Outplayed: Regaining Strategic Initiative in The Gray Zone

This report is one of the first of a series on the gray zone, a “carrier concept” for hostile action, preceded by a long game of diplomacy, threats, and propaganda to achieve warlike aims without full-scale warfare. It owes a good deal to the British Royal Army’s General Rupert Smith, author of a 2005 best-seller, The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World.

Eumenes of Cardia — General of the Early Hellenistic Period

The article pays special attention to the study of a new type of military formations — the so-called Hellenistic armies. The author examines the key battles involving one of the influential figures of the early Hellenistic era — Eumenes of Cardia. The analysis of the contingent of the armies, both of the diadoch and its opponents, is carried out. An important aspect of the study is the assessment of Eumenes as commander-in-chief, given his special position among the rest of the pleiad of heirs of Alexander the Great. An attempt is also made to determine the main tactical orientations of the commander, as well as his leadership qualities. The relationship between Eumenes and ordinary soldiers of his military formation is noted. The orientalist position of the commander is traced, his continuity in the conduct of battles like King Alexander. In addition, the analysis of the effectiveness of a new type of troops in the armies of the Macedonians — war elephants and their interaction with other units in the army of the Diadochis is carried out. The key to effective conduct of battles in the early Hellenistic era, according to the author, was the successful combination of "new" and "traditional" in the art of war.