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
Jan 18, 2022 • 37min
Ep. 13: Thomas Clavin on Joe Moser
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
Jan 11, 2022 • 50min
Ep. 12: Hal Brands on the Cold 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
Jan 4, 2022 • 45min
Ep. 11: John Matteson on the Civil War's Cultural Impact
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
Dec 21, 2021 • 33min
Ep. 10: Shane Brennan on Xenophon
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
Dec 14, 2021 • 48min
Ep. 9: David Stahel on the Eastern Front in WWII
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
Dec 7, 2021 • 32min
Ep. 8: H.W. Brands on the Patriots and the Loyalists
BiographyH.W, Brands is the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his doctorate in history. He is the author of thirty books, including two which have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize: The First American and Traitor to His Class. His latest book, released November 9, is Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution. Times
01:51- Introduction
07:36 - The sidelining of the Loyalists in American history and memory
12:53 - Individual decisions in the context of the Revolutionary War
18:42 - The Indian population and Joseph Brant
23:20 - The decision to rebel
Recorded on November 9, 2021
Nov 30, 2021 • 45min
Ep. 7: John McManus on the U.S. Army in the Pacific during World War II
BiographyJohn McManus is the Curators' Distinguished Professor of U.S. military history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. McManus completed his doctorate in military history at the University of Tennessee and is the author of more than a dozen books. His latest, Island Infernos: The US Army's Pacific War Odyssey, 1944, is the second installment of a trilogy detailing the U.S. Army's role in the Pacific theater during World War II.Times
01:12 - Introduction
03:38 - Misperceptions of the Army and Marines in Guadalcanal
08:44 - The Army's role in the Pacific
12:46 - Geography of the Pacific and dividing the theater between General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz
18:30 - Island hopping and the turning point in the Pacific theater
22:26 - The infantry's experience in combat
23:52 - The Pearl Harbor Conference and the endgame of war in the Pacific
31:55 - General Joseph Stilwell and China
38:39 - Prisoners of War in Japan
41:32 - The legacy of the War in the Pacific
Recorded November 23, 2021
29 snips
Nov 23, 2021 • 41min
Ep. 6: Frank Ledwidge on Airpower
Frank Ledwidge, a senior fellow at the Royal Air Force College and expert in military history, dives into the transformative role of airpower. He discusses its pivotal evolution from World War I skepticism to a key military strategy in WWII. Key insights include the chilling impact of strategic bombings and the legacy of contested air raids, such as the Chinese embassy incident. Ledwidge also explores the implications of air warfare today and its intriguing transition into space, highlighting the urgent need for innovative strategies in an evolving battlefield.
Nov 16, 2021 • 36min
Ep. 5: Wayne Hsieh on Robert E. Lee
BiographyWayne Hsieh is a history professor at the United States Naval Academy. He served on the State Department's provincial reconstruction team in Iraq from 2008 to 2009 and is the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including the Army's Commander's Award for Civilian Service and the State Department's Meritorious Honors Award. Hsieh is the author of numerous articles and the co-author of The Savage War: A Military History of the Civil War. Times
01:17 - Introduction
06:50 - Hostility toward studying Robert E. Lee
12:50 - Lee and West Point
15:18 - Senior leadership of Confederate and Union armies at West Point
17:17 - Lee's job as a junior officer in the Army Corps of Engineers
19:17 - Lee's rise during the Mexican War
23:27 - Ulysses Grant
26:21 - Stereotypes and temperaments of Civil War leaders
31:50 - What drives Lee's tactical decision-making
34:07 - Lee's strategic mistake
Recorded October 6, 2021
Nov 9, 2021 • 44min
Ep. 4: Sean McMeekin on Stalin and World War II
Biography Sean McMeekin is a professor and historian who focuses on early 20th century Europe. In addition to his latest book, Stalin's War: A New History of World War II, McMeekin is the author of The Russian Revolution: A New History, July 1914: Countdown to War, and The Ottoman Endgame: War, Revolution, and the Making of the Modern Middle East, 1908 - 1923, as well as several other books. McMeekin currently serves as the Francis Flournoy Professor of European History at Bard College in New York.Times
02:02 - Introduction
05:35 - The American understanding of Russia and Joseph Stalin in World War II
09:12 - Politics and Stalin's legacy
11:37 - Stalin's foreign policy prior to WWII
17:40 - Stalin secures the Japanese non-aggression pact
24:03 - The Soviets push for a war between Japan and the United States
27:29 - Harry Hopkins and the Lend-Lease Policy
33:58 - Stalin as an ally
37:17 - Demanding unconditional surrender
40:16 - Debate over what compelled the Japanese to surrender
42:03 - Reception of Stalin's War
Recorded October 6, 2021
