PODCAST · history
Lessons Lost in Time
by William Murray
Welcome to the Lessons Lost in Time Podcast. I’m Bill Murray. Here, with a few fellow misfits and sharp minds, we’re digging through the wreckage of history—looking at how real leaders dealt with real problems when the stakes were high and the playbook was blank. If you’re the kind of person who likes to question things, pick at the edges, and think a little deeper about why the world is the way it is and what we can do about it, then pull up a chair. Because if we want new solutions, we need to discuss old problems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
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Russia Against Napoleon w/ Dr. Brian O'Lavin
Konvo, June 1812 Close your eyes. You hear it before you see it. A low, endless roar, like the sea, except the sea doesn't stamp and whinny and swear in nine languages. Then the smell hits. Wet wool. Horse sweat. Woodsmoke and black bread and cabbage boiling in a thousand dented kettles. And...
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The Syracuse Trap: Laying the Foundation of Collapse
The Syracuse Trap: Laying the Foundation of Collapse Piraeus, Greece 415 BC. You can hear it before you see it. Drums. Cheering. Sound bouncing off narrow alleyways until it’s everywhere at once. The streets are packed. You have to push a little just to get through. As you get closer to the…
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Strait of Hormuz: The History of the Iran Standoff
The sun hasn’t even thought about breaking the horizon, but the Gulf is already boiling. Over 2000 oil tankers. Massive, rusting, floating cities of crude, currently dead in the water. They are burning money, burning nerves, and sitting in the crosshairs of a war that everyone said wouldn't…
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How Ukraine Funds the War w/ Perry Boyle
Forget the flag waving. If you want to understand why Ukraine is still standing, follow the money. In this episode, venture capitalist Perry Boyle pulls back the curtain on the cold, hard mechanics of how modern wars are actually bankrolled. This isn’t about abstract strategy. It is about the…
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The Korean War Has Something to Tell You w/ LTG (Ret.) D. Scott McKean
Wars usually end. The Korean War didn’t. It just hardened. Turned into concrete, wire, artillery, and seventy years of unfinished business. Today we’re cutting through the history with LTG (R) Scott McKean. A leader who’s lived at the intersection of violence, strategy, and consequence. No…
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How War Built Modern China w/ Dr. Hans van de Ven
China does not remember war the way the West does. For China, war is not an event. It is a condition. The twentieth century did not arrive there with optimism or industry. It arrived with invasion, starvation, and a country already tearing itself apart. Japan did not interrupt a civil war. It...
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A New Iranian Revolution: 47 Years of Uprising
Smoke curls through the alley. The air stings—metal, burning tires, sweat, tear gas stings the nose and eyes. Shouts bounce off concrete walls, almost deafening. People push past each other, running, yelling, trying to be heard over the chaos. Somewhere, a phone records it all. Someone else is...
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The Venezuela Question: When Your Neighbor’s House Is On Fire
A generator hums, dragging life into a street that shouldn’t need it. Kids kick a tattered ball, their laughter sharp, brittle against the heat, carried over the scent of diesel and frying arepas. Bolívar stares down from a mural, paint peeling, eyes split like the city itself. Lines curl around...
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The Russo-Japanese War 1904: The Old Order on Notice
You can still feel that wind off the Liaodong Peninsula if you listen hard enough, it carries the ghosts of Port Arthur, Mukden, and the empires that thought they were too big to fail. One bled out. The other walked away with a victory that cost it its soul. This was trench warfare before Europe...
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Japan in WWII: From Rising Sun to Fallen Empire w/ Dr. Brian O’Lavin
Japan. An island chain born of fire and salt, where mountains plunge into restless seas and the air smells of cedar, smoke, and ambition. A place where beauty comes with an edge and tradition carries the weight of centuries. This is not just a country. It is a code carved into the bones of its...
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The Philippine–American War: An Empire’s Shadow w/ Fernando Nacionales
It starts like any good story, with a promise. America, the liberator, the shining beacon. But behind that gleaming façade? The ugly truth of an empire trying to carve out a piece of the world’s pie, by any means necessary. The Philippines, caught in the middle, their fate decided by powers...
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The First Sino-Japanese War: Rising and Dying Empires w/ Andrew Morgado
This war didn’t just redraw a map. It rewired the balance of power in Asia and set the world on a path to Pearl Harbor, the invasion of Manchuria, and today’s tensions in the Taiwan Strait. You think 1894 is ancient history? Every move China and Japan make in the Pacific right now has an echo…
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Russia’s Worldview “Forged in War” w/ Dr. Mark Galeotti
Russia. The land of frozen winters, boiling tempers, and a history so thick with blood, betrayal, and bombast you could bottle it and sell it as a Molotov cocktail. This isn’t just a country. It’s a worldview forged in war, paranoia, and the long, unforgiving shadow of history. From the horsemen…
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The Spanish American War 1898 (Part 2): The War of Empires w/ Drew Dornstadter
The Spanish American War 1898 (Part 2): The War of Empires w/ Drew Dornstadter The sun was setting on the Spanish Empire—bloated, brittle, and running on fumes. Four hundred years of conquest and gold, galleons and God, unraveling like an old coat in a storm. And just as the curtain was falling,...
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The Israel-Iran War: Operation Rising Lion Debrief
Today is Sunday 15 June, just two days after Operation Rising Lion - Israel’s decisive strike against Iran that began in the early hours of June 13th, 2025. We’re going to discuss everything that I’ve been able to gather over the last 48 hours. It’s been hard figuring out fact from fiction, but I...
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The Spanish American War 1898 (Part 1): The War of Empires w/ Drew Dornstadter
The Spanish American War 1898: The War of Empires w/ Drew Dornstadter The sun was setting on the Spanish Empire—bloated, brittle, and running on fumes. Four hundred years of conquest and gold, galleons and God, unraveling like an old coat in a storm. And just as the curtain was falling, America...
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Weapons of Story: How Narrative Wins Wars w/ Nikki Dean
How do nations keep going—through war, peace, and all the mess in between? They tell stories. About glory. About sacrifice. About who they are, and who they think they are. These stories build will, shape identity, and sometimes, keep people holding on long after logic would tell them to quit.…
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India & Pakistan: In the Shadow of 1947
You can smell the history here before you see it—dust, diesel, sweat, jasmine. It hangs in the air like a ghost that never got the memo to move on. Welcome to the Indian subcontinent: where time doesn’t just pass—it accumulates. And nowhere is that more brutally obvious than in the story of...
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Inside Russian Military Thinking: Strategiya w/ Dr. Ofer Fridman
How do Russians think about strategy and international relations and how does it shape the way Russia sees warfare, peace, and everything in between? I hope you’re ready to join me and my new friend and expert, Dr. Ofer Fridman, as we dive into the core of Russian military thinking and how the...
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The Russo-Georgian War: Five Days in August w/ Chad Ramskugler
What lessons can we uncover from a short Russian War against a democratic neighbor and former soviet republic? I hope you're ready to join me and my close friend, Colonel Chad Ramskugler, in discussing the Russo-Georgian War of 2008 and how the lessons of alliances, preparing for war, and quick...
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The Second Chechen War: Blood and Resolve w/ Anthony Benedosso
What lessons can we uncover from a Russian War that turned defeat into victory? I hope you’re ready to join me and my close friend, Anthony Benedosso, in discussing the Second Chechen War and how the lessons of phase zero operations, controlling the narrative, and proxy warfare apply to us today....
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The First Chechen War: Hubris and Humiliation w/ Anthony Benedosso
What lessons can we uncover from a Russian border war following the end of the Cold War? I hope you’re ready to join me and my close friend Anthony Benedosso in discussing the First Chechen War and how the lessons of phase zero operations, controlling the narrative, and proxy warfare apply to us...
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Greenland & Panama - The Art of the Deal
What lessons can we uncover from previous United States expansion experiments that can shed some light on why and how the US might acquire the sovereign territory of the Panama Canal from Panama and Greenland from Denmark? I hope you're ready to join me for today’s episode to discuss how the...
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How the Syrian Rebels Defeated Assad
What lessons can we uncover from the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 that the Syrian Rebels used to take down the Assad regime in Syria? I hope you're ready to join me for a special episode to discuss how the lessons of: 1.The Shifting Role of Outside Powers, 2.Uniting Old Enemies…
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The 1982 Lebanon War: Ambition and Quagmire w/ Dr. Grant Martin
What lessons can we uncover from a preemptive war that displaced one enemy, only to replace it with a more complex and dangerous enemy? I hope you're ready to join me and my friend Dr. Grant Martin in discussing the 1982 South Lebanon War and how the lessons of groupthink, false control of war…
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Iran - Testing Deterrence w/ Dr. Carter Malkasian
What lessons can we learn from Cold War deterrence theory that can blunt Iran's influence in the Middle East? I hope you're ready to join me and my new friend and expert Dr. Carter Malkasian in discussing how a new approach to deterrence in the Middle East applies to us today. America’s Crisis in...
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The Yom Kippur War: Surprise and Survival w/ Aaron Ritzema
What lessons can we learn from a surprise attack over 51 years ago that maximized emerging technology but still failed? I hope you’re ready to join me and my friend Aaron Ritzema in discussing the 1973 Yom Kippur War and how the lessons of warnings and indicators, cognitive bias, and technology…
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Hamas and Hezbollah: What Comes Next?
What lessons can we glean from that past that shed some light on the future of Hamas and Hezbollah? I hope you're ready to join me for a special bonus episode to discuss how the lessons of decentralized leadership, popular support, and strong political integration and adaptability apply to Hamas...
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Ukraine’s Victory Blueprint: A Critical Review
What lessons can we glean from that past that can shed some light on President Zelensky’s Victory Plan for Ukraine? I hope you're ready to join me for a special episode to discuss how the lessons of having strong and committed allies, foreign investment, and being in a place of strength at the...
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Conflict Realism: Understanding the Causal Logic of Modern War and Warfare w/ Dr. Amos Fox
What can we learn from a Realistic Approach to warfare that counters the futuristic view that is so popular in current strategic and military thinking? I hope you're ready to join me and my friend and expert Dr. Amos Fox in discussing his book "Conflict Realism" and how the lessons of thinking...
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Houthis in the Red Sea: The Battle for Control w/ Nadwa Al-Dawsari
What can we learn from an impoverished tribe from Yemen that went from obscurity 15 years ago to commanding one of the most strategic locations in the world? I hope you're ready to join me and my new friend and expert Nadwa Al-Dawsari in discussing the rise of the Houthis and how lessons learned...
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America in Somalia: Intervention, Failure, and Consequences w/ Daniel Roper
What can we learn from a failed US and UN operation that was intended to help millions of starving Somalis and ended in an 18-hour battle with 18 US soldiers killed and 73 wounded, along with 500 Somalis killed and 1000 wounded, and a quick US exit? I hope you're ready to discuss the Battle of...
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The Barbary Wars: America’s First Foreign Conflict w/ Dr. Brian O’Lavin
What lessons can we learn from a series of wars that occurred over two hundred years ago between the fledgling United States and some North African countries halfway around the world? I hope you're as pumped as I am to discuss the Barbary Wars, with my friend Dr. & Navy Captain Brian O'Lavin, and...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to the Lessons Lost in Time Podcast. I’m Bill Murray. Here, with a few fellow misfits and sharp minds, we’re digging through the wreckage of history—looking at how real leaders dealt with real problems when the stakes were high and the playbook was blank.
If you’re the kind of person who likes to question things, pick at the edges, and think a little deeper about why the world is the way it is and what we can do about it, then pull up a chair. Because if we want new solutions, we need to discuss old problems.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
HOSTED BY
William Murray
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Lessons Lost in Time have?
Lessons Lost in Time currently has 33 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Lessons Lost in Time about?
Welcome to the Lessons Lost in Time Podcast. I’m Bill Murray. Here, with a few fellow misfits and sharp minds, we’re digging through the wreckage of history—looking at how real leaders dealt with real problems when the stakes were high and the playbook was blank. If you’re the kind of person who...
How often does Lessons Lost in Time release new episodes?
Lessons Lost in Time has 33 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Lessons Lost in Time?
You can listen to Lessons Lost in Time on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Lessons Lost in Time?
Lessons Lost in Time is created and hosted by William Murray.
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