The Art of War (Machiavelli)

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The Art of War (Dell'arte della guerra), is one of the lesser-read works of Florentine statesman and political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli.

The form is the favoured one of a dialogue. The purpose, declared by Fabrizio (Machiavelli's persona) at the outset, "To honor and reward virtù, not to have contempt for poverty, to esteem the modes and orders of military discipline, to constrain citizens to love one another, to live without factions, to esteem less the private than the public good." To these ends, Machiavelli notes in his preface, the military is like the roof of a palazzo protecting the contents.

Written between 1519 and 1520 and published the following year, it was the only historical or political work printed during Machiavelli's lifetime, though he was appointed official historian of Florence in 1520 and entrusted with minor civil duties.

[edit] Format

The Art of War is divided into a preface (proemio) and seven books (chapters), which take the form of a series of dialogues that take place in the green and shady retreat of a garden between Cosimo Rucellai, a friend of Machiavelli's who had died young, and "Lord Fabrizio Colonna" (a transparent disguise for Machiavelli himself), with other patrizi and captains of the recent Florentine republic. The work is dedicated to Lorenzo di Filippo Strozzi, patrizio fiorentino.

Fabrizio is enamored with the Roman Legions of the early to mid Republic and strongly advocates adapting them to the contemporary situation of Renaissance Florence.

Fabrizio dominates the discussions with his knowledge, wisdom and insights. The other characters, for the most part, simply yield to his superior knowledge and merely bring up topics, ask him questions or for clarification. These dialogues, then, often become monologues with Fabrizio detailing how an army should be raised, trained, organized, deployed and employed.

[edit] Critique

Machiavelli's Art of War, echoes many themes, issues, ideas and proposals from his earlier, more widely read works; The Prince and The Discourses. While his theories are based on a thorough study and analysis of classical and contemporary military practices, some of his proposals proved impractical for the time. For example, he underrated the effectiveness of both firearms and cavalry. However, his basic notion of emulating Roman practices was slowly and pragmatically adapted by many later rulers and commanders, most notably Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. They would lay the foundations for the system of Linear Tactics which would dominate the warfare of Europe and the world until after the Napoleonic Wars.

While Machiavelli's influence as a military theorist is often given a backseat to his writings as a political philosopher, he considered Dell'arte della guerra to be his most important work, since it concerned itself solely with war, which to him was the most important aspect of statecraft (The roof on the palazzo of state, afterall).

Voltaire would say, "Machiavelli taught Europe the art of war; it had long been practiced, without being known."