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About Stephen Satkiewicz

Independent scholar whose research areas are related to Civilizational Analysis, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, military history, War studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, as well as Russian and East European history. I served as the editor for the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC) newsletter from 2016-2018.

Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar whose research areas are related to Civilizational Analysis, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, military history, War studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, as well as Russian and East European history.

Stephen's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Stephen:

Military History September 14, 2023

To Besiege a City: Leningrad 1941-42

Prit Buttar

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
The city of St. Petersburg held great significance to the Russian Empire when Peter the Great first built the city in 1703. It was intended to be Russia's "window to …
National Security June 20, 2023

Neither Confirm Nor Deny

How the Glomar Mission Shielded the CIA from Transparency

M. Todd Bennett

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
Listen:
When the Soviet K-129 submarine sank in the Pacific Ocean in 1968, the CIA saw a possible treasure trove of intelligence information on Soviet military codes. The race was on …
Diplomatic History June 16, 2023

Contesting France

Intelligence and US Foreign Policy in the Early Cold War

Susan McCall Perlman

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
Listen:
With the defeat of France in 1940 by the Germans during World War II, its status as a world power was deeply shaken. It wasn't until the liberation by the …
Military History May 23, 2023

Dünkirchen 1940

The German View of Dunkirk

Robert Kershaw

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
The surprise success of the German offensive in the West that commenced on May 10, 1940 caught the Allies completely off-guard, and France would soon capitulate to the Germans in …
Military History May 7, 2023

Rise of the Mavericks

The U.S. Air Force Security Service and the Cold War

Philip Clayton Shackelford

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
The U.S. Air Force had to struggle to establish itself as an independent branch of the American military, and originally was an extension of the Army. The experiences during World …
French Studies May 1, 2023

Marianne Is Watching

Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and the Origins of the French Surveillance State

Deborah Bauer

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
In the wake of its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), the French Third Republic sought to rebuild its strength to avenge its defeat and secure itself as a major …
Military History April 11, 2023

Secrets of the Cold War

Espionage and Intelligence Operations - From Both Sides of the Iron Curtain

Andrew Long

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
The Cold War was a major geopolitical contest between the United States and the Soviet Union over predominance over the entire world. Unlike the previous two world wars, the two …
Russian and Eurasian Studies March 31, 2023

Russia's War on Everybody

And What it Means for You

Keir Giles

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
With the annexation of Crimea in 2014 as well the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia's place in the world is a matter of fierce debate among world leaders and …
Big Ideas March 22, 2023

Time Patterns in Big History

Cycles, Fractals, Waves, Transitions, and Singularities

David LePoire

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
There is the common saying, “history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Are there any discernible patterns in history, and if so, what are these patterns? These are the …
Intellectual History February 24, 2023

Christopher Dawson

A Cultural Mind in the Age of the Great War

Joseph T. Stuart

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) was a British historian who was deeply shaken by the Great War (1914-1918) and sought to explore the history of different cultures and religions to understand the …
Military History February 4, 2023

Kursk 1943

Hitler's Bitter Harvest

Anthony Tucker-Jones

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
The year 1943 was a pivotal one on the Eastern Front during World War II. The Axis had suffered a catastrophic defeat at the battle of Stalingrad earlier in the …
Military History November 23, 2022

Understanding Urban Warfare

John Spencer and Liam Collins

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
With the growing urbanization of the world's population, it also follows that much of contemporary military operations would also be conducted within such urban centers. The challenges faced by military …
Religion November 8, 2022

Religion, Space, and Deep Time

Lowell Gustafson, Barry Rodrigue, and David Blanks

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
The issue of how science and religion relate to one another has been a major controversy of our age. It helped fuel the rise of the New Atheist movement in …
Historical Fiction October 24, 2022

The Empire's Bladesmen

Forbidden Relics

Clay Vagrant

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
Set during the Ming Dynasty that ruled over China, The Empire's Bladesmen: Forbidden Relics (Amored History, 2021) by Clay Vagrant is a gripping story of adventure, secret assassins, and mythic …
Russian and Eurasian Studies October 6, 2022

Russian 'Hybrid Warfare'

Resurgence and Politicization

Ofer Fridman

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
When Russia occupied the Crimea in 2014, a term appeared called “hybrid warfare” to describe the doctrine and strategies of the Russian military. One consistent issue was that there was …
Russian and Eurasian Studies June 20, 2022

Russian Grand Strategy in the Era of Global Power Competition

Andrew Monaghan

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
The status of Russia as a world power has been fiercely debated since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although often ignored, Russia came back into the international limelight in …
National Security June 3, 2022

Old and New Battlespaces

Society, Military Power, and War

Jahara Matisek and Buddhika Jayamaha

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
War is ever changing. Just within the last decade or so, new domains have opened up as potential battlefields of the present and the future. These range from traditional land …
Big Ideas June 3, 2022

Are We Entering a "Neo-Medieval" Era?

A Conversation with Greg Lewicki

Greg Lewicki

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
Our world is being marked by a transition of epochs towards a more “Neo-Medieval” era. What is even meant by “Neo-Medieval”? Greg Lewicki argues that “Neo-Medieval” is characterized by seven …
European Politics May 16, 2022

The Political Philosophy of the European City

From Polis, Through City-State, to Megalopolis?

Ferenc Hörcher

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
To many the city might seem simply a large urban area to live within, but it actually forms an important political concept and community that has been influential throughout European …
Politics & Polemics April 1, 2022

Tractatus Politico-Philosophicus

New Directions for the Future Development of Humankind

W. Julian Korab-Karpowicz

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
"Our time is the age of postmodernity and of the clash of epochs. But a new age of humanity is rising. It is evolutionity or the evolutionary epoch which replaces …
Military History March 10, 2022

The Virtuous Wehrmacht

Crafting the Myth of the German Soldier on the Eastern Front, 1941-1944

David A. Harrisville

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
When Nazi Germany launched the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, its leadership made clear to the Wehrmacht that it was waging a "war of extermination" against Germany's enemies …
Russian and Eurasian Studies January 18, 2022

Disenchanted Wanderer

The Apocalyptic Vision of Konstantin Leontiev

Glenn Cronin

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
Although largely unknown in the West, the Russian novelist and political essayist Konstantin Nikolaevich Leontiev (1831-1891) has left a strong legacy in his homeland. He has often been compared to …
General History November 23, 2021

The Rise of the Civilizational State

Christopher Coker

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
In recent years the resurgence of great power competition has gripped the headlines, with new emerging powers (such as Russia and China) seeking to challenge the American and Western hegemony …