Category: Cold War

Modern warfare history book – “Building Militaries in Fragile States” (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017) – Mara Karlin interview

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Dr. Mara Karlin started her career working in the Middle East. She then went to graduate school and interned in the Pentagon on strategic issues. Eventually she served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy & force development in the Department of Defense. She is now a professor at Johns Hopkins University where she teaches in the field of Strategic Studies. This is her first book.

1:54 – Dr. Karlin was a policymaker in the Pentagon in the aughts and she worked on building militaries in Pakistan and Lebanon. She had an early interest in Middle East issues and ended up getting an internship in the Pentagon while studying at Johns Hopkins.

3:55 – The book tries to answer the question of how the US can be successful when it builds militaries in fragile states. The US is adverse to sending in its own military into fragile states. The US tries to work with the militaries in these fragile states. Dr. Karlin looked at various case studies from history.

5:19 – She looked at Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The big failure example is the South Vietnam in the 1950s. If the US had succeeded in building the South Vietnam military then the war could have been avoided.

7:15 – Two other failures are Lebanon in the 1980s and in Iraq in recent years. The closest thing to success is US efforts in Greece after WWII.

9:06 – The US got deeply into Greece’s military affairs. That transformed the Greek military and enabled them to beat guerillas and the US didn’t have to send in troops.

15:13 – There were different levels of cooperation. Institutional and strategic versus operational and tactical. People think that the US only started developing foreign militaries after 9/11.

17:28 – More desperation in a government makes foreign countries more willing to listen to what the US has to say.

21:23 – The US goes through stages of increased and decreased support for foreign militaries. However, the US shows consistency in security goals since WWII. Only recently have security issues been inconsistent.

25:25 – Bipartisan agreement on security affairs has recently begun to diminish.

29:38 – The document she found that hit heard the hardest was finding a declassified CIA agency study of a gap in Beirut where attackers were sneaking through to attack their enemies. She also found information on a US official who wanted to stage a coup in Lebanon.

33:31 – She really enjoyed studying the development of the Lebanese military work she had done years before.

36:35 – Body count ideas developed in the Vietnam War has affected how the US has approached building foreign militaries. Recently, the US is shifting away from this quantitative approach to this issue.

39:00 – Dr. Karlin had to apply a paradigm shift to her initial hypothesis.

42:30 – Dr. Karlin discusses Reagan’s decision to have the USS New Jersey launch strikes in Lebanon.

45:35 – Dr. Karlin discusses why Lebanon and its military development is important to the US.

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Dr. Mara Karlin

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, United States, France, Lebanon, Vietnam, Greece, Iraq, Syria, stabilization, strategic studies

Cold War history book – “More Than A Doctrine” (Potomac Books, 2018) – Randall Fowler interview

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Randall Fowler has studied rhetoric at the graduate level and has written a new book on the Eisenhower Doctrine. I interviewed him about the book.

1:27 – Randall started in religious history and then spent time teaching in English. There he became more interested in the Middle East and writing history.

2:53 – The book started as a study into the Suez crisis. But then he began to dig into Eisenhower’s feelings about Middle East issues.

3:53 – The book focuses on the rhetoric of the Eisenhower doctrine and what it meant for the Middle East region.

6:59 – Eisenhower had several speechwriters who helped him write 17 drafts of the doctrine and speech.

9:23 – US was most interested in the region for its oil and how that oil supported European security.

12:59 – The Soviet perspective was to resist the US and promote communism in the region.

16:14 – When the Egyptians made a major arms deal with the Soviets, Eisenhower became worried about the inroads they were making in the Middle East. He pushed religion though Arab nationalism at the time was somewhat secular.

19:53 – As a policy, the Eisenhower Doctrine failed. Arabs didn’t support it.

23:38 – Woodrow Wilson is the first President to really talk about the Middle East at all.

28:23 – Iran was the anchor for US defense of the Middle East during the Cold War until 1979. Arabian oil reserves weren’t exploited until the 60s and on and made Arabia more influential.

32:12 – Eisenhower understood that popular opinion mattered. But US maintained influence through the leaders and not so much the people.

39:59 – During this period, the US had nuclear missiles in Turkey which contributed to the Cuban Crisis. Domino theory also made the US worry about the Soviets taking Middle Eastern countries.

45:53 – Eisenhower tried to work to keep the US from having a large standing army. He saw it as wasteful and a threat to democracy.

51:51 – Randall was surprised at the number of foreigners he found in Middle Eastern countries.

 

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Randall Fowler

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Middle east, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Eisenhower, Suez canal, UK, Soviet Union

Cold War history book – “Always at War” (Naval Institute Press, 2018) – Mel Deaile interview

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Dr. Mel Deaile attended the US Air Force Academy. He then became a bomber pilot and earned his PhD with the Air Force. He know teaches nuclear deterrence related subjects for the Air Force. He’s written a number of pieces and this is his latest book, Always at War about the Strategic Air Command.

1:30 – Dr. Deaile talks about his early writing. He’s spent 26 years in the Air Force and is retired. During this time he did a master’s thesis on nuclear weapons. Then the Air Force had him get a PhD in the field.

3:30 – In 1984 he reported to the Air Force Academy. He graduated from pilot training in 1989 and then given a B-52. Later he joined Strategic Air Command.

4:36 – The book was focused on explaining what was unique about the SAC’s organizational structure. Curtis LeMay was the originator of much of what made SAC different. He took it over in October 1948 and stayed for almost 9 years. His experience came from being a bomber pilot in WWII. His charge was to create and run strategic level force of bombers carrying nuclear bombs. He decided to create a force that was always ready for war.

8:23 – Competition among his personnel was one way he kept them sharp. LeMay kept a totem pole that ranked all his wing commanders. He also used bomb competitions.

9:46 – Bomber generals tended to be people who led the Air Force. The path to higher level command went through SAC. However, LeMay was opposed to general training and preferred on the job flight training.

11:45 – SAC was stood up in 1946 to do independent strategic bombing. They were to be kept out of the hands of theater commanders. Twentieth Air Force was the first and was converted to SAC.

13:53 – The Soviet Union affected how SAC did its job. They didn’t send their best assets to the Korean War so that the Russians wouldn’t learn what SAC’s best assets were like. They also worried about a US fifth column that would sabotage US national assets, so LeMay created red cells to test base security.

16:40 – When the Soviet Union put up Sputnik, SAC had its first alert under General Thomas Power three days before Sputnik went up. Truman created the Atomic Energy Commission to hold atomic materials for nuclear weapons. Eisenhower transferred custody of the weapons back to the military.

19:16 – Several things happened in 1962 that affected SAC. The Cuban Missile Crisis was one. SAC reached its highest personnel level in 1962. It was a huge part of the Air Force. It’s also the last year that a bomber was built for the US for many years afterwards. Lastly, the US turned to more flexible responses in war.

22:32 – Dr. Deaile explains why SAC had two legs of the nuclear triad. Missiles didn’t perform as well as bombs. Missiles were inaccurate and couldn’t always be fired when needed.

29:24 – He did research at Maxwell Air Force base and used many of the oral histories they have. He used the National Archives in Maryland to look at Air Force administrative records. He also interviewed General Dougherty who had been in charge of SAC. He also attended SAC reunions.

32:26 – Survival training at the Air Force Academy came from programs started by General LeMay for his pilots and crews. Auto hobby shops on Air Force bases came from General LeMay who loved working on cars. Aero clubs on bases also came from LeMay. LeMay also started gun clubs since he enjoyed shooting. He also instituted the dorm system on bases to replace Army style barracks.

37:42 – Dr. Deaile’s favorite part of the research was talking to old SAC members. They really respected General LeMay. They also loved all things Boeing.

40:11 – Dr. Deaile was surprised by how much in SAC came from what General LeMay learned in WWII.

44:17 – SAC was a command created to form a deterrent force. This book should be able to educate us how to create and hone a deterrent force.

49:55 – Dr. Deaile explains his record setting 44.3 hour bombing mission after 9/11.

54:14 – The book can be pre-ordered through Amazon or Naval Institute Press. You can order a signed copy through facebook or linkedin. He will also be teaching advanced nuclear deterrence studies.

 

For more “Military History Inside Out – Serious history for the critical thinker” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

 

Guests: Dr. Mel Deaile

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: US Air Force, air force, bombers, B-52, Strategic Air Command, General LeMay, nuclear deterrence, Sputnik, airmen, air force bases, nuclear triad