The Western Way of War

The Greeks of the classical age invented not only the central idea of Western politics--that the power of state should be guided by a majority of its citizens--but also the central act of Western warfare, the decisive infantry battle. Instead of ambush, skirmish, or combat between individual heroes, the Greeks of the fifth century B.C. devised a ferocious, brief, and destructive head-on clash between armed men of all ages. In this bold, original study, Victor Davis Hanson shows how this brutal enterprise was dedicated to the same outcome as consensual government--an unequivocal, instant resolution to dispute. Linking this new style of fighting to the rise of constitutional government, Hanson raises new issues and questions old assumptions about the history of war. A new preface addresses recent scholarship on Greek warfare.

Victor Davis Hanson is Professor of Classics at California State University, Fresno, and author or coauthor of many books, including A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War; Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq; Mexifornia: A State of Becoming; and The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War.