In the popular recollection of the Second World War, the month of December 1941 is associated almost exclusively with what Roosevelt famously termed “the date that will live in infamy”, namely, the 7th of December, Pearl Harbor. Yet a mere four days later another momentous event took place which would see the war take on a whole new dimension and a truly global scale: on the 11th of December, Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States.

Why did he do that? Was he driven, already in late ‘41, by an apocalyptic vision of his role in history? Was the decision, in other words, totally irrational, the result of a dark, brooding, ultimately inexplicable death wish?

Or can the sources of this fateful decision, on the contrary, be located in the German dictator’s understanding of several complex, interrelated spheres – economic, political and military – and in his general sense of how the war was proceeding at the time?

That is the task my guest today set himself in writing Hitler’s Fatal Miscalculation: Why Germany Declared War on the United States.

Dr. Klaus Schmider earned his doctorate at the University of Mainz and has been on the staff of the War Studies Department of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurstsince 1999. In 2007, he co-authored Volume 8 of the official German history of the Second World War.

“I fear that the war will now lead to revolution.”

Those words were uttered by Erich von Falkenhayn on the 29th of August 1916, the day he was replaced as Chief of the General Staff by Paul von Hindenburg and his associate, Erich Ludendorff. Those words proved to be prescient: the wardid in fact lead to revolution, in fact to several. Indeed, the First World War led to the cataclysmic collapse of entire societies and of the European order that had underpinned almost a century of relative stability and peace among thegreat powers.  

And yet the war lasted for another 2 years, resulting in millions more dead, both soldiers and civilians.

Why did the war last so long? And why did Germany ultimately lose it? 

Those are just some of the questions Professor Holger Afflerbach returns to the center of historiographical attention in his sweeping and masterfully written account ofthe Great War, titled, “On a Knife Edge: How Germany lost the First World War”.

Holger Afflerbach is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Leeds and is the author of a number of groundbreaking monographs on Erich von Falkenhayn, Kaiser Wilhelm II, as well as on the Triple Alliance.

A year on from the tragic and fateful events of October 7, and in the wake of the most recent extension of the ensuing conflict to the northern front, in Lebanon, Israel seems to have turned the tables on its enemies: Hamas’ forces have been either wiped out or rendered combat-ineffective, Hezbollah’s command-and-control structure has been decapitated, and Iran’s ballistic-missile barrage seems not to have caused significant damage.

So is Israel winning? Is that the right way to evaluate the current balance of forces in the region? And what does winning, in this troubled and conflict-ridden region, even mean?

With me to discuss all this and more is Dr. Ahron Bregman, senior teaching fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London, and a previous guest on this podcast.

Almost uniquely among the states created in the wake of the end of colonialism, Singapore has been blessed by sure-footed and visionary leadership since its separation from Malaysia and full independence in 1965. Lee Kuan Yew’s eldest son, Lee Hsien Loong, has now stepped down after 20 years as Prime Minister of Singapore, passing the baton to Lawrence Wong, in what is generally known as the transition to “4G”, or the fourth generation of political leadership.

After a spectacular 60 years of almost uninterrupted economic growth and political stability, however, darker clouds appear to be gathering on the horizon. Economic and social challenges at home, compounded and accelerated by the shifting geopolitical landscape, mean that the small but disproportionately influential city-state of Singapore is likely to be buffeted by strong winds in the decades ahead.

With me to discuss the past, present, and future of Singapore’s fascinating politics is Professor Eugene Tan, Associate Professor at the School of Law at Singapore Management University. Prof. Tan teaches courses on constitutional and administrative law, as well as courses on the law and policy of ethnic relations in Singapore. He has also served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and among other distinctions he was a nominated member of Parliament from 2012 to 2014.

One of the most salient and interesting aspects of the war in Ukraine is the seemingly omnipresent threat of what is still a relatively new technology: the drone. Whether Bayraktars or Lancets, small reconnaissance drones or long-range strike ones, both the Ukrainian and Russian armies have designed, bought, and deployed an stonishing variety of these new weapons.

What does the proliferation of this new platform tell us about the role or roles drones are likely to play in the future? And what can we extrapolate, from the rapid evolution of drone technology and tactics, about the shape and dynamics of major state-on-state warfare in the coming decades?

To discuss all this and more I’m delighted to be joined again by a previous guest on this podcast, Dr. Mauro Gilli, Senior Researcher in Military Technology and International Security at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s Center for Security Studies in Zurich.

Two years on since Russia’s full-scale re-invasion of Ukraine, I’m joined by Dr. Andreas Umland from the Swedish Institute of International Affairs to take stock both of the current military situation in Ukraine and of the politics of the war in Ukraine, Russia, and the West.

Now that we’ve reached the 100-day mark in Israel’s war against Hamas, where does the Israeli operation in Gaza stand, both militarily and politically? And lifting our eyes to more distant horizons, how is the strategic force field changing in the Middle East as a result of the historic caesura that October 7 already represents?

To discuss all this and more I’m delighted to be joined on the podcast by Dr. Ahron Bregman, senior teaching fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London.

The nature of undersea warfare is changing and the “silent service” has to evolve to meet today’s and above all tomorrow’s challenges – but just what will that adaptation look like? How is the role played by the submarine changing in an increasingly contested undersea environment? And how should the U.S. Navy, in particular, think about choosing platforms and a force structure that will meet the non-trivial challenges posed by the PLAN’s increasingly sophisticated and already quite numerous submarine force?

With me to discuss all this is Bryan Clark, senior fellow and director of the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology at Hudson Institute in Washington D.C. A former submariner himself, he is an expert in naval operations, electronic warfare, and autonomous systems, and has led studies for the DoD Office of Net Assessment as well as DARPA on new technologies and the future of warfare.

Three weeks have passed since the dramatic events of the 7th of October. What kind of failure did October 7 represent? What are Israel's options now and what are the possible risks? And is there a sliver of hope that this dramatic crisis will create an opening for a better future in the region? With me to discuss all this and more is the noted Iraq and Hezbollah expert Amatzia Baram, Professor Emeritus at the University of Haifa.

Pakistan is mired in crisis, economic and political. With a caretaker government having been nominated but elections as yet still uncertain, how is the latest saga in Pakistani politics, centered this time around Imran Khan, likely to play out? And what are the consequences for India and the wider region? I’m delighted to have had Sushant Sareen of the Observer Research Foundation on the podcast to discuss all this and more.

Israel is on the verge of celebrating 75 years of independence, yet finds itself in a state of unprecedented domestic discombobulation. How did it come to this, what is at stake, and to what extent is the internal upheaval beginning to impinge on Israel’s national security? I’m delighted to have Professor Chuck Freilich back on the podcast to discuss all this and more.

Almost exactly a year has passed since the start of Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine in less than a decade – and what a year it’s been, marked first by jubilation at the unexpected success of the Ukrainian armed forces, then by consternation at the realization that this was going to turn into a long, grinding, attritional war.

To take stock of the current military and political situation at the one-year mark I’m delighted to be joined again by the noted Russia and Ukraine expert Dr. Andreas Umland from the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

The scale of Chinese naval modernization in the past three decades has been staggering. Whereas in the 20th century the Chinese navy played second fiddle to the army, in the 21st they have become a force to be reckoned with in their own right.

My guest today has spent decades closely watching the PLAN’s development. Captain James Fanell is a retired naval intelligence officer whose most recent assignment was as the Director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He previously also served as the Senior Intelligence Officer for China in the Office of Naval Intelligence.

We talk about Chinese progress in ballistic- and cruise-missile technology, their plans for a maritime information architecture, undersea warfare, and what all this means for Taiwan and for the ability of the U.S. Navy to maintain deterrence in the western Pacific.

Do we need to privilege or at least revalorize the methods of the historian, as opposed to those of the political scientist or theorist of international relations, when thinking about and studying American foreign policy, especially American nuclear statecraft? Was the history of the Cold War, for example, really coterminous with the history of the nuclear revolution? And what might an interdisciplinary approach, blending the historian’s craft with the theoretical ambitions of security-studies scholars, look like? I’m delighted to have had Professor Francis Gavin on the podcast for the first time to discuss his book, “Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America’s Atomic Age”.

Has India struck the right political and diplomatic balance since Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine began, almost eight months ago? How are Russia’s blunders and difficulties on the battlefield likely to affect India’s geopolitical room for maneuver? With me to discuss all this and more is noted Indian foreign-policy expert and returning guest on this podcast, Professor Rajesh Rajagopalan.

Can the humble homing pigeon teach us something about what it means to return home, to be at home? Do the stories we tell and read about home influence our understanding of homes, homecomings, homelands? Do our experience and memory of homelessness, exile, and return have something to do with how we relate to the animal world as such? And could dwelling perhaps be the preferable alternative to thinking about and longing for home? I discuss all this and more with the author of a remarkable and charming book on pigeons, what home means to them, what home means to us.

“Pan-Asian Zionism” – to our twenty-first century ears the phrase sounds odd, even absurd. And yet the ideological position it represented in the early twentieth century was vigorously championed by a German-speaking Habsburg Jew, Eugen Hoeflich. Why did he think Zionism should take on a pan-Asian orientation? What became of his ideas? And what did he make of “official” Zionism? With me to discuss this fascinating if forgotten figure is the historian and noted specialist of Jewish intellectual history, Dr. Hanan Harif.

More than half a century has passed since Israel’s dramatic victory in the Six Day War, yet its after-effects are still with us. What were some of its long-run implications? Former Israeli deputy national-security adviser Chuck Freilich joins me to talk about the war and the latest developments in Israeli politics.

The Modi government’s “Agnipath” reform of the Indian military, if fully implemented, will determine a dramatic change in the way in which the Indian armed forces have been recruited and thus have related to wider Indian society. What was the genesis of this reform? Why has it been introduced? And what are its pros and cons? I discuss all this with former Indian Army Brigadier Rahul Bhonsle.

Ben Gurion and Nehru – two of the most important statesmen of the twentieth century. What can we learn about their respective countries from a detailed comparison of these two leaders’ lives and political careers? What were the ideological and historical factors underlying the complicated diplomatic dance between India and Israel in the first decades after independence? And what is the nature of the relationship now? Dr. Khinvraj Jangid, one of India’s foremost researchers on Israel and the history of Zionism, joins me to discuss all this and more.