The Relevance and Origins of Ancient Strategy
Thucydides
Thucydides was a 5th century-B.C. general who served in the Peloponnesian War during the great conflicts between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta. His History of the Peloponnesian War covers the conflict down to the year 411 B.C.
Nearly 2500 years after it was written, this ancient treatise serves as the starting point for the field of international relations, the foundation for a school of thought called political realism. It is one of our earliest accounts of strategic thinking in action.
The work of Thucydides conveys skepticism about such concepts as justice. For example in his famous Melian dialogue, the Athenians assert their superior armed might as the only arbiter required to extract cooperation from the people of the island of Melos. His writings swept away any notions of fairness, justice, reason and even intervention by the gods! The Melian dialogue presents us with an archetype for power politics or realpolitik.
Pagondas
In the battle of Delium 424 B.C. an obscure Thebian General named Pagondas used a radically new mode of combat against the Athenians.
Rather than let the Athenians flee when their supporting troops failed to appear Pagondas urged his troops forward to close with them. At a crucial moment in the battle he ordered fresh companies of cavalry held in reserve to attack with the infantry. This was the first recorded use of reserves being used jointly in an attack which forced the Athenians to panic and their ranks to shatter.
This battle developed the principles of forward defence and pre-emption- striking an enemy that poses a long-term threat rather than an immediate threat.
Pagondas also introduced a new element into this battle by monitoring the situation from a distance instead of positioning himself in the forefront of the fighting thereby being able to direct his troop movement.
The battle of Delium counts as the birthplace of a science of Western tactics and provides us with a second strategic lesson: Surprise innovations can often turn the tide of an evenly matched struggle.
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