The Art of War

Book Review #3

Niccolo’ Machiavelli

The Art of War

          I liked this book because I enjoy tactics and strategies on wars and battles and I recommend it to anyone who does also. I looked at the cover on the book and I first believed that it would be interesting. I was however wrong and it bored me when I came towards the middle of the book. I was hoping for the book to be more exciting was it explains tactics and strategies in a more enjoyable way. Nevertheless my excitement fell like listening to a dull boring war speech for 4 hours and in the beginning you looked forward to be influenced by the words, but you end up sleeping. This book was boring, still had some good tactical strategy and it was different than expected.

          To start it off, the book had a more advance vocabulary level that to some, may have only begin to grasp. This factor can make the book harder to understand and read holding you back from the ingenious tactics and strategy that the author was trying to project. The way the entire book was molded was more of a 1^st person view, which may seem pointless and unnecessary. It also seemed he was talking to his friend and not to the people reading it. Each chapter wasn’t “to the point” and was a long explanation of Greek words and over explained every detail in battle formations and strategies. This made each page more tedious and you would soon lose appeal in the book and stopped reading the book in the middle.

          Secondly, the tactical genius when discovered can be applied to the strategies that Europe still uses to this very day. Even Voltaire, an enlightenment philosopher, quoted “Machiavelli taught Europe the art of war; it had been long practiced, without being known.” Although some of the strategy of modern day has changed to adapt to the weapons and advance in technology much hasn’t changed. The change in the formation for an army, described in the book includes pike men, Calvary, officers and others in higher command, and a large army in a close formation. The units can connect to modern armies and can be used in somewhat the same way, but advance in technology has changed that and now armies are spread out and each group of units forms its own army. Even though the time has changed tactics are still used but are adapted for modern combat.

          Also, the way the book was written was different than others like the 1^st person view and the fact that he seems to be talking to a friend of his. How he connects to what he is saying to things that seem unrelated. Like Greek terms and words that he uses in his teaching and the explanation for using them is something that you may have never really seen in a strategy book. The very fact that today they are still being used is remarkable because not many strategies are still used today. He teaches more than just military strategy, he shows diagrams of how army formations should look and how a fort or a base should be shaped. He takes the time to explain in much detail the use of each type of unit and how you can use it in many ways. He explains many other things like positions of power and how to use your recourses in and out of war. This has what kept me on my seat reading it for longer than I wanted to.

          The Art of War is an ingenious, unique, but a bit boring book and I recommend it to those who have a great love or interest in military strategy and a higher vocabulary. I rate this book 2 out of 5 for the strategy. This book’s uninteresting extended explanations really hide the pure idea of his strategy in a big explanation. What really mystified me about the book was how much the strategy is used today and how it affects the outcome of wars in the modern world. The fact that Voltaire spoke about Niccolo Machiavelli was unique in the way that his art of war must have really affected the world so greatly for him to be noticed. The book makes you think of the modern battles and wars and how greatly it compares to those of the past.