The treatise was written as a Socratic dialogue and it was destined to Florentine rulers, encouraging the adoption of local, trained militia instead of hired mercenaries, as it was the fashion then.Īt the end of the seventh book, Machiavelli includes a series of “figures”: diagrammatic plans of battalions, armies, and encampments as “explained in the narration:” true models for the configurations of an army. Due to his frequentation with ancient literature, Machiavelli presented the strategies of Rome’s Republican-time legions as a valid model even for the XVI Century, despite the increasing role firearms was acquiring within the army. In seven books, the author treats themes of military theory and strategy (based on training, discipline, and classification), acknowledging the role of war as an extension of politics, whenever diplomacy fails. Written between 15, Dell’arte della guerra ( The Art of War) was the only historical-political essay published by Niccolò Machiavelli during his lifetime, but it was arguably the lesser known compared to The Prince and the Discourses on Livy.
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