Conclusion: the twenty-first century – must future strategic history resemble the past?

Because this is a strategic history, its dominant narrative comprises the consequences of the threat and use of politically motivated, organized force upon the course of events. Of course, there is more to history than its strategic dimension alone, and there is more to strategy than its military component. However, the assumption upon which this text is founded is only that the strategic thread is the most significant of the several engines of historical change, not that it is the sole driver. It is true that unmodified reference to strategy obscures the issue of whether one refers to grand strategy – that is, the purposeful employment of all of a state’s or other political entity’s assets – or only to military strategy.