Abstract/Summary

The volume overall deals with the caesuras or turning point in the evolution of strategy. This chapter defines the subject by identifying such "ruptures" or caesuras which have brought about a major change in strategy. The examples include the confrontation of Roman legions with smaller mobile Barbarian units which would plague Europe with invasions long after the collapse of the Empire in the West; the clash between European chivalric formations and Turks, the rise of infantry, the advent of gunpowder, the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon, the slow drift towards total war, the nuclear revolution, the RMA, and the judicialization of war as possible last turning point.