School of War - Nebulous Media

Latest Episodes:

Ep 68: Peter H. Wilson on the Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples Apr 11, 2023

Show notes

Peter H. Wilson, Chichele Professor of the History of War at All Souls, Oxford, and author of Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500, joins the show to talk about Germany, Germans, and German-speakers at war.

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Times

• 01:52 Introduction

• 03:07 A dominance myth?

• 06:58 The Holy Roman Empire

• 10:33 HRE longevity

• 12:38 The Thirty Years War

• 15:31 Westphalia

• 21:24 Prussia rising

• 24:09 Prussia and Austria

• 27:56 Napoleon

• 31:43 The Imperial legacy

• 34:42 Bismarck’s wars

• 37:06 1914 vs 1940

• 40:03 Blitzkrieg

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Ep 67: Stephen J. Hadley on George W. Bush’s Foreign Policy Apr 04, 2023

Show notes

Stephen J. Hadley, National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush and lead editor of Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama, joins the show to talk about the lasting effects of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the Bush administration’s dealings with Russia and China.

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Times

• 01:38 Introduction

• 02:03 Transitions

• 06:41 Russia and China then and now

• 08:45 Democratic values and our interests

• 15:20 Democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan

• 19:39 Missing ingredients in Afghanistan

• 24:07 Departing Iraq

• 30:05 A better outcome for Afghanistan?

• 33:33 Commitments

• 38:30 China and Russia from ’01 to ’09

• 44:57 Integrating China into the international system

• 47:37 NATO expansion

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Ep 66: Michael E. O’Hanlon on Military History and Modern Strategy Mar 28, 2023

Show notes

Michael E. O’Hanlon, senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution and author of Military History for the Modern Strategist: America’s Major Wars Since 1861, joins the show to talk about how the patterns of military history can shed light on today’s concerns.

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Times

• 01:16 Introduction

• 01:50 Military history for the modern strategist

• 05:16 Is military history relevant?

• 09:05 Lessons from the Civil War

• 22:47 Could the South have succeeded?

• 27:46 America starts slow

• 35:35 MaArthur’s dismissal

• 41:16 Could the Korean War have ended earlier?

• 45:11 What is our grand strategy?

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Ep 65: John Hosler on Jerusalem Mar 21, 2023

Show notes

John Hosler, Professor of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and author of Jerusalem Falls: Seven Centuries of War and Peace, joins the show to talk about the wars, and the peace, of medieval Jerusalem.

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Times

• 01:26 Introduction

• 01:46 Why care about medieval military history?

• 07:22 What is it about Jerusalem?

• 12:45 Continuities

• 16:19 The Byzantines and the Jews

• 23:54 The Arabs arrive

• 29:42 An “evidentiary problem”

• 33:59 Three hundred years of peace

• 36:29 Causes of the First Crusade

• 40:36 The Crusaders

• 42:32 Siege and conquest

• 44:23 A Christian city

• 47:31 The Crusader States

• 49:29 The Knights Templar

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Ep 64: Dan Blumenthal and Fred Kagan on China’s Three Strategies for Taiwan Mar 14, 2023

Show notes

Dan Blumenthal and Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute join the show to talk about the three strategies that China can use to seize control of Taiwan.

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Times

• 01:40 China’s three approaches on Taiwan

• 02:09 Persuasion

• 07:35 Complimentary campaigns

• 10:34 Dominance of discourse power

• 14:40 Talk, talk, fight, fight

• 18:45 Coercion

• 26:51 Speaker Pelosi's trip to Taiwan

• 30:02 Compellence

• 35:24 CSIS war game conclusions

• 42:33 Fighting for themselves

• 46:48 Ukraine or Taiwan, who gets what?

• 51:38 Xi Jinping’s dilemma

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Ep 63: Steve Kemper on Interwar Japan Feb 28, 2023

Show notes

Steve Kemper, author most recently of Our Man in Tokyo: An American Ambassador and the Countdown to Pearl Harbor, joins the show to talk about the political chaos in Tokyo in the years leading up to WWII and the man that tried to keep the peace, U.S. AmbassadorJoseph C. Grew.

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Times

• 01:18 Introduction

• 01:50 Who was Joseph C. Grew?

• 04:36 Japanese politics in the ’30s

• 07:30 Imperial Army vs Imperial Navy

• 11:00 First impressions

• 17:31 Insurrection

• 22:12 Drifting towards war

• 26:08 Dynamics in D.C.

• 28:24 Appeasement

• 35:05 Japan’s plans

• 37:40 Embargoes and FDR

• 42:48 Distinct parallels

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Ep 62: Mike Pompeo on American Foreign Policy Feb 21, 2023

Show notes

Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and author of Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, joins the show to talk about American foreign policy and his service in the Trump administration.

Watch this video on YouTube.

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Times

• 01:13 Introduction

• 02:12 Chinese surveillance balloons

• 05:01 Chinese espionage “inside the gates”

• 07:19 Meeting Xi Jinping

• 10:25 “Mushy Middle” diplomacy

• 15:58 Republicans and Russia

• 20:18 America in the Middle East

• 26:00 Why talk to the bad guys?

• 31:35 Afghanistan

• 33:05 Resetting the conversation on human rights

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Ep 61: Sonny Bunch on War Movies Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

Sonny Bunch, contributing columnist at the Washington Post and culture editor for The Bulwark, where he hosts The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood newsletter and podcast and Across the Movie Aisle, joins the show to talk about the best American war movies.

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Times

• 01:35 Introduction

• 02:16 What is a war movie?

• 07:55 The Revolutionary War - The Patriot/John Adams

• 13:15 The Civil War - Glory/Gettysburg

• 16:56 World War I - Paths of Glory/Lawerence of Arabia (Hon. mention: Sgt. York)

• 26:30 World War II - Inglorious Bastards/Patton/The Thin Red Line/Greyhound

• 36:22 The Korean War - Heartbreak Ridge/The Manchurian Candidate

• 41:45 The Vietnam War - Full Metal Jacket (Hon. mention: Apocalypse Now)

• 46:10 Post Cold War - Black Hawk Down/Jarhead

• 49:00 Post 9/11 - 13 Hours/The Outpost/Generation Kill

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Ep 60: Marc Hyden on Gaius Marius Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

Marc Hyden, Director of State Government Affairs at R Street and author of Gaius Marius: The Rise and Fall of Rome's Saviour, joins the show to discuss the life of one of the Roman Republic’s most innovative and controversial generals: Gaius Marius.

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Times

• 01:33 Introduction

• 01:46 An interest in Rome

• 04:06 Growing pains

• 06:36 The man born in Arpinum

• 09:46 Serving in the legions

• 11:37 Jugurtha

• 13:25 Roman politics

• 20:31 Marius in Numidia

• 28:51 Sulla and political reform

• 37:06 The Cimbri and Teutones and “Marius’s Mules”

• 43:05 Career on the rocks

• 49:02 Social War to Civil War

• 56:27 “Do you dare kill Gaius Marius?”

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Ep 59: James Lacey on Roman Strategy Jan 31, 2023

Show notes

James Lacey, the Major General Matthew C. Horner Chair of War Studies at Marine Corps University and author of Rome: Strategy of Empire, joins the show to discuss the grand strategy of the Roman Empire.

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Times

• 01:33 Introduction

• 01:59 A lover of history

• 05:12 The “Plato to NATO” historian

• 08:40 Edward Luttwak

• 13:20 The Romans “obviously had a strategy”

• 21:02 Speaking from historical silence

• 26:27 The Republic vs the Empire

• 32:50 Cost benefit analysis in Rome

• 35:57 Three moments of “muscle change”

• 41:33 Unable to adapt militarily