Civilization Requires Deterrence
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness Deterrence is the ancient ability to scare somebody off from hurting you, your friends, or your interests—without a major war. Desire peace? Then be prepared for war. Or so the Romans believed. It’s an easily understood concept in the abstract. But deterrence still remains a mystical quality in the concrete […]
Afghanistan’s Past, Present, and Future
General H. R. McMaster and military historian Victor Davis Hanson are both senior fellows at the Hoover Institution. In this frank, no-holds-barred conversation, they discuss the United States’ mission in Afghanistan: how it began, how it was conducted, and its ignominious end.
VDH UltraReflections on 2020—the Worst Year in the Last Half-Century: Part One
Victor Davis Hanson Eeyore’s Cabinet Remembering When the Woke Awoke Woke is not new. Consider it an old IED buried and forgotten, but even when dormant an always latent explosive that any heavy traffic—that is, 2020—could finally ignite. Why? Decades-long devolution from citizenship to tribal ideologies explained why extremist groups found followers and felt no […]
The Traditionalist: Calling Out the Elite
Join VDH and cohost Jack Fowler as they examine the matters of General Milley, nuclear pacts, border crisis, economic stagnation, and Minaj’s message of COVID misinformation.
The Afghanistization of America
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness The United States should be at its pinnacle of strength. It still produces more goods and services than any other nation—China included, which has a population over four times as large. Its fuel and food industries are globally preeminent, as are its graduate science, computer, engineering, medical, and technology university […]
Week In Review: Commentary, Classics and History
VDH produced varied material these last two weeks. The podcasts have commentary on contemporary events. There is a section on the value of Classics to education. And, finally, the Ultra content is uploading so the historical series on WWII myths is included here – this last requires a subscription. View the Issue
The Culturalist: From Milley to Minaj
Listen to Victor Davis Hanson as he talks with cohost Sami Winc on the transgressions of General Milley and aggressions of Nicki Minaj.
VDH UltraHistorian’s Corner: Some Mythologies of World War II: Part Six:
Were There Really Two Opposing Alliances? As we noted, from June 25, 1940, to December 7, 1941, there were not formal “Allies.” The British-Western European alliance, such as it had been, disappeared with the fall of France in June 1940 and the appeasement or absorption of all of Western Europe. True, Britain encouraged and aided […]
‘Science,’ They Said
Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness The scientific method used to govern much of popular American thinking. In empirical fashion scientists advised us to examine evidence and data, and then by induction come to rational hypotheses. The enemies of “science” were politics, superstition, bias, and deduction. Yet we are now returning to our version of medieval alchemy […]
The Classicist: Wake Up to Woke
Join Victor and cohost Jack Fowler as they talk about news on California’s Recall, the racism of Wokism, the new impeachment standard, and myths of World War II.
VDH UltraHistorian’s Corner: Some Mythologies of World War II: Part Five:
Was Britain Really the Weak Allied Partner? Wars are not always just conflicts of men and materiel; will and principles weigh in as well. In this context, the moral leadership of Britain during World War II proved invaluable to the Allied cause, even if it was often guided at times by imperial concerns. Britain was […]
The Traditionalist: 20 Years Later
Victor and Jack discuss the recent disasters in US policy on the eve of 911 in Afghanistan and on the vaccination. Is the whole policy untenable?
VDH UltraHistorian’s Corner: Some Mythologies of World War II: Part Four:
One-Dimensional Versus Global War If in 1939–41, Moscow had sent Nazi Germany huge deliveries of cereals, wheat, soybeans, 100,000 tons of cotton, nearly a million tons of oil and ores and minerals essential to German industry, it would be unable to divert some of such aid to its new friends in its new fight against […]
When There Were Giants: Three Great Classicists
Victor Davis Hanson The New Criterion October 2021 Classics is not just an abstraction of values, legacies, literature, and history. Whether it comes alive or stays moribund in the modern age hinges on the success or failure of classicists in the classroom, in public fora, and in print. In that context, classics has suffered a […]
Wokeness: An Evil of Our Age
Victor Davis HansonAmerican Greatness History is replete with examples of nations, successful and not-so-successful alike, that abruptly committed suicide. The ancient polis of Corcyra devoured itself in a bloody conflict as a collective madness took hold of the island city-state during the Peloponnesian War. The Jacobins in 1793 hijacked the French Revolution and turned a […]
VDH Interviewed by Jonathan Anderson
In this Direct interview, John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, is joined by Victor Davis Hanson. Dr. Hanson addresses Biden’s role in the Afghanistan crisis, increased tensions between China and the US, and the future of the US-Australia relationship.
What Made Them Do Their Duty?
Victor Davis Hanson City Journal Autumn 2001 From the very first moments of the World Trade Center horror, the valor and élan of New York’s firemen, together with that of the city’s police and emergency forces, have transfixed the whole nation—especially us in rural America who rarely see the real Gotham. Danger was nothing to […]
VDH UltraAngry Reader 09-12-2021
From An Angry Reader: Subject: I expect better of a supposed historian Your article criticizing the Biden administration for the failure in Afghanistan has several glaring holes in it. For one thing, your figure of $85 Billion in equipment is completely false, that was the cost to train the Afghan army over the course of […]
The Culturalist: The Death of Classics
VDH talks about the passing of three classicists this summer who humanized and popularized Classics for their students. He explores debates ancient and modern in the discipline, and, in the second half, explains Classics as a modern, culturally relevant discipline. What is being lost as our schools lose Classics?