Ideals and pragmatism in Greek military thought, 490-338 BC
This thesis examines the principles that defined the military thinking of the Classical Greek city-states. Its focus is on tactical thought: Greek conceptions of the means, methods, and purpose of engaging the enemy in battle. Through an analysis of historical accounts of battles and campaigns, accompanied by a parallel study of surviving military treatises from the period, it draws a new picture of the tactical options that were available, and of the ideals that lay behind them. It has long been argued that Greek tactics were deliberately primitive, restricted by conventions that prescribed the correct way to fight a battle and limited the extent to which victory could be exploited. Recent reinterpretations of the nature of Greek warfare cast doubt on this view, prompting a reassessment of tactical thought â a subject that revisionist scholars have not yet treated in detail. This study shows that practically all the assumptions of the traditional model are wrong. Tactical thought was constrained chiefly by the extreme vulnerability of the hoplite phalanx, its total lack of training, and the generalâs limited capacity for command and control on the battlefield. Greek commanders, however, did not let any
Konijnendijk, R. B.
Ideals and pragmatism in Greek military thought, 490-338 BC. This thesis examines the principles that defined the military thinking of the Classical Greek city-states. Its focus is on tactical thought: Greek conceptions of the means, methods, and purpose of engaging the enemy in battle. Through an analysis of historical accounts of battles and campaigns, accompanied by a parallel study of surviving military treatises from the period, it draws a new picture of the tactical options that were available, and of the ideals that lay behind them. It has long been argued that Greek tactics were deliberately primitive, restricted by conventions that prescribed the correct way to fight a battle and limited the extent to which victory could be exploited. Recent reinterpretations of the nature of Greek warfare cast doubt on this view, prompting a reassessment of tactical thought â a subject that revisionist scholars have not yet treated in detail. This study shows that practically all the assumptions of the traditional model are wrong. Tactical thought was constrained chiefly by the extreme vulnerability of the hoplite phalanx, its total lack of training, and the generalâs limited capacity for command and control on the battlefield. Greek commanders, however, did not let any
pragmatism greek military thought examines principle define military thinking classical_greek city_state focus tactical thought greek conception mean method purpose engage enemy battle analysis historical_account battle campaign accompany parallel study survive military treatise period draw new picture tactical option_available ideal lay_behind them long argue greek tactic deliberately primitive restricted convention prescribe correct way fight battle limit extent victory could exploit recent reinterpretation nature greek warfare cast_doubt view prompt reassessment tactical thought subject revisionist scholar yet treat detail study_show practically assumption traditional_model wrong tactical thought constrain chiefly extreme vulnerability hoplite total lack training general limited capacity command control battlefield greek commander however let