Masters of War: History’s Greatest Strategic Thinkers

Course Overview

Take an inside look at the content and historical context of the world’s greatest war strategists, guided by a member of the U.S. Naval War College. Across 24 lectures you will study strategic theory from Thucydides and Sun Tzu to Clausewitz, Jomini, Mahan, and modern thinkers on insurgency, nuclear deterrence, air power, terrorism, and counterterrorism — learning how political aims are translated into military action and how strategy evolves with technology and politics.

Course Details

• Course No.: 9422

• Instructor: Professor (U.S. Naval War College) — Jason/Dr. Wilson (course author)

• Format: 24 lectures (~29–33 minutes each)

• Focus: classical and modern strategic thought, naval and air power, insurgency and counterinsurgency, nuclear strategy, just‑war theory, terrorism, and strategic adaptation

Video Lectures (organized)

01: Why Strategy Matters — 33 min

Introduces strategy as the means of translating political purpose into military action; Operation Torch as a case study.

02: Thucydides on Strategy — 32 min

Thucydides as an early strategic analyst: Peloponnesian War lessons on politics, leadership, and war’s social effects.

03: Thucydides as a Possession for All Time — 32 min

Debate over the Sicilian Expedition, the Melian Dialogue, and the relevance of Thucydidean realism today.

04: Sun Tzu’s The Art of War — 31 min

Historical context and core maxims: efficiency, avoiding protracted war, and the commander’s intellect.

05: Sun Tzu through Time — 33 min

Sun Tzu’s influence across China, Japan, and the modern West; deception in Operation Fortitude (D‑Day) as example.

06: Machiavelli’s The Art of War — 30 min

Machiavelli’s tactical prescriptions and advocacy for a citizen army modeled on Roman practice.

07: Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy — 32 min

Machiavelli’s strategic philosophy (fortuna, virtu) and his prescriptions for republican military policy and command.

08: The Napoleonic Revolution in War — 31 min

How Napoleonic maneuver and operational art transformed war; battles of Jena and Auerstedt as turning points.

09: Baron Jomini as a Strategist — 30 min

Jomini’s concentrated‑force, decisive‑battle approach and its lasting tactical and operational influence.

10: Clausewitz’s On War — 31 min

Clausewitzian concepts: the paradoxical trinity, center of gravity, war‑policy relationship, and the nature of friction.

11: Jomini and Clausewitz through the Ages — 30 min

Comparative strengths and limits of Jomini (operations/tactics) and Clausewitz (political theory of war).

12: From Sail to Steam — The Sea‑Power Revolution — 31 min

Naval transformation during industrialization and its strategic implications for global power.

13: Alfred Thayer Mahan — 30 min

Mahan’s thesis: concentrated fleets and global bases produce sea power and national prosperity.

14: Sir Julian Corbett — 31 min

Corbett’s integration of land and sea strategy and its application (e.g., Wellington’s Iberian campaign).

15: Mahan, Corbett, and the Pacific War — 31 min

Japanese strategy, Pearl Harbor, and U.S. application of Mahan/Corbett principles from Plan Dog to Midway and Guadalcanal.

16: Air Power in Theory and Practice — 29 min

The rise of independent air power; Douhet, the bomber theorists, and WWII experience testing air power theory.

17: From Rolling Thunder to Instant Thunder — 31 min

Evolution of strategic bombing: Vietnam’s Rolling Thunder, Gulf War precision strikes, and later interventions.

18: Nuclear Strategy — 31 min

Deterrence, retaliation, MAD, arms control, and major nuclear thinkers who shaped Cold War policy.

19: Mao Tse‑tung in Theory and Practice — 31 min

Mao’s three phases of revolutionary war: strategic defense, protracted stalemate, and strategic counteroffensive.

20: Classics of Counterinsurgency — 31 min

Galula and Trinquier’s counterinsurgency theories and their application in Iraq, Afghanistan, and modern doctrine.

21: Just‑War Theory — 32 min

Philosophical frameworks (jus ad bellum, jus in bello, just post bellum) and application to operations like Iraqi Freedom.

22: Terrorism as Strategy — 31 min

Terrorism’s strategic logic, its intended audiences, and case studies (e.g., Michael Collins and Irish independence).

23: Strategies of Counterterrorism — 30 min

Spectrum of responses to terrorism: from ignoring to full military campaign — strengths, limits, and policy tradeoffs.

24: From the Jaws of Defeat — Strategic Adaptation — 33 min

How leaders adapt after setbacks (Washington after New York), and the civil‑military nexus that enables effective strategy.