Rome - Strategy of Empire

The first work to lay out Roman strategic thinking from its start under Augustus until its final demise in 476 CEFrom Octavian''s victory at Actium (31 bc) to its traditional endpoint in the West (476), the Roman Empire lasted a solid 500 years-an impressive number by any standard, and fully one-fifth of all recorded history. In fact, the decline and final collapse of the Roman Empire took longer than most other empires even existed. Any historian trying to unearth the grand strategy of the Roman Empire must, therefore, always remain cognizant of the time scale, in which she is dealing. Although the pace of change in the Roman era never approached that of the modern era, it was not an empire in stasis. While the visible trappings may have changed little, the challenges Rome faced at its end were vastly different than those faced by Augustus and the Julio-Claudians. Over the centuries, the Empire''s underlying economy, political arrangements, military affairs, and, most importantly, the