and thus, the Matchlock series was born. The adventures of Matthew Lock became a new obsession, and Zack has a wide range of sequels planned for the Matchlock series, in addition to many others.

Above all, Zack loves to create historical content. He loves to delve deep into his topics, drawing on his academic chops to really research the heart of what's going on. Then, he breaks it down, removing the dry, academic style of his source material, and bringing it to life. To escape into eras of history long forgotten has been Zack's greatest privilege, and he'll keep doing it for as long as he possibly can!

Zack got his Bachelor of Arts and Masters in history in University College Dublin, then acquired his PhD in History from Trinity College Dublin in 2024.

Zack lives in County Wicklow, Ireland, with his wife and the cutest baby who ever lived.

You can connect with Zack via BlueSky (@wdfpodcast) in his When Diplomacy Fails Podcast Facebook group, and by listening to his podcast, which is available on Spotify, Apple and anywhere else you like to listen to podcasts. If you can't remember his podcast's name, just search 'Zack Twamley.' Nobody else can pull off such a name, so his podcast will be bound to come up!