Michael Leggiere, Professor of Humanities at the University of Florida and editor of War Studies Journal 1, joins the show to discuss the sad state of military history in higher education.

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    •      01:17 Introduction 

    •      02:48 Military history in academia 

    •      03:53 PME 

    •     05:22 What is “new” military history?  

    •      11:55 “History shouldn’t be a mystery”

    •      17:55 The Journal

    •      20:45 Suggested pieces  

    •      24:32 Napoleon  

    •      26:58 Lee

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Mackenzie Eaglen, senior fellow at AEI and author of Keeping Up with the Pacing Threat: Unveiling the True Size of Beijing’s Military Spending, joins the show to discuss the dire situation the U.S. defense budget is in. 

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    •      01:22 Introduction 

    •      02:48 Keeping up 

    •      05:26 China’s spending 

    •     10:01 Equipment costs  

    •      13:46 “Stealing our stuff”

    •      18:25 5 alarm fire

    •      20:32 U.S. budget truths  

    •      24:50 BCA 101 

    •      31:32 Today or tomorrow 

    •      39:23 Defense is cheaper, not better

    •      43:21 Solutions  

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Thomas Barfield, Professor and Chairman of the Anthropology Department at Boston University and author of Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History, joins the show to discuss empire.  

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    •      01:15 Introduction 

    •      03:20 Understanding Afghanistan 

    •      05:15 Classifying empires 

    •     09:59 Failures and features  

    •      12:24 Borders

    •      15:30 Exogenous empires

    •      21:36 Brits and Athenians  

    •      26:40 Vulture empires 

    •      32:21 Taking responsibility 

    •      37:15 Empires of nostalgia

    •      44:50 Vacuum empires  

    •      51:05 American/Athenian policy 

    •      54:53 China and empire today

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Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of Duty to Deter: American Nuclear Deterrence and the Just War Doctrine, joins the show to make the moral argument for why the United States should modernize and grow its nuclear arsenal. 

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Times 

    •      01:15 Introduction 

    •      01:48 A net good

    •      04:50 Tactical nuclear weapons

    •     10:25 The argument of disarmament 

    •      14:03 Cold War strategy

    •      19:53 Capability and will

    •      26:06 Downside of “no first use”  

    •      32:03 The nuclear triad 

    •      37:20 Russia and China 

    •      40:56 The moral argument

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Randall Schriver, Chairman of the Board at The Project 2049 Institute, and Dan Blumenthal, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, join the show to discuss a road map for economic competition—and warfare—between the U.S. and China. 

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Times 

    •      01:55 Introduction 

    •      02:30 Planning for economic warfare

    •      06:27 Endstate

    •     10:18 Leadership

    •      12:21 NSDD

    •      14:59 Starting points

    •      17:10 Decoupling  

    •      20:03 Where is the stuff coming from? 

    •      23:50 Degrading the Chinese economy 

    •      27:33 A dream of cooperation

    •      32:17 Slow the growth

    •      36:08 Wargaming  

    •      41:41 Protraction

    •      44:49 International and Congressional concerns

Click the link to read the report - DEFEATING THE CCP A RUNNING START

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Watch this episode on YouTube. Frank Cohn joins the show to talk about his life: fleeing Hitler’s Germany, his return as a U.S. soldier tasked with hunting Nazi’s, his service in Vietnam, and more.

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    •      01:55 Introduction 

    •      02:15 A Nazi in the classroom

    •      05:47 Martin and Ruth

    •     17:35 Leaving Germany

    •      19:22 New York City

    •      22:50 Pearl Harbor

    •      30:47 Back to Europe 

    •      35:30 Nazi Hunter 

    •      39:48 POW for a moment 

    •      42:32 The Dutch lady

    •      50:40 Camps

    •      52:30 Crossing the Elbe 

    •      59:20 Interrogations

    •      01:05:40 Paying back the country 

    •      01:08:51 Paula 

    •      01:14:50 Military Police and Vietnam

    •      01:18:40 Angus 

    •      01:21:12 Lessons

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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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