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 Hitler--How War Made Them and How They Made War, joins the show to discuss the nature of strategic decision making in World War II and beyond. ▪️ Times      •      01:50 Introduction     •      02:48 Germany 1st debunked     •     06:50 A matter of choices       •      08:20 Management styles       •     11:23 FDR the navalist        •      14:42 Strategic balance     •      16:52 The British Empire       •      18:58 Churchill the shapeshifter          •      26:42 Britain’s place     •      29:22 Casablanca      •      33:54 Making Hitler     •      38:43 Firepower + racial superiority      •      42:41 Delaying defeat     •      44:55 A childish view of war      •      46:50 Human decisions     •      48:28 Stalin the survivor     •      51:30 “Not nice people” Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack

Om Podcasten

This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history. Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and former China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras. The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader.   Aaron MacLean is a 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 Corps. Visit our Substack for episode transcripts Follow along on Instagram