Shows / School of War
School of War
In School of War, CBS News National Security Analyst and Free Press columnist Aaron MacLean sits down with secretaries of state, top military historians, war planners, and key political decision-makers to help understand the lessons of war. Tune in as School of War takes you to the front lines. Aaron MacLean is a former 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…
Episodes
- School of War
Ep 238: James Titterton on Medieval Deception
James Titterton, historian and author of Deception in Medieval Warfare: Trickery and Cunning in the Central Middle Ages, joins the show to discuss strategies…
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Ep 237: Toshi Yoshihara on China’s Subversive Strategies
Toshi Yoshihara, Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and author of Mao's Army Goes to Sea: The Island Campaigns and the…
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Ep 236: Joshua Rovner on Grand Strategy
Joshua Rovner, Associate Professor in the School of International Service at American University and author of Strategy and Grand Strategy, joins the show to…
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Ep 235: Tyler Grey on Serving in Delta Force and the Warrior’s Journey
Tyler Grey, Delta Force veteran and author of Forged in Chaos: A Warrior's Origin Story, joins the show to discuss his experiences as a member of the U.S…
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Ep 234: A. Wess Mitchell on Diplomacy
A. Wess Mitchell, former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, historian, and author of Great Power Diplomacy: The Skill of…
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Ep 233: Mick Ryan on the Ukraine War’s Urgent Lessons
Major General Mick Ryan, Australian Army (retired), Senior Fellow for Military Studies the Lowy Institute and author of the Futura Doctrina substack, joins the…
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Ep 232: Ran Baratz on the Gaza War and Israel’s ‘Postmodern’ Military
Ran Baratz, military historian and former senior Israeli official, and author of What's Wrong with the Postmodern Military?, joins the show to discuss…
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Ep 231: Peter Rough on Russian Drone Incursions into NATO
Peter Rough, senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute, joins the show to discuss the recent Russian drone…
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Ep 230: Prit Buttar on the Great Soviet Offensive of 1944
Prit Buttar, historian and author of Bagration 1944: The Great Soviet Offensive, joins the show to discuss the immense Russian campaign that broke the German…
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Ep 229: Nadège Rolland on China’s Borderlands
Nadège Rolland, Distinguished Fellow, China Studies, at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and principal investigator for the Mapping China's…
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Ep 228: Brad Bowman and Ryan Brobst on “Axis” Military Cooperation
Brad Bowman and Ryan Brobst, senior and deputy directors of the Center on Military and Political Power at FDD, join the show to discuss the military…
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Ep 227: Yaakov Katz on What Went Wrong on 10/7
Yaakov Katz, senior fellow at The Jewish People Policy Institute and author of While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle…
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Ep 226: Geoffrey Wawro on the Vietnam War
Geoffrey Wawro, founding director of the Military History Center at the University of North Texas and author of The Vietnam War: A Military History, joins the…
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Ep 225: Geoff Ball on the Evacuation of Kabul
Major Geoff Ball, USMC, co-founder of the Connecting File, commanded Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines during the evacuation at Kabul International Airport…
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Ep 224: Barry Strauss on Ancient Rome’s Wars with Israel
Barry Strauss, Corliss Page Dean Fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World's Mightiest Empire…
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Ep 223: Mick Ryan on Ukraine Negotiations and Fighting
Major General Mick Ryan, Australian Army (retired), Senior Fellow for Military Studies the Lowy Institute and author of the Futura Doctrina Substack, joins the…
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Ep 222: Peter Mansoor on MacArthur’s Return to the Philippines
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…
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Ep 221: Joel Wuthnow and Phillip Saunders on China’s PLA
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…
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Ep 220: Marc LiVecche on Hiroshima and Morality
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…
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Ep 219: Stephen Platt on Mao's China and the Original Marine Raider
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…
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Ep 218: Lawerence Freedman on Endless Wars
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…
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Ep 217: Steven Rabalais on Ike’s Mentor
Steven Rabalais, litigator and author of General Fox Conner: Pershing's Chief of Operations and Eisenhower's Mentor, joins the show to discuss the…
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Ep 216: Will Somerindyke on Making Munitions in America
Will Somerindyke, Chairman of Regulus Global and CEO of UNION, joins the show to discuss rebuilding the U.S. defense industrial base. ▪️ Times • 01:36…
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Ep 215: Ryan McDermott on Invading Iraq in 2003
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…
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Ep 214: Bryan Clark on the Coming Sensor War with China
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…
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Ep 213: Paul Lay on Cromwell and the English Civil War
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…
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Ep 212: Arnold Punaro on Fighting in Vietnam and Washington
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…
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Ep 211: Daniel Samet on the Origins of the U.S.-Israel Relationship
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…
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Ep 210: Scott Boorman on Sun Tzu
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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Ep 209: Jonathan Schanzer on the Israel-Iran Ceasefire
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…
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Ep 208: Mike Doran on America’s Strikes in Iran
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…
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Ep 207: Mark Dubowitz on the Israel-Iran War and American Intervention
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. ▪️ Times • 01:00…
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Ep 206: Cleo Paskal on China’s Central Pacific Strategy
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…
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Ep 205: Mark Dubowitz on Israel’s Unfolding Campaign in Iran
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…
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Ep 204: Annie Jacobsen on Nuclear War
Annie Jacobsen, journalist and author of Nuclear War: A Scenario, joins the show to discuss nuclear weapons and their use. ▪️ Times • 01:20 Introduction •…
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Ep 203: Stephen Rabe on the Invasion of Normandy
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…
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Ep 202: Fred Kagan on Ukraine’s Attack and the Future of War
Fred Kagan, senior fellow and the director of the Critical Threats Project at AEI, joins the show to discuss Ukraine’s drone operation targeting Russia’s…
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Ep 201: Zachary Griffiths & McKinsey Harb on the U.S. Army
Lt. Col. Zachary Griffiths & Maj. McKinsey Harb joined the show to discuss the U.S. Army’s new Field Manual 1, FM 1 -THE ARMY: A PRIMER TO OUR PROFESSION OF…
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Ep 200: Rick Atkinson on the American Revolution at 250
Rick Atkinson, historian and author of The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, joins the show to discuss the…
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Ep 199: Jonathan Hackett on Our Failures in Iraq & Afghanistan
Jonathan Hackett, former U.S. Marine Corps interrogator and author of Theory of Irregular War, joins the show to discuss America’s post-9/11 wars and how…
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Ep 198: Robert D. Kaplan on Crisis
Robert D. Kaplan, Robert Strausz-Hupé Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and author of Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis…
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Ep 197: Mick Ryan on the Ukrainian Battlefield
Mick Ryan, retired major general in the Australian Army and author of The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire, joins the show to discuss the…
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Ep 196: Thomas Bruscino and Mitchell G. Klingenberg on Mapping Warfare
Thomas Bruscino, professor at the U.S. Army War College, and Mitchell G. Klingenberg, assistant professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College…
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Ep 195: John Hillen on Strategic Thinking
John Hillen, James C. Wheat Professor in Leadership at Hampden-Sydney College and author of The Strategy Dialogues: A Primer on Business Strategy and Strategic…
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Ep 194: Mark Moyar on the Vietnam War
Mark Moyar, William P. Harris Chair of Military History at Hillsdale College and author of Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968, joins the show to…
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Ep 193: Douglas Murray on Israel’s War and its Global Consequences
Douglas Murray, journalist and author of On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization, joins the show for a wide ranging conversation…
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Ep 192: Raymond Jonas on Europe’s War on the Monroe Doctrine (~165 years ago)
Raymond Jonas, Jon Bridgman Endowed Professor in History at the University of Washington and author of Habsburgs on the Rio Grande: The Rise and Fall of the…
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Ep 191: Mark Dubowitz on Iran and the Trump Administration
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and host of The Iran Breakdown podcast, joins the show to discuss the Iranian nuclear program…
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Ep 190: Michael Doran on “Restraint” and the Middle East
Michael Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson Institute, joins the show to discuss “restraintism”…
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Ep 189: Andrew Roberts on October 7th and Antisemitism
Lord Andrew Roberts, the Bonnie and Tom McCloskey Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and chair of the 7 October Parliamentary Commission…
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Ep 188: Jonathan Horn on MacArthur and the Battle for the Philippines
Jonathan Horn, former White House speechwriter and author of The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines, joins…
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Ep 187: Richard Fontaine on the “Reverse Kissinger”
Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and co-author of No Limits? The China-Russia Relationship and U.S. Foreign Policy, joins…
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Ep 186: Walter Russell Mead on Trump, Strategy, and Mercantilism
Walter Russell Mead, Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Florida's Hamilton Center and columnist for The Wall Street…
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Ep 185: Lara Burns on the Hamas Threat in America
Lara Burns, retired FBI Special Agent and head of terrorism research at the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University, joins the show to talk…
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Ep 184: Alexander Burns on the Dawn of the Modern Battlefield
Alexander Burns, Assistant Professor of History at Franciscan University and author of Infantry in Battle 1733-1783 (From Reason to Revolution), joins the show…
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Ep 183: Tom Cotton on China
Tom Cotton, U.S. senator from Arkansas and author of Seven Things You Can't Say About China, joins the show to talk about the CCP’s global designs. ▪️ Times •…
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Ep 182: Sean McMeekin on Communism
Sean McMeekin, Professor of European History and Culture at Bard College and author of To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism, joins…
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Ep 181: Michael Cook on the Islamic Conquests
Michael Cook, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and author of A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity…
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Ep 180: Stephen Kotkin on Endgames in Ukraine
Stephen Kotkin, Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, joins the show to discuss how both sides have lost the Ukraine War, and the risks of…
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Ep 179: Phillips O’Brien on Grand Strategy in WW2
Phillips O’Brien, chair of Strategic Studies at the University of St. Andrews and author of The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini, and…