Lessons Lost in Time

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.

  1. 3D AGO

    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 poured gasoline on one that was already burning. And when the foreign enemy finally left, the killing simply changed direction.   This is the part that gets smoothed over. Sanitized. Labeled as separate conflicts to make the story easier to digest. But on the ground, there was no pause. No reset. Just an unbroken stretch of violence where enemies overlapped, alliances lied, and survival mattered more than ideology.   Nationalists fought Japanese troops while quietly preparing to fight Communists. Communists fought Japanese units while conserving strength for the real war they knew was coming. Warlords hedged. Civilians paid. History was decided by who could bleed the longest without breaking.   Out of this chaos came modern China. Suspicious of weakness. Obsessed with unity. Intolerant of disorder. A state that learned, the hard way, that fragmentation invites annihilation and memory is a weapon.   Nanjing. Yan’an. Chongqing. The Long March. None of them stand alone. Together they explain why power in China is centralized, why dissent is feared, and why history is guarded like a loaded gun.   This is not a story about heroism. It is a story about endurance, brutality, and the price of survival. If you want to understand China today, you do not start with economics or diplomacy. You start here, in the war that never stopped.   Today’s guest is one of the heavyweights. Hans van de Ven is a historian who went looking for China’s twentieth century where it actually lived. Not in slogans. Not in memoirs polished for export. In the archives, the war rooms, the bureaucratic back alleys of a country tearing itself apart.   Trained at Leiden and Harvard, now a professor at Cambridge, he’s spent his career dismantling the myths around China’s wars from 1937 through the end of the Korean War. His work on the Chinese Communist Party and China’s war against Japan rewired how historians understand power, violence, and survival in modern Asia.   You might know his books From Friend to Comrade or China at War, works that refuse to romanticize revolution and insist on treating war as it actually was.   These days, he’s still at it, pushing Chinese history back into the center of global war narratives where it belongs. This is not armchair history. This is history with scars. This is Hans van de Ven. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 14m

  2. JAN 12

    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 taking a breath that tastes like fear and defiance at the same time. You’re here, in the middle of it, and it’s not just a protest—it’s survival.   Iran knows this better than most places on Earth. Since 1979, its people have taken to the streets more than 400 times. That’s not history. That’s a pattern. A 47-year argument between a people who refuse to stay silent and a government that refuses to listen.   The revolutions that promised change, the uprisings that shook the streets, the moments that left scars you can still feel today. Why people keep risking everything, and why the world can’t just look away.   Because right now, the streets are alive again. Ordinary people are standing in the smoke, facing down the impossible. Every chant, every step forward, every brick thrown—it matters. It’s not just about Tehran, or Isfahan, or Shiraz. It’s about a people testing the limits of power, courage, and history itself.   You’re about to see the streets of Iran in a way most of the world doesn’t. And if you think this is another story you can scroll past—you’re already behind. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    59 min

  3. 2025-12-23

    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 the corner for fuel, people shifting on cracked sidewalks, umbrellas doing double duty against the sun and the dust. The air is thick with waiting, impatience barely held in check, and even the dogs move slowly, like they know something’s off. Not war. Not yet. Just a country pretending the ground isn’t sliding out from under it, every heartbeat a quiet act of defiance.   This is the Venezuela that rarely makes headlines anymore. The collapse did not happen in an explosion. It happened in exhaustion. Currency that loses value by the hour. Hospitals overwhelmed not by war wounds but by neglect. Politicians who shake hands on television while militias patrol the outskirts after dark. And beneath it all, a quiet resentment that is starting to find direction.   The United States feels the pull whether it wants to or not. A flood of migrants crossing borders into Latin America and the Caribbean, putting pressure on nations that don’t need another crisis to worry about. Cartels and foreign powers carving influence in a region once considered firmly within Washington’s orbit. Oil reserves that still tempt, even after decades of mismanagement. And a government in Caracas that believes survival justifies any bargain, any ally, any escalation.   This is not a story about good intentions or bad actors. It is about a moment when desperation meets geopolitics. When a collapsing state starts creating consequences far beyond its borders. When the United States realizes that distance is not the same thing as insulation.   Today we dive into the questions nobody wants to say out loud: will the United States go to war with Venezuela, and what went wrong inside Venezuela to bring us to this moment?   Because if you think war sounds unthinkable now, living with a failed state Venezuela may be a more difficult choice. NEW BOOK - Multidomain Operations If you want the honest picture of where war is going, without the gloss, start here: available on Amazon https://a.co/d/85mZYoh Further Reading https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis https://www.foreignaffairs.com/venezuela/grand-bargain-venezuela https://monthlyreview.org/articles/venezuelas-fragile-revolution/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    43 min

  4. 2025-11-25

    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 even knew the word. Six hundred thousand men fed into a grinder that proved industrial war didn’t care about flags, prayers, or imperial fantasies. Japan thought victory would earn respect. Russia thought size meant destiny. They both walked into a century that would break them. And the West? It applauded, took notes, and learned absolutely nothing. If you want to understand how the 20th century actually started, this is for you. With ghosts, rust, barbed wire, and two empires testing how much suffering they could inflict before something inside them snapped. This week on Lessons Lost in Time, we go deep into the war that rewired global power. If you’re into history that punches you in the chest instead of patting you on the head, click the link and listen now. FURTHER READING https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/nwc-review/article/2203/&path_info=The_Russo_Japanese_War__Primary_Causes_of_Japanese_Success.pdf https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/6906/1/Aspects_of_the_Russo-Japanese_War.pdf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    57 min

  5. 2025-10-07

    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 people. From the silent discipline of the samurai to the divine winds that smashed Mongol fleets, Japan’s identity was forged in isolation and hardened by the belief that sacrifice is the highest form of honor. For generations, it guarded its shores like a temple gate. When it stepped beyond them, it came as a storm.   By the early 20th century, the Rising Sun was not content to rise. It wanted to blaze across the Pacific and claim it as its own. Pearl Harbor was not a mistake. It was a statement. A flash of steel meant to break the spine of an empire before it could even reach for a sword. And yet, precision can breed overconfidence. The same discipline that gave Japan its strength kept it from bending when the weight of war demanded it. From the jungles of New Guinea to the black sands of Iwo Jima, from the firebombed heart of Tokyo to the blinding light over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the nation that had sworn never to bow found itself forced to its knees.   Today we are talking about the war that began with a war against China, then an invasion of the South Pacific and Hawaii and ended in an atomic dawn. We will look at the admirals and emperors who gambled everything, the island battles that bled armies dry, and the cultural collision between two powers that could not see the world the same way.   This is not about heroes and villains. It is about nations that believed they were chosen by history, locked in a fight where surrender was not just defeat, it was the death of the soul. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 30m

  6. 2025-09-09

    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 thousands of miles away.   The Philippine American War, 1899-1902. What started as a fight for freedom quickly spiraled into a bloody nightmare. Casualties? Over 200,000, many of them civilians. What does that sound like to you? The Indian wars, Vietnam? Iraq? Afghanistan? Sure, but it’s not just history repeating itself. It’s the same scheme, one that’s been used, rewritten, and repurposed for centuries.   But here’s the kicker: if America didn’t do it, someone else would have. Germany, Japan, or maybe Spain would have continued. The world was an empire-building machine, and we were all just cogs in the gears. So, does that matter? Is it enough to say, ‘Well, someone else would’ve done it’ and shrug it off? That question echoes into today.   If you came for a clean, heroic tale, you won’t find it here. But if you want to understand what empire looks like up close, if you’re willing to sit with the blood, the noise, and the voices we’ve tried to forget, then pull up a chair.   Because the Philippine-American War has stories it needs to tell you. Links to further reading The Philippine War, 1899-1902 (Modern War Studies) https://a.co/d/aYiobxx American Soldiers Write Home https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/58/ The Philippine American War: America’s First Vietnam https://www.thecollector.com/philippine-american-war-us-first-vietnam/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 15m

  7. 2025-08-12

    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 that starts here. China was an empire bleeding out in slow motion, clinging to tradition while foreign powers carved it up like spoils. Japan was a nation in a sprint, ripping itself into the modern age with steel, steam, and a chip on its shoulder the size of an island chain. Korea lit the match. Manchuria took the blast. The Treaty of Shimonoseki was the moment Asia’s future changed course, and the West barely noticed. And our guest this week, COL Andy Morgado. He has spent his life in the arena where history meets strategy. Thirty years in uniform. Three tours in Iraq. Four operational deployments to Korea. From battalion command to shaping the Army’s intellectual engine at the School of Advanced Military Studies, he’s been at the center of the conversations that decide wars before they start. This isn’t a dry history lesson. It’s the backstory to the fight that could define the 21st century. And you’ll hear it from a man who’s commanded in combat, shaped doctrine, and trained the minds who will fight the next one. If you think you understand the Pacific, listen to this episode. If you don’t, you’ll be blindsided when the past comes roaring back. Links Multidomain Operations: The Pursuit of Battlefield Dominance in the 21st Century https://www.howgatepublishing.com/product-page/mdo The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy https://www.amazon.com/Sino-Japanese-War-1894-1895-Perceptions-Primacy/dp/0521617456   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 16m

  8. 2025-07-22

    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 of the Mongol horde to the black leather coats of Stalin’s secret police, the Russian psyche has been shaped by centuries of siege. Real and imagined. Fortress mentality isn’t a strategy there. It’s a state of being. And yet, despite the suspicion, the brutality, and the endless dance with disaster, Russia endures. Reinvents. Retaliates. Sometimes with style. Often with force. Always with purpose. Today, we’re sitting down with Professor Mark Galeotti. Yup, that Mark Galeotti. We’re going to dig into the roots of Russian insecurity. Where it comes from. Why it matters. And how it still shapes every handshake, every airstrike, and every line drawn on a map. We’ll trace the scars left by Napoleon’s march, Stalin’s purges, and the Cold War’s long hangover. We’ll talk about the inferiority complex that festers behind the Kremlin walls, and how history—real or rewritten—guides Moscow’s every move from Kyiv to Damascus to Washington. This isn’t about making excuses. It’s about understanding the worldview of a nation that still thinks in terms of czars and tsars, enemies and allies, and very little in between. So pour a drink if it’s after 11. Grab a coffee if it’s earlier. And join us as we wander the haunted corridors of Russian history, where paranoia isn’t a glitch in the system. It is the system. Downfall: Putin, Prigozhin, and the Fight for the Future downfall:%20Putin,%20Prigozhin,%20and%20the%20fight%20for%20the%20future%20of%20Russia%20https%3A//a.co/d/1bi80vk Forged in War: A military history of Russia from its beginnings to today https://a.co/d/3ZyL1rJ Putin's Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine https://a.co/d/1bcsoZG Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 10m
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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 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.

Information

  • Creator
    William Murray
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © William Murray
  • Show Website
    Lessons Lost in Time

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