ROME'S GRAND STRATEGY

"THE ROMANS DID DO SERIOUS STRATEGIC THINKING, THEY DID EXECUTE A SERIOUS LONG-TERM STRATEGY. AND THEY MAINTAINED IT FOR 500 YEARS"

- DR JAMES LACEY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr James Lacey is Course Director and Professor of Strategic Studies and Political Economy at Marine Corps War College. His previous books include The Washington War: FDR's Inner Circle and the Politics of Power That Won World War II and The First Clash: The Miraculous Greek Victory at Marathon and Its Impact on Western Civilization.

For decades, academic opinion on the success of the Roman Empire has claimed that its leaders, emperors and dictators did not look to Rome's long-term strategic growth and dominance across the known world, focusing instead on immediate threats and opportunities.

Now Dr James Lacey's book Rome: Strategy of Empire is set to cause controversy in university history departments around the world, challenging many well-established theories surrounding the expansion of the Empire's territories and institutions over centuries. Author and historian Edoardo Albert spoke with Dr Lacey about his research and why he thinks the Romans did in fact have a long-term imperial strategy, and executed it so successfully.

The idea of Roman military strategy started with Edward Luttwak's 1976 book The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire. For readers who haven't read it, could you describe Luttwak's thesis...

Edward Luttwak was a strategist, not a historian. In his book, Luttwak broached a topic that no Roman historian had ever explored before. We have tremendous narratives of Roman history but nobody had ever asked if the Romans actually had an overall strategy. That was the question Luttwak set out to answer and his answer was: "Yes. The Romans had a strategy."

What was the response to Luttwak's book?