Warfare Articles

Articles

• Foreign soldiers - native girls? Constructing and crossing boundaries in Hellenistic cities with foreign garrison

  The maintenance of a garrison in a city or a region was for many a Hellenistic power a comfortable alternative to conquest and direct administration. Every major power held garrisons in dependent settlements of various legal statuses, usually in dependent poleis. The establishment of garrisons, the duration...

• The Influence of Hannibal of Carthage on The Art of War

  This paper examines the influence of Hannibal of Carthage on the art of war over time. Hannibal’s war with Rome provides a complex example of strategic and tactical successes and failures that have been modeled and studied throughout military history in one fashion or another. The method of research...

• Teutoburger Wald: Strategic Implications

  The Battle of Teutoberger Wald (9 A.D.) in which tribal Germans defeated a highly professional and disciplined Roman Army is not only one of the most decisive battles of the western world, but a historical example of successful asymmetrical warfare. At Teutoberger Wald, the technologically inferior Germans...

• The Battle of Colmar (58 BCE): Caesar against Ariovistus

  The Battle of Colmar (58 BCE): one of the first battles of the Gallic War, in which Caesar defeated an army led by the Germanic leader Ariovistus. In 58, Julius Caesar had invaded Central Gaul. The pretext had been the plan of the Helvetians to migrate to Aquitania, something that the Roman general considered...

• The Battle of Chaeronea

  Chaeronea is the site of the famous Battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE) Phillip II of Macedon’s decisive defeat of the Greek city-states. At Chaeronea in Boeotia (north of Corinth) Phillip and his allies from Thessaly, Epirus, Aetolia, Northern Phocis and Locrian defeated the combined forces of Athens...

• The Battle of Kadesh & the Poem of Pentaur

  The Poem of Pentaur is the official Egyptian record (along with The Bulletin) of Rameses II The Great’s victory over the Hittite King Muwatalli II at the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BCE (in modern-day Syria). So proud was Rameses of this `victory’ that he had the poem, which details his personal...

• The Classical Agora, the Final Chapter: The Beginning of the End For the Heyday of Ancient Athens

  Just as the Athenian Agora was home to the many legal and political headquarters of the polis, it also was home base to the all-important Athenian army. In the chronicles of ancient history, we can see how armies and navies played a vital role on the succession of power of important ancient civilizations...

• The Greek Phalanx

  One of the most effective and enduring military formations in ancient warfare was that of the Greek Phalanx. The age of the Phalanx may be traced back to Sumeria in the 25th century BCE, through Egypt, and finally appearing in Greek literature through Homer in the 8th century BCE (and, since, has been generally...

• The Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC

  After securing the eastern Mediterranean seaboard and Egypt, Alexander pushed east into Mesopotamia with the intention of bringing Darius to battle. After crossing the Euphrates river unopposed, he marched his army eastward along the foothills of the Armenian mountains before crossing the Tigris...

• Alexander's Siege of Tyre, 332 BC

  After defeating Darius III at the battle of Issus in November 333 BC, Alexander marched his army (about 35,000-40,000 strong) into Phoenicia, where he received the capitulation of Byblus and Sidon. Tyrian envoys met with Alexander whilst he was on the march, declaring their intent to honour...