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Jaws of Defeat

Exploring the strategy, tactics, leadership, and luck behind history's upset victories
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Now displaying: 2017
Nov 21, 2017

In 371BCE, Thebes dealt Sparta, the reigning hegemon of Greece, a blow it would never recover from. An innovative mix of hoplite tactics allowed Theban General Epaminondas to win a landmark strategic victory that put Thebes on the map... for about 30 years before they screwed it all up.

Sources:

Hanson, Victor Davis, "The Leuktra Mirage"

Ray Jr., Frank Eugene, "Greek and Macedonian Land Battles of the 4th Century BC," McFarland, 2012.

Xenophon, "Hellenica"

 

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Nov 3, 2017

This week on Jaws of Defeat, we look at the Battle of Longewala from the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. This episode has it all: 20:1 odds, poor planning, and tanks trying to maneuver in sand. 

 

Sources: 

An Assessment of the Battle of Longewala by Thakur K. S. Ludra

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010113/windows/main4.htm

The Greatest Underdog Story Ever Told - The Battle Of Longewala, Indo-Pak War 1971 by Abhishek Saksena

https://www.indiatimes.com/culture/who-we-are/the-greatest-underdog-story-ever-told-the-battle-of-longewala-indopak-war-1971_-233975.html

Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report

https://web.archive.org/web/20120304011310/http://www.pppusa.org/Acrobat/Hamoodur%20Rahman%20Commission%20Report.pdf

Indian-Pakistan War of 1971:  A Modern War by Major R.G. Kyle, Royal Canadian Artillery

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/KRG.htm

 

 

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Oct 11, 2017

Will picks up where he left off... after a digression on aircraft carrier tactics and technology... and finally finishes the Battle of Midway

Further Reading:

Samuel Morison, The History of United States Naval Operations in WWII

Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya, Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan

Gordon Prange, Donald Goldstein, and Katherine Dillion, Miracle at Midway

 

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Sep 18, 2017

In our first two-parter, Will only manages to get midway through his recounting of the Battle of Midway.

Sources:

"Battle of Midway" by Craig Symonds

"Shattered Sword" by Anthony Tully and Jonathan Parshall

 

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Sep 5, 2017
This week, we learn how plucky little Finland managed to stop Russia cold during the Winter War. Here's a hint - it involves skis, machine guns, and a whole lot of grit. 
 
 
Sources:
The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish War of 1939-1940" by William R. Trotter
 
"Finnish Soldier versus Soviet Soldier: Winter War 1939-1940 (Combat)" by David Campbell
 
BBC Documentary "Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia" (2006)
 

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Aug 16, 2017

In 1781, there seemed little hope for the American Revolution. The war in the north had stagnated, and the British were in the process of driving the Continental army out of the south.

And then the Royal Navy lost a battle. To the French navy.

After the Battle of the Chesapeake, the victory at Yorktown became possible, and all that followed.

Learn a bit about the engagement, campaign, and naval tactics from the age of fighting sail as we discuss the battle with a guest contributor.

Sources:

E.B. Potter and Chester Nimitz, Sea Power

Harold Larrabee, Decision at the Chesapeake

Alfred Thayer Mahan, Influence of Sea Power Upon History

John Clerk, An Essay on Naval Tactics

 

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Jul 24, 2017

 

In this week’s episode, Luke talks about the Battle of Tanga. Well, he mostly talks about pre-WWI colonial politics in Africa, but he gets to the battle eventually. 

 

The main source for this episode was The Battle of Tanga, German East Africa 1914 by Maj. Kenneth J. Harvey - which can be found here: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a416385.pdf

 

For more information about this battle, look into Battle for the Bundu: The First World War in German East Africa by Charles Miller and The Great War in Africa, 1914–1918 by Byron Farwell

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Jul 11, 2017

Will explains the Siege of Malta, which pits the Ottoman Turks vs. the Knights of St. John/Hospitaller/Malta in one of history's most epic sieges. Surprise naval attacks, incendiary weapons, and underground flame thrower fights, this one has it all. 

 

There's a map this time!:  https://twitter.com/JoDPodcast/status/884618168530063360

 

Our main source was Roger Crowley's Empires of the Sea

You could also check out Earnle Bradford's The Great Siege: Malta 1565

 

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Jun 23, 2017

It is difficult to overstate how disorienting France’s collapse was in the spring of 1940. A great power with one of the most advanced militaries in the world that possessed a number of numerical advantages over the German Wehrmacht was not supposed to suffer a catastrophe that would end in six weeks with Nazi troops marching down the Champs-Élysées.

Yet it did happen, despite the efforts of Allied soldiers -- including the approximately 124,000 Frenchmen who died fighting in what would amount to over twice the amount of American deaths in Vietnam.

So what went wrong? Historians, politicians, and generals have offered a wide range of explanations in the wake of the Battle of France from the moment the last shot was fired to today. Some claim French political dysfunction and the public’s supposed reluctance to fight are responsible; others look to the errors of Allied high command in the face German strategic, operational, and tactical innovation; others still point to technology and even luck.

All of these factors contributed to this massive upset, but our hosts and their guest have definite opinions.

 

Resources:


-Marc Bloch, Strange Defeat: A Statement of Evidence Written in 1940 (1940)

-Eliot A. Cohen and John Gooch, “Catastrophic Failure: The French Army and Air Force, May-June 1940,” in Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War (1990)

-Julian Jackson, The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940 (2003)

-Ernest R. May, Strange Victory: Hitler’s Conquest of France (2000)

-Art of the Battle: Animated Battle Maps, “Battle of France, 1940”

 

 

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Jun 6, 2017

In this week's episode, Luke takes us to feudal Japan and presents our biggest upset yet, the Battle of Okehazama. Ever wondered why Oda Nobunaga is a big deal? Not sure who Oda Nobunaga is? Look no further, those questions and more will be answered.

 

 

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May 16, 2017

In this battle between the Romans and Parthians, Marcus Lincinius Crassus and his legions run afoul of Surena and his horse archers, the Carr-height of folly. Luke comes clean about his hatred for camels.

 

 

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May 2, 2017

In this week's episode, Luke does the Battle of the Ice. This has nothing to do with Game of Thrones. Real deal, we promise. Its the Teutonic Knights vs. the Novgorod Republic led by Alexander Nevsky. Remember dear listeners, unless you're the Mongols, it's always a bad idea to invade Russia during winter.

 

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Apr 10, 2017

In this week's episode, the French Colonial Army learns an object lesson in colonial hubris at the hands of the Viet Minh forces, and Luke mistakes the name of the battle for a type of delicious soup.

 

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Mar 20, 2017

In this episode we look at a whole campaign rather than one battle. This is Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's Shenandoah Valley campaign.

Mar 6, 2017

In our fifth episode, Luke describes a battle against the Persians... again. But it's with the Byzantines this time!

 

Follow us on Twitter at @JoDPodcast

 

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Feb 20, 2017

In this episode, Will tells Luke why you don't bring a wicker shield to a spear fight in the Battle of Granicus, Alexander the Great's first battle against the Persians.

Feb 6, 2017

Episode 3: Luke presents this 19th century battle between the Zulus and British colonials.

 

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Jan 22, 2017

In today's episode, Luke makes a terrible Sala-mistake in choosing an ancient sea battle between the Greeks and the Persians. 

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Jan 22, 2017

In our first episode we take a look at the Battle of Agincourt, which pits the French mounted cavalry against the English longbow. Sorry about the sound quality, it's our first day.

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