Ep 243: Alexander Mikaberidze on Russia’s Failed Battle with Turkey… in 1809

School of War

Alexander Mikaberidze, Professor of History at LSU Shreveport and contributor to ⁠An Unavoidable Evil: Siege Warfare in the Age of Napoleon (From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815)⁠,  joins the show to discuss the siege of Brăila and the lessons of the Russo-Ottoman War of 1806-1812.

Alexander Mikaberidze, Professor of History at LSU Shreveport and contributor to <a href="https://a.co/d/aDSjIiR">An Unavoidable Evil: Siege Warfare in the Age of Napoleon (From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815)</a>,  joins the show to discuss the siege of Brăila and the lessons of the Russo-Ottoman War of 1806-1812.
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Times
00:00 The Shifting Balance of Power in the Black Sea
02:00 Siege Warfare in the Age of Napoleon
04:09 Decisive Battles vs. Positional Warfare
08:30 The Evolution of Strategy: 18th to 19th Century
14:16 The Debate on Siege Tactics in the Russian Military
21:27 Kutuzov's Strategic Evolution
25:26 Geopolitical Context: Russia and the Ottoman Empire's Rivalry
31:31 The Siege of Brăila: A Military Catastrophe
38:39 The Cost of War: Casualties and Consequences
50:40 Lessons in Military Culture: Accountability and Adaptation
 
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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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;&nbsp; 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. <a href="https://schoolofwar.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Visit our Substack for episode transcripts</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/school.of.war/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Follow along on Instagram</a>