From: Brad Dolan 
Subject: Historic precedent for Waco?
Message-ID: 
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 22:08:05 -0400 (EDT)


Above all, the Romans clearly realized that the dominant dimension of 
power was not physical but psychological - the product of others' 
perceptions of Roman strength rather than the use of this strength.  
And this realization alone can explain the sophistication of Roman 
strategy at its best. 

The siege of Masada in A.D. 70-73 reveals the exceedingly subtle 
workings of a long-range security policy based on deterrence. Faced 
with the resistance of a few hundred Jews on a montain in the Judean 
desert, a place of no strategic or economic importance, the Romans 
could have insulated the rebels by posting a few hundred men to guard 
them.  Based at the nearby springs of Ein Geddi, a contingent of Roman 
cavalry could have waited patiently for the Jews to exhaust their 
water supply. Alternatively, the Romans could have stormed the 
mountain fortress.  The Jewish War had essentially been won, and only 
Masada was still holding out; but this spark of resistance might 
rekindle at any time the fire of revolt.  The slopes of Masada are 
steep, and the Jews were formidable fighters, but with several 
thousand men pressing from all sides the defenders could not have held 
back the attackers for long, though they could have killed many. 

The Romans did none of these things.  They did not starve out the Jews 
and they did not storm the mountain.  Instead, at a time when the 
entire Roman army had a total of only twenty-nine legions to garrison 
the entire empire, one legion was deployed to besiege Masada, there to 
reduce the fortress by great works of engineering, including a huge 
ramp reaching the full height of the mountain.  This was a vast and 
seemingly irrational commitment of scarce military manpower - or was 
it?  The entire three-year operation, and the very insignificance of 
its objective, must have made an ominous impression on all those in 
the East who might otherwise have been tempted to contemplate revolt:  
the lesson of Masada was that the Romans would pursue rebellion even 
to mountain tops in remote deserts to destroy its last vestiges, 
regardless of cost. 

*The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire*
ISBN 0-8018-1863-X
Edward N. Luttwak

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