The Strategic Earth, Vol. II: The Mediterranean and the Marches: (500 BCE – 500 CE)

GEW Social Sciences and Humanities Group

Hichem Karoui (Editor)

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Global East-West For Studies and Publishing
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 28, 2026
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 361 pages

The Strategic Earth, Volume II: The Mediterranean and the Marches

What made the Mediterranean world one of the great centres of power in human history? Why did some empires expand across enormous distances while others fractured under the pressures of geography, logistics and war?

The Strategic Earth, Volume II: The Mediterranean and the Marches (500 BCE–500 CE) explores these questions through a geopolitical history of the classical Mediterranean and its surrounding frontiers.

From the Persian Empire and the Greco-Persian conflicts to Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic kingdoms, Rome and Carthage, this volume examines classical history through the strategic geography that connected—or separated—its peoples and states. Seas, mountains, rivers, deserts, islands and narrow passages are treated not simply as geographical features but as factors that shaped political choices, military campaigns and imperial ambitions.

The book follows the transformation of the Mediterranean from a contested strategic environment into the centre of Roman power. It examines the naval and logistical dimensions of the Greco-Persian conflict, the Peloponnesian and Sicilian theatres, Macedonian military expansion, Alexander’s campaigns in Asia, and the struggle for dominance in the western Mediterranean.

The rise of Rome receives particular attention, including the Punic Wars, Hannibal’s Alpine campaign, Roman expansion into the Hellenistic world and the creation of mare nostrum. The volume then turns to the Roman frontier system: roads, fortifications, garrisons, supply networks and the difficult task of maintaining imperial power across vast distances.

Its final chapters consider grand strategy during the Pax Romana, the structural pressures that contributed to the third-century crisis, and the reorganisation of imperial power under Diocletian and Constantine.

For general readers, the book offers a fresh perspective on familiar events of classical history. For students, educators, libraries and specialist booksellers, it provides an interdisciplinary approach linking ancient history with geopolitics, military strategy, logistics and economic geography.

As the second volume of the twelve-volume The Strategic Earth series, it also establishes a bridge between the ancient civilisations examined in Volume I and the later geopolitical worlds explored throughout the series.

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