Secrets Of Statecraft: The Education Of General David Petraeus

Released on February 23, 2022

An important part of statecraft is learning from the past, and in my first podcast I ask General David Petraeus, who commanded the US-led coalition in Iraq and Afghanistan and was director of the CIA, what he learned about the Vietnam War from his PhD studies at Princeton that helped him in the war against terror.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Secrets of Statecraft​ is a bi-monthly podcast hosted by Andrew Roberts which explores the effect that the study of History has had on the careers and decision-making of public figures, and which will also ask leading historians about the influence that the study of History had on their biographical subjects. The title is taken from Winston Churchill’s reply on Coronation Day 1953 to a young American who had asked him for life-advice, to whom he said ‘Study History, study History, for therein lie all the secrets of statecraft.’

Listen to the podcast on the platforms listed below.

[Kaiser_Johan]

Pleasant suprise hearing Shostakovich 7nd symphony in the introduction

[jebjeb]

Superb guest.Now I cant wait for Dr Hanson!

[JoeKenn]

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

[JXY]

Wow. Very impressive. He has a manner of talking and organizing his thoughts in a way that reminds me of Dwight Eisenhower.

[Tadicuslegion]

I dunno if he'll ever see this, but the gentleman to ask about Vietnam is HR McMasters because his thesis became Dereliction of Duty about the Joint Chiefs of Staff failure in Vietnam.

[richardfox]

Well, this is a very interesting post. Keep up with this... History is the way to look at the future...

Excellent. Thanks.

[quddusquddus]

If there is a right side of history and a wrong side of history then why not a person that wise like Churchill simply jump into the right side of history. Why waste time studying history if history is offering right and wrong sides? An outstanding show.

[Bultish]

This is very interesting, so thank you for sharing 👍

[richardfox]

Read Nick Danziger. His account of Afghanistan is superb. Flashman in the great game... double deluxe! History all the way...

[cueball]

I would add to the list of military geniuses enumerated herein the Revolutionary hero, Francis Marion The " Swamp Fox", The American legend of boys of my generation of the 1950's. One of the early pioneers of the jargon phrase, " hit and run. "

[marchess]

Excellent podcast, especially because it revealed that GEN Petraeus is a fan of the Flashman novels and has the guts to admit it in this woke age.

[dustyfairview]

And Hanson is next.... hello im your newest biggest fan

[ronalddeveau]

Well there was a lot of old school connections, not that that's a bad thing. Hope most of the content sounds better the next time I listen to it. 🍁😎

[TheBlackClockOfTime]

Well, that was the highest value I've gotten for free since NFT Worlds. Thank you.

[jasonoconner]

I'm hoping he's got some good tips on OPSEC.

[georgelord]

Shostakovich 7 Bernstein/CSO… good selection

[MoralistaDefinitivo]

Yes, universal suffrage is definitely one of those issues where you can be on the wrong side of history, most definitely, you only need to look at history, of course, right.

[stephenhauck]

So glad that Andrew has a podcast! However, Petraeus was difficult to listen to, he kept droning on and

[keithcampbell]

Watched Tony Cowden on Jocko Willinks podcast. “We created the enemy”. Curious to what the General has to say about his take on Iraq?

[nuqwestr]

History does not repeat itself, but DNA does.