Since the emergence of man, society and state, the history of human thought has shown the importance, and necessity of pluralistically diversified military thoughts and modern man, a product of the past two centuries, has developed great epistemological skepticism in numerous areas and, while transcending and undermining the constraints of the confined "answer-oriented world" by virtue of thought, established a new "question-oriented society" In military science as well as all other scientific fields, human life needs thoughtfulness, not only to achieve regular rules of success or a more integrated organization of forces on the battlefield, but also to flourish human's noble mind and elevaté the questioning man whose satisfaction is only in discovery and revelation. Not surprisingly, such revelations are manifested within the realm of military science, too.

Over the centuries, the history of military thought has seen plenty of efforts being made to find an answer to this basic question How is it possible for a government to survive and win a victory over the enemy? In Iran's political-military history, so many different answers have been given to this question from different perspectives, but none has remained as the only possible one; some have continued to be valid for centuries, while others have faded completely away.

However, no answer has remained unchanged over time. This book is a brief study of the answers provided by Iranian military scholars to this basic question.