History Does You

For many Americans, the Revolutionary War was a solo effort against the most powerful country in the world at the time. There is little mention of the role that France and Spain played in helping the United States achieve its Independence and this episode will shed light on their effort. The Revolutionary War was part of a larger global conflict between powerful nations in Europe. Spain and France made a tremendous effort to support the revolution with supplies, money, and expeditionary forces along with the French Navy. We talked with Dr. Louis Ferreiro who is a professor of History and Engineering at George Mason University. His book, "Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It" which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in History in 2017 and has done other research in naval history. This reveals that the United States needed a lot of help to achieve Independence that is often overlooked and left out in America history.

The Arab Spring was an important event for the Middle East and was the start of important change throughout the Middle East. However, many of these efforts failed with Egypt and Saudi Arabia keeping Authoritarian leaders in place while other Arab States such as Yemen, Libya, and Syria have descended into ongoing Civil Wars.  I had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Ahmed Abd Rabou who is a professor at the University of Denver and is from Cairo, Egypt and is also known among Egyptian scholars for his specialization in civil-military relations, political Islam and democratization in the Middle East. He gives us an overarching view of the Arab Spring as well as what happened in specific countries as well as explaining some of the complexities that many people overlook in reading about the Middle East. A super cool interview about one of the most critical events in one of the most important regions in the world.

The Mexican-American War was a critical event in the mid 1800's as it helped add a large swathe of what is now the Western United States. It helped fulfill the idea surrounding Manifest Destiny and the expansionism of territorial claims for the United States. It had social, economic, and political consequences for both Mexico and the United States. I had a conversation with Dr. Peter Guardino who is a professor of History at Indiana University. His work includes includes "Peasants, Politics, and the Formation of Mexico’s National State: Guerrero, 1800-1857", and "The Dead March: A History of the Mexican-American War" which won the Distinguished Book Award for non-United States History from the Society for Military History and Bolton-Johnson Prize from the Conference on Latin American History. The Mexican-American War is an overlooked event in the history of the United States and had long lasting impacts throughout the 1800's

A bit of a different episode today, I had a conversation with Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Dr. John Gaddis about his book, "On Grand Strategy". Drawing on different leaders from Octavian to Abraham Lincoln, we talked about how different leaders were able to balance their ambition with their capabilities. Drawing on both triumphs and failures, we can see how history seems to repeat itself and how leaders with certain qualities tend to succeed while others fail. I would highly encourage you to read his book or listen to the whole episode because it is a great insight into historical leaders on how they succeed and fail in different times!

Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the Operation Varsity, which was the largest single day Airborne operation of World War II.  The 17th Airborne Division and 6th British Airborne Division dropped behind the Rhine River in order to better secure crossings for British soldiers on the other side of the river.  The operation was highly successful and ensured that the Allies could safely cross the river and helped bring a faster end to the war. I had the chance to interview James Fenelon who wrote the book, "Fours Hours of Fury" which documents the 17th Airborne's role during Operation Varsity. He is a former Army paratrooper and graduate of the University of Texas-Austin. A great episode about one of the most overlooked battles of World War II. 

Alexander the Great was one of worlds most successful military commanders never losing a battle and creating an empire that stretched from Greece to Modern day India. He also played an important role in spreading Greek Culture and values in areas that had never come into contact with the Greeks. He named over 20 cities after himself including the great city of Alexandria in Egypt which became an importance center for intellect, trade, and philosophy in the ancient world. I also had the opportunity to interview Dr. Philip Freeman who is a professor of History at Pepperdine University and is the author on several biographies of ancient figures including Alexander the Great, St. Patrick, and Julius Caesar. A great interview and episode about one of the most important leaders in the ancient world!

On today's episode, we talk about one of my favorite periods of history, the Space Race. The Space Race occupied the scientific communities of the United States and Soviet Union as the two superpowers dueled for supremacy in Space. I had the opportunity to talk to Dr. John Logsdon who is the award winning author of John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon (2010) and After Apollo? Richard Nixon and the American Space Program (2015). We talked about the timeline of the race, the various space programs, and the men and women who led the charge to the moon culminating in the Apollo 11 landing on July 20, 1969.  A great episode about one of the most interesting periods in American history.

The Cold War ended in 1991 marking the end of a bipolar world pitting the U.S. and its allies against the Soviet Union and its Allies. The United States pursued a global liberal economic policy in order to reflect its own system. However, over the last 30 years various mistakes in those policy goals has led the United States to squander that Cold War victory and left its political system polarized to the point of no return, deficit spending that will impact the economy, and interventionist wars that have cost thousands of lives. I had the opportunity to talk to New York Times Bestselling Author Dr. Andrew Bacevich who has written, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (2008) Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War(2010) include and his most recent book is The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory. (2019). A very interesting conversation about the failures of the past and how it is going to effect American policies going forward!