From 16 October 2016, when Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the launch of the assault, to 10 July 2017, when he declared victory over ISIS forces, portions of the city of Mosul were under siege. Lt. General Stephen Townsend said, “To put things in a little perspective for you, this is the most significant urban combat to take place since World War II; it is tough and brutal. House by house, block by block fights.” The combat he described would have been familiar not only to soldiers in Iraq, but also to those who fought at Stalingrad, and even to soldiers as far back as the sieges of antiquity. Even with the use of contemporary technology, many of the tactics employed in modern siegecraft and urban fighting are reminiscent of ancient ones. 

Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson discusses issues related to North Korea.as well as his recent book The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won, a definitive history of WWII. 

Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson discusses his new book, The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.

Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson describes why he avoided writing yet another chronological or operational history of World War II, how the Allies were able to suffer so many casualties and still win, and why better statesmanship in the 1930s might have prevented this terrible conflict from erupting.