Art of War

The Art Of War, considered by Niccolo Machiavelli (NM) himself to be his greatest work. In his book 'The Prince', NM wrote "A Prince, therefore must not have any other object nor any other thought, nor must he adopt anything as his art but war, its institutions, and its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands." So it's no surprise that NM would be inclined to write a book such as this, so as to present towards us, on how a Prince would approach military matters.The book is segmented into 7 chapters or books; each segment deals with it's respective matter. Book 1 for example deals with recruitment, book 2 with ordering, and so and so forth. NM unlike his other books (Prince, Discourses, Florentine) is not the author in this book, this book is a dialogue, the lead discussant being Fabrizio, an Italian captain, who with a couple of youths, interested in the art of war, are discussing the art of war. Fabrizio, mostly, bases his true model of a milita upon Ancient Roman examples. He does reference other ancient institutions; Rome however is his main topic of discussion.At the time when NM wrote this; Italian militia wasn't so far ahead as it is now. There were a few exceptions, artillery was new (cannons), arquebeis (if that is how you spell it), warfare, for the most part, was pretty much the same as Ancient warfare. NM's advice would not suffice for modern warfare, although there are few advices that would be adequate for all times. For example Fabrizio points out that the cornerstone of every war is necessity; Fabrizio explains to the reader that if a captain or a general were to drive his men towards necessity, compel them to fight or die, he would in the end have an advantage because his men are more willing to fight than the enemy's. Of course we all know NM, if you've read his other books, almost never makes a claim without providing examples. The book is filled with many examples, each time a claim or statement is made it is followed through with an example. And I love this kind of reasoning because NM doesn't go around pulling words out of his ass, he backs it up.Also I recommend you buy the translated version by Christopher Lynch, I had, before buying this, purchased the Wilder publication and the translation was horrible, here is an example "page 24: "have nede of defence, and when thei have no defence of their owne, thei hire struangers, and the straungers defence, shall hurt moche sooner the common weale". I returned that book right away and bought this one.

Seems interesting, a classic !!!

If your looking for California love remixes, wrong section.But this book is great, and a long read. Polished this one off following Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince" and I must say - I didn't think it was as interesting nor did it seem to keep my attention as well. Really good for someone interested in political philosophy that can be related to modern day events in some form or another.

Interesting

The Art of War is in excellent condition.

I bought this book a while back, barely got around to reading it and unfortunately the pages are falling out. I wish I opened it sooner to return this defective book.

Guilty pleasure. Avoided in college and am catching up. Quite the challenge.

This book is interesting in terms of understanding Machiavelli's mindset and mentality about strategy, however, if one is more interested in classical Machiavelli, you should read "The Prince."

For research purposes, a good read

I truly believe someone could spend a lifetime studying Machiavelli`s writings. He has such great insights into the human condition. Machiavelli also has great influence in the modern political world, particularly the in the United States. The US founding fathers studied Machiavelli`s material. Whenever you read Machiavelli, the parts that were influential to the Americans, seem to jump off the page. In the Art of War, Machiavelli pieces together both modern and ancient lessons of warfare. The reader will find some of the material to be out of date. Lessons regarding cavalry and Pikemen are long past their relevance.Machiavelli`s general rules of war are listed at the end of Book VII. These general rules, are timeless guidelines to be used in the military. Sure some of the rules seem to be somewhat basic or even simple. Yet so many military failures have taken place, when simple basic rules of war are ignored.I recommend this book to anyone interested in military history.