Grand Strategy in the Ancient World Lessons from Persia, Greece, and Rome

Strategic concepts that can be traced to the ancient world offer essential perspectives for our conceptions of the successful exercise of state power. The Persian Empire owed its survival not to overwhelming military force, but rather to its ability to adjust to new challenges, changing weapons, tactics, and the composition of its forces. On the other hand, the Roman Empire remained dominant for centuries because it avoided direct conflicts in favor of negotiation and limited strikes on neighbors.

In Grand Strategy in the Ancient World, editors David Potter and James Lacey compile essays that explore a long view of strategic thinking in the ancient world, from the Achaemenids to Alexander the Great to Rome. These authors offer insight into complex political systems adapting to emerging threats, structural factors like geography and institutional limitations shaping strategic options, and patterns of interactions between established and existing powers.

The classical works at the core of these essays, such as Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War and Caesar's Commentaries, remain central to modern discussions of strategic thought, setting up a dialogue between classical strategic thinking and strategic thinking in the modern world. At all times, intelligent management of resources is the key to success. Taken as a whole, this volume illustrates how ancient strategy can usefully inform contemporary geopolitical conflicts.

James Lacey is the Matthew C. Horner Chair of War Studies at Marine Corps University. He is also a strategy analyst for the Institute for Defense Analyses and has written extensively on the topic of military and national strategy. His most recent works include Rome: Strategy of Empire and The Year God Died.

David Potter is Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively on the history of the Greco-Roman world, including, most recently, Master of Rome: A Life of Julius Caesar and Atlas of the Roman Empire: Battles, Conquests, Legions and Rules.

Introduction
James Lacey

Chapter 1, Anything is Possible: Grand Strategy in/of the Achaemenid Empire
Jenn Finn

Chapter 2, Spartan Strategy
Matthew Alan Sears

Chapter 3, Strategy in Classical Athens
Jennifer Roberts

Chapter 4, Hannibal at the Gates: The Struggle between Carthage against Rome
Adrian Goldsworthy

Chapter 5, The Evolution of Roman Strategic Thinking from Marius to Augustus
David Potter

Chapter 6, Eastward the Course of Empire
F. S. Naiden

Chapter 7, Rome and Persia from Pompey to Jovian
David Potter

Chapter 8, Rome's Changing Gothic Strategies
Timothy Hart

Chapter 9, The Gothic Problem and Roman Strategic Capacity, 376-418
Peter Heather

Chapter 10, Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Strategy and Superpower Competition, 400-630
Peter Heather

Conclusion
James Lacey