About this episode
In this lecture, military historian Sarah Paine explains how Britain used sea control, peripheral campaigns, and alliances to defeat Nazi Germany during WWII. She then applies this framework to today, arguing that Russia and China are similarly constrained by their geography, making them vulnerable in any conflict with maritime powers (like the U.S. and its allies). Watch on YouTube ; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . Sponsors * Labelbox partners with researchers to scope, generate, and deliver the exact data frontier models need, no matter the domain. Whether that’s multi-turn audio, SOTA robotics data, advanced STEM problem sets, or even novel RL environments, Labelbox delivers high-quality data, fast. Learn more at labelbox.com/dwarkesh * Warp is the best interface I’ve found for coding with agents. It makes building custom tools easy: Warp’s UI helps you understand agent behavior and its in-line text editor is great for making tweaks. You can try Warp for free, or, for a limited time, use code DWARKESH to get Warp’s Pro Plan for only $5. Go to warp.dev/dwarkesh To sponsor a future episode, visit dwarkesh.com/advertise . Timestamps 00:00:00 – How WW1 shaped WW2 00:15:10 – Hitler and Churchill’s battle to command the Atlantic 00:30:10 – Peripheral theaters leading up to Normandy 00:37:13 – The Eastern front 00:48:04 – Russia’s & China’s geographic prisons 01:00:28 – Hitler’s blunders & America’s industrial might 01:15:03 – Bismarck’s limited wars vs Hitler’s total war Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe