Daryl's Blog

In a small way I can identify with how Epaminondas the Theban general must have felt on the eve of battle against the Spartans at Leuctra in 371 BC.

He called his warriors together and declared that he could guarantee victory if they would vow to perform one feat at the moment he gave the command. 'What do you wish us to do'? 'When I sound the trumpet, I want you to give me one more foot. Push the enemy back just one foot'. The men swore they would do this.

Battle commenced; the armies clashed and locked up, shield against shield, each side straining to break the other. Epaminondas watched and waited 'til he judged that both sides had reached the extremity of exhaustion. Then he ordered the trumpet to sound. The Theban warriors remembered their promise, summoned their final reserves of strength and pushed the enemy back just one foot. It was enough to break the Spartan line and ensure their defeat. My ever courageous team, after a tough year, is right on the edge of breaking through in 2012. One push will do it.

The sign of a good leader is to have that primary quality of being able to envision and empassion, empower and inspire those following to go just one step beyond their own limits. (Now, this is a great story but I've not been able to validate it. Historians attribute the victory to the general changing his battle plan to hit the Spartans with an oblique infantry formation, concentrating his attack on one vital part of the enemy line)

Here's a similar tale of a Roman General leading his troops to victory. The countryside was swampy and he knew that the next day's battle had to be fought on a certain plain because it was the only dry, flat place in the area.

He pushed his army all night, marching them through the swamp. The hard night march got them to the battle site before the enemy could get there and was able to claim the high ground.

In the aftermath of victory he asked the question, 'brothers, when did we win the battle'? One said, 'Sir, when the infantry attacked'. Another said, 'we won when the cavalry broke through'. 'No', said the general, 'We won the battle the night before - when our men marched through the swamp and took the high ground'. Battle after battle has been fought in history where they key to victory lay in which army occupied the high ground (Remember Gettysburg, the defining battle of the American Civil War)

Battles will come from time to time, we live in a vale of tears; when you fight a battle, always make sure you have secured the high ground. And let your strength be always gentle. And as Churchill once said in a very short speech - never, never, never, never give up. (Thanks to Stevenpressfield.com for these 2 stories)