Oderint dum metuant: Strategic Lessons from the Small Wars Experience of the Roman Republic.

Moore, Henry William

Abstract

The modern experience of small wars, referring to armed conflict between belligerents divergent in military power, tactics, and strategies, has been one of infrequent and costly success. Some have attributed these difficulties to the discipline of ‘counterinsurgency’, the understanding of asymmetric conflicts as socio-political struggles for the population, which has been dominant throughout this period. With a return to conventional warfare looming, it is vital that all possible avenues for learning from this experience are explored. This thesis contends that the small wars conduct of the Roman Republic can contribute to this learning process. Previous examinations of this topic have done so largely by examining Imperial conduct through the lens of counterinsurgency. This study instead focuses exclusively on campaigns from the Republican period and takes a broader view of these challenges based on Charles E. Callwell’s Small Wars: Their Theory and Practice. Using case studies of Roman campaigns in the Lusitanian, Jugurthine, and Gallic Wars; the thesis identifies seven key considerations that influenced Roman success across the levels of war. These are: limiting enemy freedom of operation, targeting centres of gravity, proper commitment, the value of intelligence, adaptation, the importance of the population, and the application of force to defeat the enemy. Comparison with the modern context reveals a number of shared difficulties and responses that proves the relevance of the Roman experience to the development of small wars thought, as well as showing Roman conduct to be more nuanced than reductionist appraisals acknowledge. This analysis shows that Roman success in small wars stems from an innate understanding of the nature of warfare that modern approaches (particularly those espoused by counterinsurgency theorists) often lack, having forgotten that the eternal principles of war established by Clausewitz still apply to small wars regardless of their distinct characteristics.

Citation

Moore, H. W. Oderint dum metuant: Strategic Lessons from the Small Wars Experience of the Roman Republic. (Thesis). University of Hull. https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4735994

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jul 12, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 18, 2024
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4735994
• Additional Information: Faculty of Business, Law and Politics; University of Hull
• Award Date: Jun 4, 2024