This essay reviews “Satan’s Strategy” in Lawrence Freedman’s Strategy: A History through a reading of the relationship between Machiavelli, Milton, and the figure of Satan in Paradise Lost. Within it, Satan is understood not merely as a symbol of evil but as a strategic actor who tries to use force, rhetoric, deception, and intelligence operations to challenge God’s cosmic authority. Yet it is precisely here that his strategic failure becomes clear. Satan is able to deceive humankind, but he fails to turn humanity into an ally in his rebellion. This essay shows that Machiavellianism has its limits when confronting a power that is omniscient and omnipotent. Cunning, ingenuity, and political daring are not enough when a strategic actor is trapped by pride, identity, and an inability to read the structure of power realistically.
Satan’s Strategy: Machiavelli, Milton, and the Logic of Cosmic Power (A Review of “Satan’s Strategy” in Lawrence Freedman’s Strategy: A History)
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