The nature of warfare in the Greek world was dramatically transformed over the period of two centuries. At the beginning of the fifth century bce, Greek warfare matched the needs of Greek society. It tended to be localized and fought on a relatively small scale. The Persian invasion served as the catalyst of transformation, forcing the Greeks to think about war on a larger scale and to make strategic, operational, and tactical adjustments. The incessant conflict of the late fifth and much of the fourth centuries led to more standing and diverse military forces. The culmination of these developments appears in the army reforms of Philip of Macedon and their strategic and tactical employment by Alexander. The key to their success was building a complete, combined-arms force around effective heavy infantry.
Such was the prestige of Alexander’s army and empire that his successors in the Hellenistic kingdoms would see their style of warfare as the pinnacle of the art of war. It would remain so in this part of the world until a new twist on the citizen-soldier, the legions of Rome, surpassed it. Yet, from another perspective, both Alexander and his successors, and later the Romans, ended up where the great Asian empires had already arrived: as autocratic, imperial political structures supported by professional military organizations, which depended more on training than on communal sources of cohesion for their effectiveness, and with subject populations whose “citizenship,” even where the concept existed, had become both attenuated and separated from military duty. The history of Rome as a military power, the topic of the next chapter, demonstrates that evolution most clearly.
Anderson, J. K. Military Theory and Practice in the Age of Xenophon. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970. A solid general survey focused on the fourth century bce.
Engels, D. Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978. A groundbreaking logistical analysis of Alexander’s campaigns, influential far beyond classical military history.
Hammond, N. G. L. Alexander the Great: King, Commander, and Statesman. Park Ridge: William Andrew, 1980. An authoritative examination of the life of one of history’s great commanders. See also his The Macedonian State: Origins, Institutions, and History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), which ranges more broadly.
Hanson, V. D. The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece. New York: Knopf, 1989. A widely noted but controversial “face of battle” study of Greek phalanx conflicts. See also his edited collection Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience (London: Routledge, 1991) and his more general The Wars of the Ancient Greeks (London: Cassell, 1999).
Lazenby, J. F. The Spartan Army. Warminster: Bolchazy-Carducci, 1985. The standard investigation of Spartan military and social organization.
Parke, H. W. Greek Mercenary Soldiers: From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Ipsus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933. An old but still useful examination of a topic that has not received its share of recent attention.
Pritchett, W. K. The Greek State at War, 5 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971-1991). A magisterial overview examining many aspects of Greek warfare in great detail.
Rich, J., and G. Shipley, eds. War and Society in the Greek World. London: Routledge, 1993. An essential collection of articles covering a range of topics and setting Greek warfare in its social context.
Sidebottom, H. Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. A short, thematically organized overview that effectively disputes Hanson’s “Western way of war” thesis.
Spence, I. G. The Cavalry of Classical Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994). An important analysis of a neglected arm of Greek armies and the continuing influence of the social class from which the cavalry emerged.
Van Wees, H. Greek Warfare: Myths and Realities. London: Rout- ledge, 2004. The essential starting point for further investigation of Greek warfare. See also his War and Violence in Ancient Greece (London: Classical Press of Wales, 2000).