Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume I
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction to Volume I
- 1 China to ad 180
- 2 Teispid and Achaemenid Persia (c. 550–330 bc)
- 3 Ancient Greece
- 4 Philip II, Alexander III and the Macedonian Empire
- 5 Ancient Rome: Monarchy and Republic (753–27 bc)
- 6 China ad 180–1127
- 7 Ancient Rome
- 8 The Gupta Empire (ad 400–500)
- 9 The Sassanian Empire’s Strategies
- 10 The Rashidun, Umayyad (661–750) and Abbasid (750–1258) Caliphates
- 11 Byzantine Strategy (ad 630–1204)
- 12 Strategies in the Wars of Western Europe, 476–c. 1000
- 13 Latin Christendom in the Later Middle Ages
- 14 Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Empire, ad 1206 to 1368
- 15 Hindu and Buddhist Polities of Premodern/Early Modern Mainland South-East Asia (1100–1800)
- 16 Pre-Columbian and Early Historic Native American Warfare
- 17 Ottoman Expansionism, 1300–1823
- 18 Strategy in the Wars of Pre-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa
- 19 Strategies of the Mughal Empire
- 20 China, 1368–1911
- 21 Early Modern Europe: The Habsburgs and Their Enemies, 1519–1659
- 22 Naval Strategies
- 23 The Strategy of Louis XIV
- 24 Hohenzollern Strategy under Frederick II
- 25 American Warfare in the Eighteenth Century
- Summary of Volume I
- Further Reading
- Index
Introduction to Volume I
The Practice of Strategy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2025
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume I
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction to Volume I
- 1 China to ad 180
- 2 Teispid and Achaemenid Persia (c. 550–330 bc)
- 3 Ancient Greece
- 4 Philip II, Alexander III and the Macedonian Empire
- 5 Ancient Rome: Monarchy and Republic (753–27 bc)
- 6 China ad 180–1127
- 7 Ancient Rome
- 8 The Gupta Empire (ad 400–500)
- 9 The Sassanian Empire’s Strategies
- 10 The Rashidun, Umayyad (661–750) and Abbasid (750–1258) Caliphates
- 11 Byzantine Strategy (ad 630–1204)
- 12 Strategies in the Wars of Western Europe, 476–c. 1000
- 13 Latin Christendom in the Later Middle Ages
- 14 Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Empire, ad 1206 to 1368
- 15 Hindu and Buddhist Polities of Premodern/Early Modern Mainland South-East Asia (1100–1800)
- 16 Pre-Columbian and Early Historic Native American Warfare
- 17 Ottoman Expansionism, 1300–1823
- 18 Strategy in the Wars of Pre-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa
- 19 Strategies of the Mughal Empire
- 20 China, 1368–1911
- 21 Early Modern Europe: The Habsburgs and Their Enemies, 1519–1659
- 22 Naval Strategies
- 23 The Strategy of Louis XIV
- 24 Hohenzollern Strategy under Frederick II
- 25 American Warfare in the Eighteenth Century
- Summary of Volume I
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
Here we lay the ground and define the parameters of this project. Definitions of strategy are discussed, giving the rationale for the one chosen to guide our work: Kimberly Kagan’s definition that sees evidence of strategy where prioritisation and choices about means of pursuing political aims at the level of the state (or higher social entity) have been made. This allows us to identify strategic decision making even when no documents have survived that contain explicit articulations of such reasoning.
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- The Cambridge History of Strategy , pp. 1 - 20Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025