School of War - Nebulous Media

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 18: Bruce Jones on Seapower Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 17: Alexander Mikaberidze on Napoleon Feb 15, 2022

Show notes

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?

Link

Book: The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 16: Gerry Roncolato on the U.S. Navy Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

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

Link

Roncolato’s article, A Warfighting Imperative: Back to Basics for the Navy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 15: Andrew Lambert on Julian Corbett Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 14: Kevin Hymel on General George S. Patton Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 13: Thomas Clavin on Joe Moser Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 12: Hal Brands on the Cold War Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 11: John Matteson on the Civil War's Cultural Impact Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 10: Shane Brennan on Xenophon Dec 21, 2021

Show notes

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 9: David Stahel on the Eastern Front in WWII Dec 14, 2021

Show notes

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

School of War – Nebulous Media

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected