Warfare

It’s a devastating weapon of mass destruction, and in the United States the power to use it belongs to one person: the President. Since the Truman administration, there has been no requirement for the President to gain approval from Congress or even the Secretary of Defence before unleashing the nuclear arsenal. To learn more about the authority of Presidents Truman to Trump and now Biden, James welcomes William J. Perry, Secretary of Defence in the Clinton administration and Undersecretary of Defence for Research and Engineering in the Carter administration, and Tom Z. Collina, the Director of Policy at Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation in Washington, DC. They discuss their experiences in Nuclear strategy and the prospect, or reality, of a Second Nuclear Arms Race and Cold War.Their book can be found here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/692279/the-button-by-william-j-perry/9781948836999.

What does the price of wheat and global food supplies have to do with one of the greatest disasters in the history of warfare? Why was the decision made to send thousands of Allied troops in an attempt to free up the most heavily defended waterway in the world, the Dardanelles Straits? Historian and award-winning author Nicholas A Lambert joins James to talk us through the lead-up to Britain’s worst defeat in World War One, the catastrophic Gallipoli campaign in 1915. Find out why Prime Minister Henry Asquith and his senior advisers ordered the attacks in the first place, and the failed operation’s legacy.Nicholas’ book, The War Lords and The Gallipoli Disaster, is available now: www.oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780197545201.001.0001/oso-9780197545201 

The Western Front of the First World War is a story of aristocratic generals sending ordinary men over the top to their deaths in futile frontal attacks against entrenched positions. Or is it? In this episode from Dan Snow's History Hit, Dan interviews the brilliant historian Nick Lloyd, author of The Western Front who tells a much more nuanced account of the Western Front. They talk about the myths and legends of these campaigns, the great leaps forward in technology between 1914-1918; and how the men in command, and those on the front line, desperately tried to grapple with the complexities of this unprecedently brutal war. 

The First Gulf War was the combat debut for the RAF Tornado, and also for many of the aircrew who would fly one. John Nichol served as a navigator in the RAF for 15 years, even returning to service after being shot down in 1991. In this conversation with James, John shares his own experiences of the Tornado and the First Gulf War during which he was shot down, intertwined with the story of the aircraft and those of his fellow aircrew. John’s book, ‘Tornado: In the Eye of the Storm’ is published by Simon and Schuster.

The year is 1942; American citizens are still recovering from the surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor, which had intensely impacted morale across the country and brought them into the Second World War. Fear and division ran deep within the American people, and democracy was under pressure. Joined by Historian and award-winning author of ‘The Year of Peril: America in 1942’, Tracy Campbell, we dissect one of the most devastating years in America's history and discuss whether we could see similarities with today.

Margaret MacMillan, a renowned historian specializing in the impact of war on society, explores the intricate relationship between war and humanity. She discusses the biological and cultural influences on warfare, highlighting the moral dilemmas faced by soldiers. The conversation dives into how advancements in technology reshape conflicts and the societal shifts that follow, particularly in governance and social equality. MacMillan also reflects on the dual nature of human behavior in war, balancing compassion and violence throughout history.

In August 1928, signatories from France, the United States and Germany signed a treaty outlawing war. This so-called Kellogg-Briand Pact was soon signed by almost every state. Yet, in the century since, countless wars have been started ... and not all of them finished. To find out whether the pact has had any impact on international relations since its inception, James speaks to Professor Oona Hathaway from Yale University. Oona and her colleague Scott Shapiro are the authors of ‘The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World’.

‘One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind’: in July 1969 the United States successfully landed on the moon. It was part of a race into space which continues to this week and Jeff Bezos’ short voyage. But how was the American space race aided by Nazi Scientists and their barbaric experiments? Eric Lichtblau has returned to Warfare to take us further into Operation Paperclip, through which Nazi scientist like Wernher von Braun and Dr. Hubertus Strughold emigrated to America to aid various projects including the space programme. Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times journalist, Eric, explores these topics in his book The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men.

In 1961, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld's plane was shot down as he flew over the Congo. Dag Hammarskjöld was called ‘the greatest statesman of our century’ by John F. Kennedy, but he was found dead with an Ace of Spades mysteriously placed on his body. In this episode, Dan was joined by award-winning investigative journalist, Ravi Somaiya, who takes him into the depths of this event and the remarkable consequences across the globe. 

Besieging a city is often thought to be an antiquated strategy, lost to technological advances and the complexity of modern conflict. In this episode, however, Major Amos C. Fox tells us about modern siege warfare in Ukraine, Iraq and Bosnia, and where the reluctance to label them sieges comes from. Amos is a Major in the U.S. Army and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies, Ball State University, and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.