The Ancient Art of Modern Warfare

Jan 10 2025 100 ep. 13 mins 131
The Ancient Art of Modern Warfare Podcast artwork

Exploring how the practice of war changes while the fundamental nature and principles of war are unchanging. Host is COL Chris Mayer, USA RET, former member of the Advance Warfighting Working Group and the U.S. Government's expert on Private Military Companies. Includes Strategy, Revolution in Military Affairs, Hybrid Warfare, Cyber warfare, mercenaries, PMSC, Laws and Customs of War

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War is a Political Instrument

Jan 10 2025 8 mins  
After taking a Christmas break, I am picking up on my summaries of the Ancient Art of Modern Warfare. In the previous episode, I described the nature of war as violence intended to compel an opponent to submit to your will. Although this idea is described by Carl von Clausewitz in his magnum opus, On War, the Prussian philosopher of war is best known for the aphorism that war is a

E107: The Unchanging Nature of War

Dec 13 2024 8 mins  
In this second episode of my summary series, I address the Nature of War. That nature is violence directed at an opponent to coerce him to submit to your will. This violence has always been the nature of war and it will always be so. Further, this violence must be so painful to your opponent that he will prefer submitting to your will rather than continuing to resist. How you apply

E106: Summarizing the Ancient Art of Modern Warfare, Part 1

Dec 07 2024 7 mins  
For a little more than five years and 105 episodes, I have been podcasting on what I believe everyone can and should know about war and sometimes more specifically the characteristics of the persistent conflict we see in the world around us. Almost every week, something develops that want to explain by placing it within the context of the enduring nature of war – and the pursuit

E104 Plan B: Rejecting Peace

Nov 20 2024 5 mins  
In a recent episode of my podcast series of “The Ancient Art of Modern Warfare” (E104) I described possibilities for an end to the fighting in Ukraine. Of course, any end to any armed conflict requires the agreement of both (or all) parties to the conflict. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is no different. It is entirely possible, perhaps likely, that one party does not want an e

E105 Contractors on the Battlefield

Nov 17 2024 8 mins  
Last week, I attended the annual “Summit” meeting of the International Stability Operations Association, or #ISOA. This association includes 200 private corporations that support U.S. and friendly government engagement across the spectrum of stability, conflict, and post conflict operations. Presentations included speakers from the US Departments of Defense, State, Justice, Com

E104: The Potential for Peace

Nov 08 2024 7 mins  
Is a negotiated peace possible, or even desirable between Russia and Ukraine? How can this be done without validating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and encouragement of future aggression? These are critical questions to address as the incoming U.S. administration states that negotiating an end to that war and our involvement in it as one of its first priorities. As usual, the op

E103: Proportionality in Contemporary War

Oct 18 2024 10 mins  
We often hear that this or that military attack caused disproportionate civilian casualties. Most often, these accusations are directed against Israel, when they are not directed against the United States. I will be generous and presume that most of these accusations are based on a misconception of what proportionality in armed conflict means, and how it is different from proportio

E102: Catching Up

Sep 29 2024 8 mins  
What is the common theme to mercenaries, natural resources, hypersonic missiles, Gaza, and exploding pagers? I can think of several, but in a recent conversation with a colleague of mine, that common thread was challenges to the Law of War, or International Humanitarian Law. Can the notion of the law of war even survive in modern manifestations of armed conflict? I think it can, an

E101: Second Battle of Kursk, Part 2

Sep 05 2024 8 mins  
The fighting in the Kursk Oblast is still ongoing, and it would be much to soon to derive any lessons to be learned from this event. This episode picks up from the previous episode, examining how this campaign might offer examples of concepts presented in previous podcasts of the Ancient Art of Modern Warfare. Ukraine continues maneuver warfare at the tactical level, although as of

E100: The Second Battle of Kursk

Aug 16 2024 8 mins  
The war in Ukraine has taken a very interesting, and I think, exciting turn of events. The advent of combined arms maneuver warfare reminiscent of armored offensives in that region eight decades ago. It is impossible to conduct an in-depth analysis at this time. There is too much going on and we really know little about order of battle or Ukrainian objectives. StilI, I felt the nee