School of War
Nebulous Media
This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history. Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and former China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras. The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader. Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps.Visit our Substack for episode transcriptsFollow along on Instagram
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 9, 2023 • 38min
Ep 72: Matthew Kroenig on Machiavelli (New Makers of Modern Strategy #2)
Matthew Kroenig, professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and contributor to the New Makers of Modern Strategy, joins the show to talk about one of the most influential strategic thinkers of all time, Niccolo Machiavelli.▪️Times • 02:21 Introduction • 03:52 Teaching Machiavelli • 05:38 Machiavelli’s relevance• 07:49 Who was Niccolo?• 10:00 A lasting effect • 12:16 The Art of War• 15:52 A bad reputation• 19:58 A return to republic• 22:25 The Prince• 25:45 An early realist • 30:35 Classical influences• 35:12 Bullish on democracyFollow along on Instagram
May 2, 2023 • 44min
Ep 71: John Gaddis on Strategy (New Makers of Modern Strategy #1)
John Gaddis, Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military & Naval History at Yale University and a contributor to New Makers of Modern Strategy, joins the show to talk about the foundations of strategic thought.▪️Times • 02:01 Introduction • 02:42 Makers of Modern Strategy • 05:21 Democracy and strategy • 07:42 Do authoritarians do strategy better? • 10:32 A guide for future action • 14:19 Grammar and logic • 17:42 Ecological sensitivity • 21:00 Maintain credibility • 23:25 NSC-68 • 28:04 Reactions • 32:18 Self-correction • 37:12 Tolerating contradictions • 41:29 Robert Kagan • 42:43 Intellectual humilityFollow along on Instagram
Apr 25, 2023 • 46min
Ep 70: Will Scharf on China’s Fentanyl War on America
Will Scharf, former federal prosecutor and candidate for Missouri Attorney General, joins the show to talk about how the Chinese Communist Party uses fentanyl as part of a broader strategy to pressure the United States.▪️Times • 01:16 Introduction • 02:19 Law enforcement and policy • 04:39 What is fentanyl? • 06:53 Violent Crimes • 09:00 Fentanyl’s strength • 12:02 Fentanyl vs opium • 13:24 Origins • 17:52 China’s role • 21:09 The Opium Wars • 25:41 The Chinese enigma • 34:13 What can we do? • 38:02 The cartels • 41:03 Cui bono?
Apr 18, 2023 • 43min
Ep 69: John Lisle on the OSS and "Dirty Tricks"
John Lisle, a historian of science and the American intelligence community and author of The Dirty Tricks Department, joins the show to talk about the World War Two-era Office of Strategic Services and its Research and Development Branch.▪️Times • 01:44 Introduction • 02:10 “Wild Bill” Donovan• 05:54 Donovan’s style • 08:53 Stanley Lovell• 12:35 An unconventional training process• 16:40 Explosive pancake batter• 19:24 Limpet mines and Java Man• 23:33 A meaningful legacy?• 27:34 Target: Werner Heisenberg• 31:51 WMDs • 35:40 Truth Serum• 39:02 From OSS to CIAFollow along on Instagram
Apr 11, 2023 • 42min
Ep 68: Peter H. Wilson on the Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples
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.▪️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
Apr 4, 2023 • 52min
Ep 67: Stephen J. Hadley on George W. Bush’s Foreign Policy
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.▪️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
Mar 28, 2023 • 48min
Ep 66: Michael E. O’Hanlon on Military History and Modern Strategy
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.▪️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?
Mar 21, 2023 • 52min
Ep 65: John Hosler on Jerusalem
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.▪️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
Mar 14, 2023 • 55min
Ep 64: Dan Blumenthal and Fred Kagan on China’s Three Strategies for Taiwan
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.▪️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
Feb 28, 2023 • 47min
Ep 63: Steve Kemper on Interwar Japan
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.▪️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
