Annotated single volume
The Art of War
The only work Machiavelli published while he was alive, and the one he thought would outlast him. Seven dialogues on how states raise, drill and command their own armies — and why anyone who rents their power eventually loses it.
PDF, EPUB and hardcover. 30-day money-back guarantee.
What you'll take away
- All seven dialogues in readable modern English
- Margin notes translating Renaissance tactics into plain terms
- Maps and formation diagrams redrawn for modern eyes
- A short primer on the Florentine militia Machiavelli actually built
- Cross-references to The Prince and the Discourses
- Hardcover, PDF and EPUB included
The seven dialogues
- 01
Book I — Who should carry arms
Why citizen soldiers beat professionals, and what a state owes the men it arms.
- 02
Book II — Weapons and drill
Equipment, training and the unglamorous repetition that decides battles before they start.
- 03
Book III — Order of battle
How to arrange an army so that it can lose its front line and still hold.
- 04
Book IV — Command in the field
Deception, terrain and the moment a general stops planning and starts reacting.
- 05
Book V — Marching
Supply, scouting and the risks of moving a body of men through hostile country.
- 06
Book VI — Encampment
Camps as temporary cities: discipline, sanitation and the politics of waiting.
- 07
Book VII — Fortresses and sieges
Defending towns, and Machiavelli's argument that walls are usually a substitute for courage.
“I run operations, not battalions, and Book II alone changed how I think about training budgets.”
“The diagrams finally made the formations click. I'd bounced off two other translations.”
“Reads like Machiavelli arguing with a room, because that's exactly what it is.”
Questions
- Is this Sun Tzu's Art of War?
- No. This is Machiavelli's 1521 dialogue of the same name — a European work about citizen armies, written 2,000 years later and for very different reasons.
- Do I need to read The Prince first?
- Not at all. It stands alone, though the cross-references will be more rewarding if you have.
- Is it relevant outside military history?
- Most readers come for the arguments about loyalty, training and outsourcing — they transfer to organisations almost unchanged.
- What formats do I get?
- The hardcover ships worldwide and the PDF and EPUB unlock immediately after checkout.
The book he signed his own name to.
Machiavelli's most practical work, finally readable — with the tactics explained instead of assumed.
PDF, EPUB and hardcover. 30-day money-back guarantee.