AW396 - Revolutions in Warfare
Ancient Warfare Podcast
The History Network
4.3 • 645 Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What counts as a true revolution in warfare? In this episode, the panel tackles the idea of sudden and radical change on the ancient battlefield. Rather than slow evolution, they ask which developments transformed how wars were fought almost overnight.
From the emergence of the phalanx and the impact of the trireme at sea, to the spread of cavalry, chariots, and new ways of organising troops, the discussion ranges across the ancient world. The panel also considers technological shifts, including the move from copper to bronze and later to iron, and whether these really changed warfare in a single moment or over longer periods.
Is there such a thing as an ancient equivalent to modern drone warfare, or are even the most dramatic changes the result of adaptation and learning? As ever, the panel bring different perspectives to a lively debate about what really counts as a revolution in warfare.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to another episode of the Ancient Warfare Podcast. We are second time in the new year and we're full compliment. My name is Jos Bortez. I'm the editor of Ancient Warfare magazine and with me are Murray Dom, the assistant editor of Ancient Warfare Mark DeSantis, Lindsey Powell, and Mark McCaffrey. |
| 0:23.1 | Today we've decided we talk about revolutions in ancient warfare, which once we put out the question, |
| 0:29.8 | the question to our patron community generated quite a few questions that I'm not sure we can get all to today. And it's a big topic |
| 0:41.3 | that we can talk about probably more than once. So we might even do that. But to start us off, |
| 0:48.7 | I thought we start with one of those questions. It's patron Russell. |
| 0:56.9 | And he said, maybe from a larger perspective, |
| 0:59.2 | do we have examples where an established, |
| 1:01.5 | that's to say, an old technology, |
| 1:04.7 | artfully utilized one out over a new, |
| 1:07.1 | eventually superseding technology that was poorly employed in its infancy |
| 1:08.9 | because new systems always have development |
| 1:11.4 | problems. |
| 1:12.7 | So we're going straight for systems, not technologies, but more of a complex idea. |
| 1:22.3 | And we were pre-discussing like we always do. |
| 1:25.4 | And I think Mark had a suggestion that will probably |
| 1:28.9 | spin us off for the next 20 minutes or so. In terms of, I was pitching the idea about |
| 1:34.9 | Macedonians in terms of thinking about the introduction of the revolutionized Macedonian |
| 1:41.3 | phalanx as most people sort of associate it with Alexander the Great, |
| 1:45.6 | but then, of course, then you can get into that lovely argument of, well, whatever Alexander did, |
| 1:51.2 | he was doing off the back of what his dad, Philip, the second, established in Macedon. |
| 1:55.7 | And of course, Philip is sort of taking charge of a Macedon, which, when he comes to the helm of this |
| 2:03.4 | small kingdom at the time, he has to make a huge change in terms of what Macedonian army |
... |
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