School of War

Bruce Jones, director of the Project on International Order and Strategy of the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, joins the show to discuss seapower. Times 00:51 - Introduction  01:17 - The importance of seapower today 06:45 - Innovation of container shipping and how that changed the global economy  12:50 - China re-enters the seas  16:54 - China’s security challenges at sea 22:44 - Shallow seas, narrow passages, and massive ships  24:06 - China’s strategic interest in Taiwan   26:10 - China’s alienation of potential allies   29:08 - American strategic view of the Pacific Ocean 34:41 - Relations between the United States and India, specifically in terms of taking on China  39:12 - Seapower theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan 44:55 - Comparing America’s quest for power at sea during the 20th century and China’s return to the sea today  48:48 - The role of oceanography in nation-state power competition

Alexander Mikaberidze, Professor of History and the Ruth Herring Noel Endowed Chair at Louisiana State University-Shreveport, joins the show to discuss the Napoleonic Wars.Times 01:12 - Introduction 07:38 - How did European attitudes toward Napoleon change over his life? 13:34 - Nuances of nationalist sentiment Napoleon inspired 15:13 - Napoleonic wars, French hegemony, and geopolitics 20:23 - Napoleon's youth and the French Revolution 24:49 - Napoleon's early campaigns and his rise to power 29:16 - What is the Napoleonic way of war? 33:43 - What is Combined Arms and what are its advantages? 37:42 - What is the Eastern Question to Napoleon?  45:55 - How did Napoleon think about the Western Hemisphere?  53:46 - What remains of Napoleon's legacy after the Congress of Vienna? LinkBook: The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History

Is the United States Navy prepared for war? Retired Navy Captain Gerry Roncolato joins the show to discuss the past, present, and future of American maritime power.Times 02:08 - Introduction  03:31 - Is the U.S. Navy prepared for a great-power war? 04:59 - The Navy during the Interwar Period and the Battle of Guadalcanal 09:41 - The experience of war at sea 16:30 - Historical examples—and lessons for the Navy today—in Roncolato’s article, A Warfighting Imperative: Back to Basics for the Navy 20:49 - Alarming incidents during operations at sea and underlying problems 27:23 - Are the troops adequately prepared for war at sea?  38:20 - Books aspiring officers should read 40:52 - Maneuver warfare at sea 48:20 - Managing troops in the barracks versus maneuvering men in battle  LinkRoncolato’s article, A Warfighting Imperative: Back to Basics for the Navy

Andrew Lambert, Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies at King's College, London, joins the show to discuss British strategist Julian Corbett and his vision of seapower at the turn of the 20th century.Times 01:37 - Introduction  02:02 - The British Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries 04:43 - Corbett as a lawyer, novelist, and strategist 09:05 - The Boer War and the future of the British Empire  13:26 - Corbett’s education on the principals of British power 16:12 - Britain’s power on land versus at sea  19:04 - British power in the Mediterranean  22:30 - How Corbett differentiates himself from Alfred Mahan 28:14 - The principles at the core of Corbett’s strategy  35: 56 - Maritime strategy throughout history 37:29 - An argument for a continental strategy   41:28 - What Corbett envisioned during World War I  51:43 - How Corbett’s ideas apply to British and American military strategy today

Historian Kevin Hymel joins the show to discuss the life and leadership of the American World War II general most feared by the Nazis: George S. Patton.Times 01:48 - Introduction 04:38 - Recently uncovered details about General Patton 08:38 - History’s first draft 10:51 - How Patton became one of the most famous World War II leaders 13:35 - Patton before the war 17:34 - Patton in North Africa 23:08 - Problems with General Dwight D. Eisenhower 26:55 - Patton’s leadership style 28:20 - Fighting in Tunisia  32:49 - Patton’s risk calculations 34:16 - Patton’s behavior, temperament, and treatment of other officers 43:05 - The Civil War and Patton’s strategy in North Africa 45:00 - Patton’s role in Sicily  49:49 - Shell shock and Patton's anti-Semitism 55:21 - Sicily and combat stress

Journalist and author Thomas Clavin joins the show to discuss the harrowing journey of Joe Moser, an American fighter pilot during World War II and the subject of Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival. Times 01:41 - Introduction  03:33 - Why a book on Joe Moser 09:44 - The Lockheed P-38 Lightning  11:09 - August 13, 1944 13:48 - Nazis send Moser to Buchenwald 15:44 - Buchenwald and the concentration camp system 17:48 - Karl-Otto and Ilse Koch 19:36 - Life at Buchenwald 21:34 - Colonel Phil Lamason 23:00 - Hannes Trautloft and Moser’s survival 27:27 - Leaving Buchenwald  31:47 - Joe after the war

Hal Brands, the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, joins the show to discuss the Cold War's lessons for great-power rivalry today.Times 01:24 - Introduction 02:47 - Halford Mackinder and how Eurasian geopolitics framed the Cold War 05:37 - Mackinder's theory of the heartland 07:47 - China's Belt and Road Initiative as an application of Mackinder's theory 09:07 - Comparing the United States' approaches to the USSR and China 13:04 - Nuclear power during the Cold War 17:24 - How Cold War-era nuclear logic applies today 21:02 - No first use policy 26:56 - The Nixon administration's critique of containment strategy 29:58 - The collapse of the Soviet Union 32:15 - Theories of victory that led to the Vietnam War 35:08 - End of the Cold War 39:17 - Infrastructure needed to fight the Soviets in the United States, and what the U.S. needs to take on China today 44:02 - China's moves to decouple economically from the United States 46:47 - The United States' harrowing responsibility to take on adversarial powers

John Matteson, Distinguished Professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, joins the show to discuss how the Civil War—and in particular the fall of 1862—left its mark on the nation's culture and on some of its most famous citizens. Times 01:25 - Introduction 03:28 - Fall of 1862 09:19 - Matteson's selection of Americans included in A Worse Place Than Hell 12:17 - Oliver Wendell Holmes and the 20th Massachusetts 16:13 - John Pelham 18:23 - Holmes, Pelham, and the battle of Antietam 23:56 - Holmes, Pelham, and the battle of Fredericksburg 27:23 - Valor and luck in battle 30:22 - The 20th Massachusetts in the battle of Fredericksburg 36:38 - Walt Whitman 40:17 - Oliver Wendell Holmes Recorded December 7, 2021

Shane Brennan, associate professor of history at the American University in Dubai, joins the show to discuss the new Landmark edition of Xenophon's Anabasis, which he co-edits. The Anabasis, long unjustly neglected, is Xenophon's classic memoir of war and command in the lands which today constitute Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.Times 01:26 - Introduction 05:07 - Who was Xenophon 06:09 - Late 5th century Athens 09:07 - Prince Cyrus of Persia 12:17 - The Greek's position and Xenophon's rise to leadership 16:46 - The army's path though Syria, Iraq and Turkey 20:42 - The end of Xenophon's expedition 23:42 - Xenophon's lessons for military leadership today 27:40 - Importance of Xenophon's work Recorded December 9, 2021

Biography David Stahel is a senior lecturer of history at the University of New South Wales in Australia. His research focuses on European military history, specifically Nazi-Soviet warfare from 1941-1945. Stahel is the author of several books, including his latest, Retreat from Moscow: A New History of Germany's Winter Campaign, 1941-1942.Times 01:29 - Introduction 06:33 - Germany sends troops into the Soviet Union, summer 1941 12:24 - Flaws in Germany's plan 14:50 - "Cauldron" battle 22:10 - Culpability of German soldiers for atrocities during Operation Barbarossa 26:55 - Germans cede land to the Soviet Union, winter 1941-1942 29:38 - German's defensive position and strategy during the winter 39:11 - Ideology and military strategy 45:20 - Applicable lessons to strategists today Recorded on November 23, 2021