nebulous
School of War Thumbnail
School of War
Learn what war teaches

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

Marc Milner, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of New Brunswick and author of ⁠Second Front: Anglo-American Rivalry and the Hidden Story of the Normandy Campaign⁠, joins the show to discuss the turbulent passing of the torch of Western hegemony during WWII. 
Listen to episode →
Nicholas Wright, neuroscientist and author of ⁠Warhead: How the Brain Shapes War and War Shapes the Brain⁠, joins the show to explore the implications of neuroscience for warmaking. 
Listen to episode →
Host Aaron MacLean pays tribute to his father, World War Two and Vietnam Veteran Angus MacLean. This memorial originally ran in the publication Engelsberg Ideas. 
Listen to episode →
Edward Luce, U.S. national editor and columnist at the Financial Times and author of ⁠Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet⁠,joins the show to discuss one of the most interesting characters of the Cold War, Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Listen to episode →
Oren Cass, founder and chief economist of American Compass and author of the article ⁠A Grand Strategy of Reciprocity⁠ for Foreign Affairs, joins the show to discuss how the United States should think about the current strategic moment.
Listen to episode →