ABSTRACT
Protracted conflicts are extended cycles of action, counteraction and experiential learning. An instructive case study in this regard is that of the Roman Republic, and its remarkable maritime transformation over the course of the First Punic War. The Carthaginian people could boast a long and proud seafaring tradition, and their naval engineers, with their fine-grained knowledge of shipbuilding technology, were second to none. Rome’s Herculean shipbuilding efforts, however remarkable, could not compensate for its sailors’ relative lack of experience. More broadly, recent scholarship has demonstrated the extent to which the war, contrary to conventional wisdom, was in fact characterised by remarkably rapid cycles of technological and tactical innovation. Political considerations or constraints can also act as powerful barriers to tactical adaptation, or to the revision of military strategy, even when the great-power actor in question is aware of the operational costs and risks in not modifying its approach.
