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 transcripts
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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 transcripts
Follow along on Instagram
Colonel Peter Mansoor, U.S. Army (retired), General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History at The Ohio State University and authors of Redemption: MacArthur and the Campaign for the Philippines, joins the show to discuss the largest campaign of the Pacific War, the liberation of the Philippines.
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Times
• 01:08 Introduction
• 01:30 Why West Point?
• 06:11 Petraeus
• 09:55 A huge scale
• 11:25 War Plan Orange
• 16:25 Inevitable
• 20:07 The guerrilla war
• 26:53 Mindanao & Luzon
• 31:33 Leyte Gulf
• 37:52 A do or die campaign
• 40:04 Manila
• 44:34 Command responsibility
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Joel Wuthnow and Phillip Saunders, both of the U.S. National Defense University and authors of China's Quest for Military Supremacy, join the show to discuss the origins, organization, and strategic outlook of China’s military.
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Times
• 01:22 Introduction
• 01:57 Origins
• 06:58 Crisis control
• 08:48 PLA structure
• 13:05 1960
• 20:17 Horizontal escalation
• 24:34 By land or sea
• 28:23 American resolve
• 30:54 Xi
• 36:41 A lack of experience
• 44:10 Military diplomacy
• 48:17 Reading list
• 50:43 Be unpredictable
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Marc LiVecche, McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at Providence and author of The Good Kill: Just War and Moral Injury, joins the show to discuss Just War Theory and whether the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki fit in that framework.
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Times
• 01:23 Introduction
• 01:30 Misspent youth
• 07:51 Moral injury
• 13:27 Conflicting views
• 19:15 Richard Frank
• 28:53 Right not moral
• 39:12 Not the same
• 40:36 Gifts from heaven
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Stephen Platt, professor of Chinese history at UMass Amherst and author of The Raider: The Untold Story of a Renegade Marine and the Birth of U.S. Special Forces in World War II, joins the show to discuss the incredible life of Evans Carlson.
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Times
• 01:48 Introduction
• 02:50 American quirk
• 08:14 China
• 10:18 Soviet policy
• 14:01 Nicaragua
• 16:29 Edgar Snow
• 21:11 FDR
• 24:42 8th Route Army
• 31:52 Embargo
• 38:30 Raiders
• 42:40 Makin Island
• 46:30 Force multiplier
• 52:44 1946
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Lawerence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London and author of ‘The Age of Forever Wars’ in Foreign Affairs Magazine, joins the show to discuss why protracted warfare seems to be a mark of the era.
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Times
• 01:32 Introduction
• 02:01 Aligning strategy
• 04:37 Mass
• 07:14 Iraq and Afghanistan
• 11:14 Al Qaeda
• 14:25 Survive
• 17:50 Results matter
• 22:04 Trade-offs
• 27:23 Avoiding mistakes
• 32:13 Why does Putin continue?
• 38:29 Concessions
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Steven Rabalais, litigator and author of General Fox Conner: Pershing's Chief of Operations and Eisenhower's Mentor, joins the show to discuss the extraordinary influence of now-forgotten General Fox Connor on the outcome of WWI and Eisenhower’s career.
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Times
• 01:51 Introduction
• 03:10 Growing up with history
• 05:47 A southern story
• 07:44 West Point struggles
• 12:07 A reader
• 14:50 Coastal artillery
• 20:46 Rocks and airplanes
• 23:51 Mechanism of victory
• 27:54 WWI logistics
• 32:47 Summer 1918
• 46:03 Eisenhower
• 51:24 Panama
• 01:01:58 Foreshadowing
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Will Somerindyke, Chairman of Regulus Global and CEO of UNION, joins the show to discuss rebuilding the U.S. defense industrial base.
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Times
• 01:36 Introduction
• 02:35 A navy family
• 05:51 Regulus
• 08:05 American made
• 10:45 155
• 14:44 Integration
• 16:53 Supply chains
• 23:20 Demand
• 28:27 Flexibility
• 31:40 Forging vs casting
• 33:45 UNION
• 37:27 Customers
• 40:07 Mindset
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Ryan McDermott, Army veteran of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and author of Downriver: Memoir of a Warrior Poet, joins the show to talk about his combat experiences.
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Times
• 01:13 Introduction
• 01:55 Seeking purpose
• 04:11 West Point
• 06:48 9/11
• 08:41 3rd Infantry Division
• 10:12 Platoon tactics
• 14:51 “Crossing tonight”
• 18:08 Preparing for combat
• 23:40 Tired
• 29:37 Baghdad
• 35:51 Thunder Runs
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Bryan Clark, senior fellow and director of the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology at Hudson Institute, joins the show to talk about how a war with China could play out.
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Times
• 01:51 Introduction
• 02:00 Submariner
• 10:10 Environmental conditions
• 12:40 State of play
• 20:04 Complacency
• 23:36 Hellscape
• 32:14 Cultural differences
• 37:20 Party control
• 43:40 Degraded environment
• 48:02 Practice now
• 51:45 Deterrence
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Paul Lay, Senior Editor of Engelsberg Ideas and author of Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate,joins the show to talk about the turbulent age of the English Civil War, Cromwell, and the Protectorate.
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Times
• 01:45 Introduction
• 02:00 17th century
• 03:51 The Thirty Years War
• 12:40 Anti-Catholicism
• 15:24 Underlying causes
• 21:46 Cromwell
• 30:34 Thatcher
• 33:04 The Rump Parliament
• 37:07 Western Design
• 54:44 Reverberations
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Arnold Punaro, retired USMC Major General and author of If Confirmed: An Insider's View of the National Security Confirmation Process, joins the show to talk about his infantry service in Vietnam and his experiences serving in Washington DC.
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Times
• 01:35 Introduction
• 05:40 5 weeks
• 10:51 Officer training
• 13:18 3/7
• 16:37 Jungle fighting
• 23:25 Wounded
• 31:32 Payback
• 36:35 Bad situation
• 40:10 Getting home
• 45:46 The Senate
• 49:28 Getting the facts
• 54:00 Service
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Daniel Samet, the George P. Shultz Fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute and author of U.S. Defense Policy toward Israel: A Cold War History, joins the show to breakdown the origins of the important, if at times contentious, U.S.-Israel relationship.
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Times
• 01:30 Introduction
• 02:28 1948
• 05:44 Arabist strategy
• 08:13 11 minutes
• 10:37 Looking for friends
• 15:40 Soviet-Arab relations
• 19:25 Republicans
• 25:16 Kennedy
• 29:29 Strong friends
• 32:02 Nuclear program
• 37:33 6 Day War
• 43:19 Mistake?
• 47:41 Kissinger
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Scott Boorman, Professor of Sociology at Yale University and author of Three Faces of Sun Tzu, joins the show to discuss the world and ideas of Sun Tzu.
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Times
• 01:48 Introduction
• 02:10 “Know your enemy”
• 05:18 The Protracted Game
• 09:59 Text and application
• 16:05 Warring states
• 21:14 Chinese thinking
• 24:58 Net assessment
• 29:05 Cunning
• 32:02 Omissions
• 37:05 Memorization
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Jonathan Schanzer, executive director at FDD, joins the show to break down his time on the ground in Israel at the beginning of the war and what may come with the Israel-Iran ceasefire in place.
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Times
• 01:27 Introduction
• 02:10 Extraction
• 05:50 Different
• 09:25 In the shelter
• 12:03 Damage taken
• 16:18 Stress
• 17:45 Getting out
• 24:57 Road ahead
• 30:40 Iranian risks
• 32:10 Hamas
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Mike Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute, joins the show to break down America’s strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities and what might come next.
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Times
• 01:00 Reactions
• 08:00 Deception
• 12:00 More to come
• 17:00 Self-deception
• 24:00 Next few days
• 31:00 Escalation
• 34:00 Not over
• 41:00 Trump is serious
• 44:00 Restraintists
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Mark Dubowitz, CEO of FDD, joins the show to bring us up to speed on the Israel-Iran conflict, and the possibility of America’s intervention.
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Times
• 01:00 Achievements
• 05:00 Retaliation
• 09:00 Hard math
• 16:00 Intervention
• 24:00 Outcomes
• 30:00 Ground operations
• 32:00 Another Iraq?
• 38:00 Resolve and stability
• 42:00 “Iraq Syndrome”
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Cleo Paskal, non-resident senior fellow at FDD and author of Crossroads of Competition, joins the show to discuss China’s campaign for influence and control at the scene of America’s bloody island-hopping campaign in WW2.
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Times
• 01:35 Introduction
• 04:03 Pacific desert
• 07:45 Control
• 13:48 Post 1945
• 22:43 Significance
• 24:31 Yap
• 29:43 Divisions
• 32:18 Diplomatic maintenance
• 35:54 Designs
• 41:30 Strategic concerns
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Mark Dubowitz, CEO of FDD, joins the show to breakdown last night’s spectacular Israeli strikes against the Iranian Regime and its nuclear program, and what comes next.
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Times
• 02:00 Deception
• 06:00 Targets
• 09:00 The Scientists
• 11:00 Complacency
• 14:00 Israeli goals
• 19:00 Regime change
• 23:00 Strikes and talks
• 29:00 Drones
• 31:00 Counterpunch?
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Annie Jacobsen, journalist and author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, joins the show to discuss nuclear weapons and their use.
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Times
• 01:20 Introduction
• 02:50 Finding the music
• 07:02 Reporting
• 09:15 Hidden information
• 11:22 The scenario
• 13:50 Launch on warning
• 17:30 Villians
• 20:45 Annihilation
• 26:25 The Black Book
• 30:40 North Korea
• 34:03 Interception
• 37:42 ICBMs
• 43:39 Deterrence
• 49:29 Obama
• 52:50 Right to know
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Stephen Rabe, historian and author of The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy: A Story of Resistance, Courage, and Solidarity in a French Village, joins the show to discuss one of the countless, incredible stories from D-Day.
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Times
• 01:18 Introduction
• 01:25 Marine
• 02:50 Origins
• 06:48 Normandy
• 09:29 507th
• 15:20 Training
• 18:23 Overlord
• 21:21 The Villagers
• 25:20 A change in plans
• 30:07 HQ Battalion
• 36:17 Armageddon
• 39:00 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division
• 44:01 Staying behind
• 46:37 Return
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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 transcripts
Follow along on Instagram