Grand Strategy. Part 1: An Introduction.

Dear Reader,

Since my last article I successfully climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the preservation of the Congo Rainforest Basin. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my justgiving.

Series Introduction

I am excited to introduce a new series on Grand Strategy. I discovered this topic earlier this year, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

The idea behind this series is to understand what grand strategy means, and go beyond its origins in war and foreign policy to draw out applications in life, business and career. The key question is how can we apply this framework to achieve our aim – losing the battle, but winning the war, whatever that war is.

Our anchor text for this series is On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis.

Let’s begin.

Prologue

Alexander the Great (356-322B.C.) was the son of King Phillip II of Macedon (present day Macedonia).? Over the years the king built the Macedonian army into the supreme fighting force in all Greece. He defeated Thebes, and Athens, and united all Greek city-states (except Sparta) into a Hellenic league under his leadership.

Then in 336 B.C. Phillip was murdered by a nobleman and Alexander who was only 20 years old succeeded his father as King. Seeing Macedon as weak, Athens and other Greek city states declared their independence from the league.

His advisers expected him to take his time and grow in his new role and consolidate his power in the army, and Macedonia. Instead, he launched a series of lightning attacks first against the Thebes, and then Athens. They begged to be readmitted to the league. Surprisingly he granted their wish.

To unite all of Greece against a common enemy, he proposed a campaign against the Persian Empire, the Greeks’ great enemy. The empire was enormous, it covered all of the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and as far as India and Pakistan. The Persians had invaded Greece 250 years earlier led by their king Darius I, and later his son Xerxes. Today the King of the Persians empire was King Darius III.

Alexander crossed the Hellespont into Asia (the westernmost part of the Persian Empire) and defeated the Persian forces at Granicus, and Halicarnassus. At this point his generals expected him to continue east of Persia and finish off the retreating Persian army. Instead, he went south by the coast freeing towns from Persian rule, from Phoenicia and into Egypt. He replaced the Persian rulers with local rulers, soliciting their support with gifts, and independence from Persia.

By capturing port towns along the cost, they couldn’t be used by the massive Persian navy. He used the enormous grain stores of Egypt to feed the Greek army while depriving the Persians of these resources.

His next major confrontation would be a year and a half later, at the Battle of Issus (333B.C.) where he would face the King of Persia himself. His forces outnumbered Alexander’s soldiers by a 2 to 1 ratio. Despite the disadvantage, Alexander was able to leverage the terrain and defeated the Persian forces, with King Darius fleeing the battlefield.

Plutarch, in his The Life of Alexander the Great says:

Fortune was not kinder to Alexander in the choice of ground, than he was careful to improve it to his advantage. For being much inferior in numbers, so far from allowing himself to be outflanked, he stretched his right wing much further out than the left wing of his enemies, and fighting there himself in the very foremost ranks, put the barbarians to flight.

He would again face King Darius in one last decisive battle; The Battle of Gaugamela (331B.C.). Darius’ army consisted of almost a million men from all over his empire. He learned his lesson from the Battle of Issus and chose Gaugamela because the wider terrain meant he could deploy his chariots and cavalry more effectively.

Alexander and his army of 50,000 men arrived at the battlefield quickly, shocking the Persians. On the day of battle, Darius arranged his men in massive rows to crush the smaller force of Alexander.

Alexander arranged his men in a different approach that hadn’t been seen before; The Oblique Formation. Instead of facing Darius troops parallel to their front, his troops were lined at an angle, and to the right of the centre of Darius’ army.

Just before the battle began, Alexander ordered his troops to move to the right towards the rough terrain, giving Darius’s chariots a disadvantage. Darius army had to move rightwards to stay parallel with Alexander’s forces. Suddenly a gap opened in the Persian line, close to where Darius was directing his forces. Recognising the opportunity, Alexander ordered his men to charge through this opening, at King Darius.

Darius had not anticipated this, and with Alexander cutting through the Persian ranks and straight for him, King Darius jumped on a horse an fled the battlefield. The rest of the Persian army began to scatter in all directions, easy targets for Alexander’s advancing troops.

At the end of the day, Alexander was victorious. At the age of 23 he controlled almost all of the known world, and Grand Strategy was born.

The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene:

Deprived of the use of its navy, its rich lands in Egypt, and the support and tribute of almost all of its subjects, the Persian Empire had already crumbled. Alexander’s victory merely confirmed militarily what he had already achieved months earlier: he was now the ruler of the once mighty Persian Empire.

Summary

In this introduction, we have explored the campaign of Alexander the Great, the greatest grand strategist who ever lived.

In the next article of this Grand Strategy series, we would be reviewing our anchor text for this series: On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis. This would give us a firm foundation of principles to apply in our decision making on life, business and career. ? ?

Good luck and bye for now.

Nero

Delivering Value Racing Towards Excellence.