Geopolitics & Military History

This course serves as the opening week of the Security Studies Program.

Using readings from canonical strategic thinkers and episodes from military history, it offers fellows an introduction to the principles and complexities of geopolitics.

Image: Kirill Makarov / Shutterstock

Aaron MacLean on D-Day's Lessons

This course is part of our residential Security Studies Program. Fellows participate in morning seminars and meet national security leaders and experts over afternoon and evening sessions. Up to 16 fellows will be selected.

Faculty

Aaron MacLean

Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and the host of the School of War podcast. Previously, he was senior foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Aaron served on active duty as a U.S. Marine for seven years, deploying to Afghanistan as an infantry officer in 2009–2010.

Mike Gallagher

Mike Gallagher served for four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives as Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District representative. Previously, he served seven years on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps, including two deployments to Iraq.

Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session

Session I: War Plan Orange Phase I: Planning & Execution

Readings:

Edward T. Imparato (ed.), General MacArthur: Speeches and Reports 1908–1964, pp. 112–24
Michael Green, By More Than Providence: Grand Strategy and American Power in the Asia Pacific Since 1783, Part II, “The Rise of Japan” (pp. 111–13, 131–44, 172–87)
Edward Miller, War Plan Orange, Chs. 3–7, portion of Ch. 25 (pp. 19–76, 293–312)

For Discussion:

The strategic dilemmas posed by America’s presence in the Philippines.
The intersection of pre-war plans to abandon forward positions with MacArthur’s desire to fight for them; Phase I of the war as it actually, and disastrously, played out.

Session II: War Plan Orange Phase II: Planning & Execution

Readings:

Edward Miller, War Plan Orange, Chs. 26, 28–29 (313–22, 331–56)
Evan Mawdsley, The War for the Seas, Ch. 18 (pp. 370–417)

For Discussion:

Pre-war planning of Phase II, including debates between “thrusters” and “cautionaries”, and how Phase II nested into broader conceptions of strategic success.
Phase II in practice, through the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

Session III: Climax of Phase II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf

Readings:

Douglas MacArthur, Return to Philippines Address
Vann Woodward, The Battle for Leyte Gulf, Ch. 1–3 (pp. 1–120)

For Discussion:

The rejected Formosa option; Japanese and American conceptions of the moment; the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea.
The Battle of Surigao Strait.

Session IV: Climax of Phase II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf

Readings:

Vann Woodward, The Battle for Leyte Gulf, Ch. 3–6 (pp. 121–205)

Discussion:

The Battle of Cape Engano.
The Battle off Samar; liberation of the Philippines and further consequences.

Session V: War Plan Orange Phase III: U.S. Pacific Strategy in WWII & Lessons for Today

Readings:

Edward Miller, War Plan Orange, Ch. 14, 30 (pp. 150–66, 357–69)
Richard B. Frank, Downfall, Chs. 1–2, 6, 9 (pp. 3–37, 83–102, 131–48)
Richard B. Frank, Memo dated 23 April 2024
Transcript, School of War Podcast, Episode 137 with Richard B. Frank

For Discussion:

The American debate over Phase III in 1945: blockade v. invasion, conditional v. unconditional surrender; Japan’s defensive concept.
Phase III as it occurred; the causes of the Japanese surrender.
What applies in the 2020s?

Alumni Spotlight

Marshall Kosloff

Marshall Kosloff is a media fellow at Hudson Institute, where he hosts the Arsenal of Democracy podcast. He also co-hosts The Realignment podcast. Previously, he was a researcher at PBS’s Firing Line with Margaret Hoover and participated in the Public Interest Fellowship.

“Political science and public policy programs at the undergraduate level, or even at the graduate level, are disengaged with what’s going on in DC. Hertog’s programs do a very good job of bringing you into the center of things, but also making you dive deeply.”

Marshall Kosloff

Current Position:

Media Fellow, Hudson Institute
Past:

PBS, National Review, The Public Interest Fellowship, American Legion Boys Nation
Education:

University of Oregon

HOW DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE HERTOG FOUNDATION? WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO APPLY?

I first heard about Hertog when I was in DC working at AEI. I didn’t really get the opportunity to study political philosophy during college or high school, and I also have a deep interest in public policy. I really loved how we spent the first week of the course looking at foundational and philosophical topics, and over the second week, we delved into policy topics like K-12 education and economic and social mobility.

WHAT STICKS OUT IN YOUR MEMORY ABOUT YOUR EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH HERTOG PROGRAMS?

I’ve never been in an intellectual environment where I felt the need to just sit back and listen to what everyone else had to say. Obviously, the instructors for the seminars are amazing, but I really think it’s being in a room with other concerned, engaged people that makes the entire experience worth it.

DO YOU THINK HERTOG PROGRAMS ARE BENEFICIAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE INTERESTED IN PUBLIC POLICY?

It helps so much that Hertog programs occur in Washington, DC. A lot of political science and public policy programs at the undergraduate level, or even at the graduate level, are very disengaged with what’s going on in DC. Hertog’s programs do a very good job of bringing you into the center of things, but also making you dive very deeply.

Hertog creates an environment where you can’t just skim the text in order to get along with the bare minimum. You really have to be willing to engage. Afterwards, you have a sense of confidence and excitement that Hertog has instilled in you. I definitely wish I had gotten the Hertog experience when I was a freshman or a sophomore versus when I was a senior. A lot of trying to figure out what I wanted to do and similar college-career struggles would have been far easier if I’d had the foundational experience with Hertog earlier.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS?

I really love public policy, and I want to focus on taking a lot of the big ideas and finding a way to bring that to a more grassroots level. I want to find a way to make the policy work that I think a lot of great people are doing – especially those I met during my time in “American Democratic Capitalism” – more relevant and more useful to people outside of the Beltway corridor.