The "center of gravity" as understood in military terms refers to:
"the characteristics, capabilities, or locations from which a military force derives its freedom of action, physical strength, or will to fight. In the strategic level, a center of gravity might include a military force, an alliance, a set of critical capabilities or functions, or national strategy itself" (Strange 1).
As developed by Von Clausewitz, the term also encompasses the recognition that in military confrontations, each combatant has a "hub of all power and movement" (Strange 2). In the Peloponnesian War, in which Athens and Sparta vied for hegemonic dominance in the Greek mainland, the center of gravity shifted along with the movement of Sparta's massive infantry and Athens' equally massive and impressive naval fleet (McElrath 2).
The notion of a shifting center of gravity is readily observed in the case of the Peloponnesian War. Sir Nigel Bagnall (140) suggested that as this war was waged, the center of gravity for both Athens and Sparta tended to shift. In his view, the region of North-West Greece in Acarnania where the Spartans had a major fleet and 1,000 hoplite infantry and in which Athens placed a fleet as well as maintained an alliance with Acarnania was an important center of gravity in the later stages of the war. At this locale, where Athens was anticipating the support of allies, Sparta proved dominant, maximizing its use of infantry to the disadvantage of Athens (Bagnall 131-132).
Earlier, Athens had attempted to make the sea the center of gravity and to defeat the Spartans in this area, where the superior power of the Athenian naval forces was regarded as likely to overwhelm the less sea-worthy Spartans (McElrath 2). Athenian grand strategy under Pericles was based on its experience in the Persian War when a coalition of all the resources of Greece were used to fight off the Persians. However, during the Pelopon...