Strategy is not a modern invention. It is an essential andenduring feature of human history that is here to stay. Inthis original essay, Colin S. Gray, world-renowned scholar ofstrategic thought, discusses the meaning of strategy and itsimportance for politicians and the military as a means of achievingdesired outcomes in complex, uncertain conditions.Drawing on a wide range of examples from the Great PeloponnesianWar to the Second World War, Vietnam, and the ongoing conflicts inIraq and Afghanistan, Gray ably shows how great military thinkersof the past and present have acted strategically in their variousideological, political, geographical and cultural contexts. Lookingto the future, he argues that strategy will continue to provide avital tool-kit for survival and security, but that the globalthreat posed by nuclear weapons remains an on-going challengewithout obvious practical solutions. As Gray boldy asserts,there is no promised land ahead, only hard and dangerous times thatwill require us to master the theory and practice of strategy tosecure our own future.