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