This article, originally published in the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution in 1899, is a good introduction to the use of naval strategy by the Romans, from the First Punic War to the first years of the Empire. Marshall was inspired in his study by the three extremely influential works of Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914), a U.S. naval officer and historian.

Mahan's works (The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783, published in 1890, followed by The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793-1812, published in 1892, and The Life of Nelson, published in 1897) stimulated the growth of navies in several countries in the decades before the First World War. Mahan held that commerce dominates war, and that military and commercial control of the sea were of equal importance both in the past and in the present. Marshall was a faithful follower of Mahan, and he strove to do for the Roman Empire what Mahan had done for a later era, succeeding admirably in the process.

This booklet also says much about the time when it was written. Marshall gives us some unforgettable gems, such as "the Romans could fight hand-to-hand with a bull-dog courage known only to them and to Britons." Marshall also, temporarily departing from his subject, offers the Anglo-Saxons as an example of successful early Germanic use of sea power, conveniently forgetting a host of others, including Vandals, Goths, and Franks.

The article ends with some comments on Marshall's paper by notable members of the audience to which it was first read. This includes a brief discussion on the types of warships used in antiquity and in particular the arrangement of their oars.

This discussion, with the single exception of the reference to preserved models of Venetian medieval galleys (incidentally, still displayed in the Arsenal of Venice), is dated and today of little use to the reader. Although the reader searching for detailed information on the Roman navy should turn to William Ledyard Rodgers' Greek and Roman Naval Warfare: A Study of Strategy, Tactics, and Ship Design from Salamis (480 BC) to Actium (31 BC) (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1964) and Chester G. Starr's The Roman Imperial Navy 31 B.C.-A.D. 324 (Chicago: Ares, 3rd Ed. 1993), this booklet provides a neat, well-written, and reliable account of Roman naval strategy. Highly recommended.

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Ancient Naval Tactics
Importance of Sea Power
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Movements of Roman Legions
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