Ep. 5: Wayne Hsieh on Robert E. Lee

Biography

Wayne Hsieh is a history professor at the United States Naval Academy. He served on the State Department's provincial reconstruction team in Iraq from 2008 to 2009 and is the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including the Army's Commander's Award for Civilian Service and the State Department's Meritorious Honors Award. Hsieh is the author of numerous articles and the co-author of The Savage War: A Military History of the Civil War.

Times

• 01:17 - Introduction
• 06:50 - Hostility toward studying Robert E. Lee
• 12:50 - Lee and West Point
• 15:18 - Senior leadership of Confederate and Union armies at West Point
• 17:17 - Lee's job as a junior officer in the Army Corps of Engineers
• 19:17 - Lee's rise during the Mexican War
• 23:27 - Ulysses Grant
• 26:21 - Stereotypes and temperaments of Civil War leaders
• 31:50 - What drives Lee's tactical decision-making
• 34:07 - Lee's strategic mistake

Recorded October 6, 2021