School of War

Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, joins the show to discuss the North Korean regime and the geopolitical impact of its decision to send troops to support Russia in Ukraine.

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Times 

    •      01:36 Introduction 

    •      01:49 Finding North Korea

    •      04:00 The Sung dynasty

    •     09:24 Beijing and Moscow

    •      14:43 Kim Jong Il

    •      22:14 Mackinder’s World-Island

    •      26:29 Interconnected 

    •      33:18 Why commit to Russia? 

    •      36:55 Limited imaginations  

    •      39:03 New differences

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Nick Lloyd, Professor of Modern Warfare in the Defence Studies at King’s College London and author of The Eastern Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918, joins the show to discuss the critical role of the eastern front in World War I.

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Times 

    •      01:43 Introduction 

    •      02:09 “The soul of the war”

    •      04:00 Before the fighting

    •     05:59 War aims

    •      10:51 Tannenberg

    •      15:54 Hindenburg and Ludendorff

    •      19:57 Scale

    •      22:40 Combat

    •      27:14 Munitions scarcity 

    •      32:10 Russian collapse

    •      36:45 Lenin returns

    •      40:42 Brest-Litovsk

    •      44:16 Proto-lebensraum

    •      47:20 The West

    •      52:30 War as a way out

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Ben Noon of the Vandenberg Coalition writes about US-China rivalry and geopolitics. He joins the show to discuss the critical fight for semiconductor dominance.

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Times 

    •      01:38 Introduction 

    •      02:15 Semiconductors 

    •      05:49 Legacy and advanced chips

    •     09:47 China’s chip script

    •      14:21 What’s the big deal? 

    •      19:20 Trade policy

    •      25:11 Containment

    •      28:10 Ratcheting up tensions

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Scott Hartwig, author ofI Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign, joins the show to discuss the single bloodiest day in American military history, the Battle of Antietam.

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Times 

    •      01:46 Introduction 

    •      02:19 Why Antietam?

    •      09:09 Sourcing history

    •     12:45 Limited to total war

    •      21:24 McClellan 

    •      28:00 Lee in Maryland 

    •      34:57 Geography 

    •      46:20 South Mountain to Antietam 

    •      55:49 The fighting

    •      01:02:12 Mass and maneuver

    •      01:04:44 Lee escapes

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Jacqueline Deal, President and CEO of the Long Term Strategy Group and recently the author of the article Competing against Ourselves: How U.S. Policy Strengthens China, joins the show to discuss U.S.-China competition.

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Times 

    •      01:15 Introduction 

    •      01:53 Net assessment

    •      04:32 China’s view

    •     08:20 Is entanglement the goal?

    •      14:34 Changing the global balance

    •      21:45 Communism 

    •      25:47 “Their own worst enemy”

    •      30:12 CCP & manipulation 

    •      35:06 Weaponized supply chains

    •      39:12 Getting their attention

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Nicholas Morton, Senior Lecturer in History, Nottingham Trent University and author of The Crusader States and their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099-1187, joins the show to discuss the Crusades.

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Times 

    •      01:25 Introduction 

    •      02:21 What were the Crusades?

    •      07:30 Franks and Turks

    •     09:57 Combat

    •      14:01 50/50

    •      19:48 Sieges

    •      23:47 Others

    •      31:31 Seljuks

    •      36:50 Crusader States

    •      41:28 Why did they fail?

    •      45:19 Continuity and complexity

   •      49:45 Fluidity

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Katherine Kuzminski, Director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at CNAS, joins the show to discuss recruiting and mass mobilization in the event of war.

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Times 

    •      01:33 Introduction 

    •      02:08 Why worry about mobilization?

    •      03:54 Meeting the threshold 

    •     06:58 Low yield

    •      11:37 A loss of identity

    •      15:42 Aging up

    •      21:38 The Russian model 

    •      23:55 Israeli lessons

    •      26:38 Working with what we have

    •      32:05 Infantry concerns

    •      35:05 Women in the draft

    •      39:12 Deterrent value

    •      41:20 Sustaining industry

    •      43:45 An “I” society

Back to the Drafting Board

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Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, joins the show to help us understand breaking developments in the war between Israel, Iran, and Iran’s regional proxies.

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Times 

    •      01:41 Introduction 

    •      02:24 Iran’s missile attack

    •      03:56 Iranian intentions

    •     06:34 Options

    •      11:27 Iranian concerns

    •      14:59 Ring of fire

    •      19:10 Near term calculus 

    •      23:49 Regime change

    •      28:52 Reagan strategy

    •      32:55 A “good” deal

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Alex Miller, Senior Advisor for Science and Technology and the CTO to the Chief of Staff of the Army, joins the show to talk about how we are preparing to fight on the battlefields of the future—which are here today.

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Times 

    •      01:17 Introduction 

    •      01:32 CTO

    •      04:48 Scale/E.W./drones

    •     09:06 How we buy 

    •      13:07 Transforming in Contact

    •      18:15 Electronic warfare

    •      22:37 Defensive spectrum 

    •      25:20 An invisible world

    •      28:12 Drone warfare

    •      35:05 Humans and machines

    •      37:49 What does the Army need?

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Frank Ledwidge, Senior Fellow in Air Power and International Security at the Royal Air Force College and author of Aerial Warfare: The Battle for the Skies, joins the show to talk about warfare’s next frontier, space. 

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Times 

    •      01:40 Introduction 

    •      03:24 Thinking about space

    •      09:09 More than a conduit

    •     14:15 ASAT 

    •      19:55 Space domain awareness

    •      26:20 Directed energy and nuclear weapons

    •      31:16 Congested/competitive/contested 

    •      39:44 36,000 earths

    •      42:15 Commercial incentives

    •      45:05 Who has the advantage?

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