School of War

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 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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Eric Edelman and Thomas Mahnken of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments join the show to talk about what our defense establishment has gotten right, and wrong, in planning for the next war. 

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Times 

    •      02:10 Introduction 

    •      02:43 National Defense Strategy

    •      06:58 Continuity between administrations

    •     08:55 Multiple theater force construct 

    •      17:31 “A flawed net assessment” 

    •      28:30 An imbalance of power

    •      34:46 Favoring the defense

    •      38:42 Resources and cost

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Christopher Lynch, Professor of Political Science at Missouri State University and author of Machiavelli on War, joins the show to talk about renaissance warfare and Niccolò Machiavelli.

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Times 

    •      01:20 Introduction 

    •      01:56 Machiavelli’s world

    •      03:52 French invasion

    •     07:08 Republicanism 

    •      13:42 Mercenary armies 

    •      22:50 Time in office

    •      27:30 Battle

    •      33:17 Resurrecting Rome and Greece

    •      38:00 Catastrophic endings

    •      41:31 Exile and writings 

    •      45:54 Good guy or bad guy?

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Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at FDD and contributor to The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan, joins the show to talk about Taiwan, tensions in the South China Sea, and more.

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Times 

    •      01:27 Introduction 

    •      02:00 Why the Navy?

    •      04:05 PACOM

    •     06:53 Working with Senator McCain 

    •      10:51 Resource prioritization 

    •      15:19 Shortsighted decisions

    •      19:56 Sink China’s Navy

    •      25:30 Is Taiwan ready?

    •      30:35 Imitate Estonia

    •      33:31 Sensor complexes 

    •      37:26 Missile defense

    •      43:30 Nuclear escalation

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Sabin Howard, sculptor of A Soldier’s Journey, the central feature of the new World War I Memorial in Washington, DC, joins the show to talk about his work and the art of memorializing war and honoring veterans.

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Times 

    •      01:50 Introduction 

    •      02:07 Becoming an artist

    •      07:03 Spiritually classical

    •     10:04 WWI 

    •      14:24 Getting it right

    •      18:35 Daughter and father

    •      21:37 The ordeal

    •      25:00 The charging man 

    •      28:18 Modern methods

    •      33:52 Aftermath

    •      41:11 Return 

    •      51:00 Excite and engage

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Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny, joins the show to give his thoughts on Tucker Carlson’s controversial guest Darryl Cooper.

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Times 

    •      01:25 Introduction 

    •      02:34 Churchill the villain

    •      05:20 Pat Buchanan

    •     08:57 Dragging America into war 

    •      14:50 Barbarossa

    •      20:06 “Mr. Cooper simply can’t have read Mein Kampf…”

    •      21:37 Terror bombings

    •      24:19 Dog whistles 

    •      26:11 Founding mythology

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