This episode of Strategy Matters supplements the Strategy and War case study on the American War for Independence with a close look at the Southern Campaign. Host LtCol Brendan Neagle is joined by Dr. Stan Carpenter, Dr. Andrew Zwilling, and Dr. Joshua Meeks. Stan, author of Southern Gambit: Cornwallis and the British March to Yorktown, walks through why Britain turned south in 1778, how the campaign unfolded, and Cornwallis's fateful march into Virginia. Andy and Josh describe how the Southern Campaign existed as one theater within a broader, global Anglo-French contest. The conversation closes with the campaign's aftermath at Yorktown and the Battle of the Chesapeake, and with each guest's key takeaways for the contemporary strategic environment.

Guests:

Dr. Stan Carpenter is a Professor Emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College. He publishes on leadership, naval history, and military history. He is the author of Southern Gambit: Cornwallis and the British March to Yorktown.

Dr. Joshua Meeks is a professor of strategy and policy in the College of Distance Education at the U.S. Naval War College. His expertise is on the French Revolution and Napoleonic France, with a focus on the Mediterranean.

Dr. Andrew Zwilling is a professor of strategy and policy in the College of Distance Education at the U.S. Naval War College. His areas of expertise include the British Empire, Colonial America, and early modern Europe.

The opinions expressed on this podcast represent the views of the presenters and do not reflect the official position of the Department of War, the United States Navy, or the U.S. Naval War College.

This episode of Strategy Matters examines the strategic leadership of Pericles during the Peloponnesian War. Host Dr. Vanya Eftimova Bellinger is joined by Dr. Michael Pavković and Dr. Robert Stone, who open with Pericles' background, the geopolitical context and his position within the Athenian political system. The conversation turns to the defensive strategy he designed for Athens as a maritime power trying to offset Sparta’s strengths as a land power. The guests then assess how far that approach shaped Athenian conduct in the later stages of the war. After asserting that Pericles was always depicted with a helmet to conceal a sea onion-shaped head, the guests draw connections between Pericles’ experience and the contemporary strategic environment, presenting lessons for the modern strategist.

Guests:

Dr. Michael F. Pavković currently serves as Vice Admiral William Ledyard Rodgers Professor in Naval History in the Strategy and Policy Department at the college. He received his B.A. in history and classics from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He has presented papers at national and international conferences and has also published a number of articles, book chapters and reviews on topics relating to ancient, early modern and Napoleonic military history. He is co-author of "What is Military History?" (Polity Press, 3rd edition, 2017). He is currently writing a book on sea power in the ancient world.

Dr. Robert Stone is an Assistant Professor of Humanities in the Hamilton School. He previously taught at the U.S. Naval War College. His research focuses on Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian War for insights into strategic culture and democratic decision making. His writings have appeared in numerous journals, including History of Political Thought, Review of Politics, the U.S. Naval War College Review, and the Journal of the History of Ideas.

The opinions expressed on this podcast represent the views of the presenters and do not reflect the official position of the Department of War, The US Navy, or US Naval War College.

This episode of Strategy Matters takes up one of the recurring strategic choices of war: whether to open a secondary theater of operations. Host LtCol Brendan Neagle is joined by Dr. Tim Hoyt and Dr. Kevin McCranie for a discussion that supplements the Strategy and War’s case studies on Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, Julian Corbett, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and Mao Tse-Tung. The guests define what makes a theater “secondary” and work through how each theorist would answer that question. The conversation closes by applying these frameworks to the contemporary strategist, weighing how a military strategist should judge the line between a valuable economy-of-force effort and a sideshow that turns into an ulcer.

Guests:

Dr. Tim Hoyt is a Professor of Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Naval War College, where he holds the John Nicholas Brown Chair of Counterterrorism and serves as Academic Director and Senior Mentor of the Advanced Strategist Program. He writes extensively on great power competition, irregular warfare, and terrorism.

Dr. Kevin McCranie is the Philip A. Crowl Professor of Comparative Strategy and a former chairman of the Strategy and Policy Department at the U.S. Naval War College. He specializes in maritime history and strategy and is the author of Mahan, Corbett, and the Foundations of Naval Strategic Thought.

The opinions expressed on this podcast represent the views of the presenters and do not reflect the official position of the Department of War, The US Navy, or US Naval War College.