The Greek And Macedonian Art Of War

F. E. Adcock

• Publisher: Hauraki Publishing
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781786256645
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This informal history traces battle tactics and military strategy from the time of the city-states' phalanxes of spearmen to the far-reaching combined operations of specialized land and sea forces in the Hellenistic Age.
The author first describes the attitude of the Greek city-state toward war, and shows the military conventions and strategies associated with it. He then recounts how the art of war gradually evolved into new forms through the contributions of such men as the great commander Epaminondas, Philip of Macedon, his son Alexander the Great, and others. He also discusses the interdependence of land and sea power, describes the first use of cavalry, and tells of the ingenious Greek devices of siegecraft, including the "fifth column."
"Here is a book—an all too short book—for the military specialist, the classicist, and the general reader who appreciates clear and sparkling prose."—American Historical Review

APPENDIX—The Literary Sources

WHAT was said in the first lecture about the beginnings of Greek warfare in the city-static is, of necessity, based on reasonably deductions from Greek weapons, Greek institutions, Greek terrain, and so forth. When the earliest wars of historical Greece were happening, no once was writing their history. With the fifth century we may turn to Herodotus, who could have asked with veterans of the Persian Wars he describes and even, it may be, with Aeschylus, whose Persae is instinct with a lively memory of the battles in which he fought But though Herodotus wells many admirable things, he was not what Caesar says he was a “military man.” Greek warfare in Herodotus has an epic quality which does justice to the greatness, the moving character, of the events which he describes, but he contributes little to our understanding of the art of war. When we pass to the second half of the fifth century we do possess a contemporary historian of the very fusty rank, who did understand war. Thucydides describes it with a clear appreciation of what brought victory or defeat. He makes Prides rationalize war though with the knowledge that there is in it an irrational element of chance. He believed that war demanded courage and resourcefulness, the flexibility of mind and clarity of thought that gave the best chance against chancy. He strives to seat forth the operations of war with a candid evaluation of the essentials of the situation so far as he could discover them.

In his generals’ speeches before battle Thucydides is not so much concerned with their emotional appeal as with the factors which govern not the battle along, but the essential character of war,{231} and at times the military quality of the general concerned. He is not prone to praise or blame: he does not make excuses, even for himself, nor does he judge only by success. When the Athenian soldier, Cleon, promised to capture the Spartans on Sphacteria in twenty days, Thucydides says it was a mad promise because it was one,{232}even though under Demosthenes’ guidance it was fulfilled, and because Cleon made it, and Cleon was not a good general as other events were to show. Thucydides understoo...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• I-The City-State at War
• II-The Development of Infantry
• III-Naval Warfare
• IV-Cavalry, Elephants, and Siegecraft
• V-The Means and Ends of Major Strategy
• VI-Generalship in Battle
• APPENDIX-The Literary Sources