Ep. 5: Wayne Hsieh on Robert E. Lee

School of War

Wayne Hsieh discusses Robert E. Lee's military strategy as the commander of the Confederate Army during the Civil War

BiographyWayne Hsieh is a history professor at the United States Naval Academy. He served on the State Department's provincial reconstruction team in Iraq from 2008 to 2009 and is the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including the Army's Commander's Award for Civilian Service and the State Department's Meritorious Honors Award. Hsieh is the author of numerous articles and the co-author of The Savage War: A Military History of the Civil War. Times<ul>
<li>01:17 - Introduction </li>
<li>06:50 - Hostility toward studying Robert E. Lee </li>
<li>12:50 - Lee and West Point </li>
<li>15:18 - Senior leadership of Confederate and Union armies at West Point </li>
<li>17:17 - Lee's job as a junior officer in the Army Corps of Engineers </li>
<li>19:17 - Lee's rise during the Mexican War</li>
<li>23:27 - Ulysses Grant</li>
<li>26:21 - Stereotypes and temperaments of Civil War leaders</li>
<li>31:50 - What drives Lee's tactical decision-making</li>
<li>34:07 - Lee's strategic mistake </li>
</ul> Recorded October 6, 2021

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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 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 the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 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>