Women In Warfare In Ancient Greece

Running head: THEATRE OF WAR
THEATRE OF WAR
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Activity 1: Preventive war and Preemptive War in the views of Bruce Thornton......................2
Activity 2: Participation of women in warfare in Ancient Greece..............................................3
Activity 3: Trinity of War of Clausewitz.....................................................................................4
Activity 4: Weinberger Doctrine and Powell Doctrine...............................................................5
Activity 5: Eisenhower on war....................................................................................................5
Activity 6: Theory of Just War....................................................................................................6
Activity 7: Munich Analogy on North Korea..............................................................................7
Activity 8: Military intervention in Syria....................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
War in political terms is an act of aggression or a situation of armed conflict which has
gained quite a lot of attention in the discipline of international relations given the fact that it is an
important aspect for understanding the way nations maneuver their resources to safeguard their
national interests. In the following sections, the activities shall be demonstrating an
understanding of war from the theoretical premise propounded by various scholars.
Activity 1: Preventive war and Preemptive War in the views of Bruce Thornton
As per the views of Bruce Thornton in his book, ‘Why should we study war’, the two
most important forms of wars that contribute to the shaping of the course of international politics
are preventive war and preemptive war. Preventive war is fought among nations to jeapoardize
the aggression or the threat of aggression that is posed by another nation. In simper words,
preventive war is a form of war that is fought to prevent the outbreak of a war which is
considered to be unjustified and to ensure that the aggressive nation be prevented to wage any
attack on the victim nation or to ensure that that the aggressor nation is unable to subdue the
victim nation (Thornton, 2013). For example, the Gulf War of 1991 can be taken, which had
been waged by attack of Kuwait by Iraq under the reign of Saddam Hussein. Iraq had run out of
resources due to the Iran Iraq war and needed resources. Hence Saddam Hussein had under the
pretext of a dispute over crude oil sharing between Iraq and Kuwait, had attacked the latter to lay
a claim to the oil resources. Kuwait has been the victim and Iraq the aggressor, and in that
situation USA had intervened to prevent Kuwait from being subdued by Iraq (White et al., 2016).

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Preemptive war on the other hand is form of war which is waged when a nation is
convinced of an inevitable war and thus strikes the offensive to prevent being subdued
(Thornton, 2013). In the case of Iran Iraq war, Iraq had been the nation to first strike the
offensive on Iran as Saddam was convinced of the power of Iran and wanted to handicap Iran
before she could gather enough strength to attack Iraq and cause huge amount of destruction
(DeFronzo, 2018).
Activity 2: Participation of women in warfare in Ancient Greece
According to Loman, the role of women in warfare in Greece was negligible in most of
the city states excepting the women of Sparta. The culture in the city state of Sparta was quiet
warlike and the females were raised like their brothers to fight wars alongside them. Archery,
sword fighting, horse riding et cetera were some of the sportive activities in which the women
took part and even excelled at par with their male counterparts. Contrary to the Spartan women,
the women of the all other city states were supposed to uphold traditional feminine values of
being graceful, being nurtures of the future generations and giving birth to the male children so
that they could grow up to be like their fathers and be martial. Thus the role played by the
women in wars was quite active in Sparta but not in other city states (Millender, 2017).
Like in the city states apart of Greece on a general basis even in the 21st century Australia
it is expected that women shall be fulfilling the roles of being nurtures and care givers nurtures
and the men to be fulfilling the roles which are supposed to be outside the bounds of the home.
Naturally, the women participation in war is quite less compared to men although there is no bar
for women to participate in the armed forces. In ancient Greece however, the women were barred
from participating in the armed forces except in Sparta which is not the situation in 21st century

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Australia as it is a single territorial unit and all the women are equal before the law (Bridges &
Wadham, 2019).
Activity 3: Trinity of War of Clausewitz
As per Clausewitz, three factors which contribute to a war are feelings of animosity,
seeking of opportunities to establish foothold and the element of subordination (Waldman,
2016). There are three warring factions in Syria each of which can correspond to each of the
aspects of the trinity proposed by Clausewitz. Pro- Assad forces represent the element of
subordination. President Assad has been a dictator and he has been using force and coercion to
maintain law and order in the nation and also to tackle the anti Assad force which is fighting to
overthrow Assad from power. The ISIS represents the element of the feelings of animosity as
their agenda is to create and Islamic state comprising of Syria and Iraq where Shariat law shall
prevail and not the secular laws of Assad, hence he is a hated figure by the ISIS. The element of
seeking of opportunities to establish foothold is represented by the Western forces of France and
Britain and the Eastern forces of Iran and Russia, the former being anti Assad and the latter pro
Assad, both fighting in Syria to establish a foothold in Middle East (Baczko, A., Dorronsoro, G.,
& Quesnay, 2018).
The trinity of war of Clausewitz can also be applied in the case of war in Yemen. Yemeni
civilian government wants to subordinate the Shia militias north of the nation as they have
shown secessionist propensities. Sunni Saudi Arabia attacks the Shia majority region of north
Yemen simply because of the hatred towards the Shias. Iran has involved herself in the war in
Yemen seeking an opportunity to establish her Shia domination in the Middle East and curb the
domination of Sunni Saudi Arabia (Mansoor & Mohammed, 2018).

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Activity 4: Weinberger Doctrine and Powell Doctrine
Weinberger Doctrine has laid down certain conditions which should be maintained if
USA desires to go into war. The Weinberger Doctrine says that USA should only go to war if-
she is convinced of victory, if that is a matter of her national interest; if her allies her involved as
well; if war is the last resort and only if the Congress and the public opinion supports it. These
conditions had been laid down in retaliation to the loss of American prestige in the Vietnam
Debacle and turning of the public opinion hostile towards the idea of USA going to war as it was
proving to be a drain on her resources and man power which she could otherwise utilize for the
purpose of her own enrichment (Joyce, 2019).
The Powell Doctrine was in response to the Gulf War of 1991 and it is an extension and
elaboration of the Weinberger Doctrine, thus some parts of the Powell Doctrine is related to the
Weinberger Doctrine. In the Powell Doctrine the issues of - American national interest, clear
goal of victory, assent of the people and the Congress and the support from allies have been
reiterated. Both the doctrines have been devised to ensure that American people should benefit
out of the wars (Middup, 2016).
Activity 5: Eisenhower on war
President Dwight Eisenhower had said that, “war no longer has any logic whatsoever,” in
his speech in the year 1960. His response has been in retaliation to the situations that were
prevailing in the period of Cold War when the US faction and the USSR faction had reached
almost on the brink of indulging in an armed conflict with each other and that would have proven
to be the third world war which would have proven itself to be extremely destructive to both
Russia and USA alike and also to the world at large which was recuperating from the Second

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World War. In the Cold War period both the power blocs were equipped with nuclear arms and
that would have proven to be quite destructive for the world if war broke out. Moreover the US
defeat in the Vietnam War has proven to be a matter of loss of pride and resources for the nation
at both the national and the international level. Naturally the alternative to war, peace was
supposed to be the only resort left for USA and the idea of testing of the nuclear weapons was
thus deemed as futile (Eisenhower, 2019).
Activity 6: Theory of Just War
Just as the Theory of Just War Islamic world had their own understanding of a just war,
which is strictly based on the Qoranic principles, the Western world too should have a doctrine
or a Theory of Just War that shall be serving as the moral and the philosophical guide to the act
of going to war with another nation. The Theory of Just War as propounded by Augustine
consists of four aspects, the Authority to wage a war, the intention to wage a war, the need to
wage a war and only if war is the last resort to the seeking of a solution. These are the three
conditions which should be followed when a nation is planning to go on a war. These aspects are
not mutually exclusive, and they are supposed to necessarily overlap with each other as these
justifications are embedded in a moral premise which cannot be evaded at all (Brunstetter &
O’Driscoll, 2017).
As per the views of Professor Johnstone, the views of Augustine was highly embedded in
Christian traditions and the Ten Commandments specifically which has laid down the conditions
of being righteous at all steps of life. Augustine had laid down principle which called for the
laying down of arms if the orders of the ruler were considered to be unjust to fight a war and
even in war the innocent must be protected. That should be the goal of a Christian soldier. In the

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contemporary world the values and ethics are missing from the discourse of war and that is
making wars more ferocious and inhumane. Hence for upholding ethics in war Augustine’s
principle of war is relevant.
Activity 7: Munich Analogy on North Korea
The Munich Analogy of President Truman that, “Communism was acting in Korea just as
Hitler, Mussolini,” is quite a correct analogy as the South Koreans wanted to live under a regime
which guaranteed them freedom and not be subdued under the Communist rule of the dictatorian
ruler of North Korea. The case of South Korea and North Korea is different from the case of
Vietnam as Vietnam wanted to live under a united government and under communist regime
while in Korea, the North supported Communism and the South Capitalism and democracy.
Hence the invasion of North Korea upon South Korea to subdue it and bring it under the
communist regime was quite wrong and unjustified. The intentions of the North Korean dictator
was against the wish of the people of South Korea and hence the speech of Munich Analogy of
President Truman that, “Communism was acting in Korea just as Hitler, Mussolini,” is a justified
statement and North Korea indeed was quite unjustified in attacking South Korea (Cooke, 2018).
Activity 8: Military intervention in Syria
On the basis of the views of McNamara, the invasion of Syria by foreign military is
unjustified as the nations who are intervening in Syria are not doing it to bring about stability in
the nation. They are doing it out of selfish interest to satisfy their own political goals due to
which the people of the nation are suffering. The fight between the Pro Assad forces and the Anti
Assad forces which are joined by several nations, the latter by Britain and France and the former
by Iran and Russia have caused a lot of stability in the nation which has caused score of people

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to be displaced in search of proper livelihood and right to live in different nations of the world.
Thus the military intervention in Syria is not justified as the interests of the innocent ones are
being trampled upon because of the political goals of the nations. The rule of war should be to
save people from the destruction who are civilians and target the enemies but that is not
happening. The common people are suffering the most and no solution is being reached
(Edelman & McNamara, 2017).
Conclusion
Thus these are the various theoretical premises which can be used to understand the issue
of war that prevails in the international scenario.

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References
Baczko, A., Dorronsoro, G., & Quesnay, A. (2018). Civil war in Syria: mobilization and
competing social orders. Cambridge University Press.
Bridges, D., & Wadham, B. (2019). Gender under fire: portrayals of military women in the
Australian print media. Feminist Media Studies, 1-19.
Brunstetter, D. R., & O’Driscoll, C. (Eds.). (2017). Just war thinkers: from Cicero to the 21st
Century. Routledge.
Cooke, R. (2018). The back page: Foreign policy concepts and jargon, explained; The Munich
analogy. Australian Foreign Affairs, (2), 128.
DeFronzo, J. (2018). The Iraq war: Origins and consequences. Routledge.
Edelman, E. S., & McNamara, W. M. (2017). US Strategy for Maintaining a Europe Whole and
Free. Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 13-26.
Eisenhower, D. D. (2019). Eisenhower on the War. Pickle Partners Publishing.
Joyce, A. (2019). The Army You Have: How Junior Officers Built Up, and Tore Down, the
Weinberger Doctrine. State University of New York Press.
Mansoor, A. F. A., & Mohammed, N. A. A. M. M. (2018). Civil War Casualties in Aden,
Yemen, 2015-2016.
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Middup, L. (2016). The Powell Doctrine and US Foreign Policy. Routledge.
Millender, E. G. (2017). Spartan Women. A Companion to Sparta, 500-524.

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Thornton, B. (2013). Why should we study war?.
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