De Re Militari - Flavius Vegetius Renatus
PREFACE TO BOOK I
To the Emperor Valentinian
It has been an old custom for authors to offer to their Princes the fruits of their studies in belles letters, from a persuasion that no work can be published with propriety but under the auspices of...
Hipparchicus- Xenophon
THE DUTIES OF A HIPPARCH
or
Commander of Cavalry at Athens
I Your first duty is to offer sacrifice, petitioning the gods to grant
you such good gifts as shall enable you in thought, word, and deed
to discharge your office in the...
On War Book I - Von Clausewitz
BOOK 1 – On The Nature Of War
BOOK 2 – On The Theory Of War
BOOK 3 – On Strategy In General
BOOK 4 – The Combatants
BOOK 5 – Military Forces
BOOK 6 – Defense
BOOK 7 – Attack
...
On War Book II - Von Clausewitz
Chapter I
Branches of the Art of War
WAR in its literal meaning is fighting, for fighting alone is the efficient principle in the manifold activity which, in a wide sense, is called war. But fighting is a trial of strength of the moral and physical...
On War Book III - Von Clausewitz
Book III—Of Strategy in General
Chapter I
Strategy
THE conception of strategy has been settled in the second chapter of the second book. It is the employment of the battle to gain the object of the war. Properly speaking it has to do with nothing b...
On War Book IV - Von Clausewitz
Book IV—The Combat
Chapter I
Introductory
HAVING in the foregoing book examined the subjects which may be regarded as the efficient elements of war, we shall now turn our attention to the combat as the real activity in warfare, which, by its physical a...
On War Book V - Von Clausewitz
Book 5
WE shall consider military forces:—
1. As regards their numerical strength and organisation.
2. In their state independent of fighting.
3. In respect of their maintenance; and, lastly,
4. In their general relations to country and g...
On War Book VI - Von Clausewitz
Book 6
Chapter I
Offence and Defence
1.—Conception of Defence .
WHAT is defence in conception? The warding off a blow. What is then its characteristic sign? The state of expectancy (or of waiting for this blow). This is the sign by which we a...
On War Book VII - Von Clausewitz
Book 7
Chapter I
The Attack in Relation to the Defence
IF two ideas form an exact logical antithesis, that is to say if the one is the complement of the other, then, in fact, each one is implied in the other; and when the limited power of our mind...
On War Book VIII - Von Clausewitz
Book VIII—Plan of War
Chapter I
Introduction
IN the chapter on the essence and object of war, we sketched, in a certain measure, its general conception, and pointed out its relations to surrounding circumstances, in order to commence with a sound f...
Reveries On The Art Of War - Marshal Herman Maurice de Saxe
1757
War is a science so obscure and imperfect that, in general, no rules of conduct can be given in it, which are reducible to absolute certainties; custom and prejudice, confirmed by ignorance, are its sole foundation and support.
All other...
The Art Of War - Frederick II The Great
ARTICLE I.
Of Prussian Troops, their Excellencies and their Defects.
The strictest care and the most unremitting attention are required of commanding officers in the formation of my troops. The most exact discipline is ever to be maintained,...
The Art Of War - Nicco Machiavelli
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
CITIZEN AND SECRETARY OF FLORENCE ON
THE BOOKS ON THE ART OF WAR TO
LORENZO DI FILIPPO STROZZI,
A GENTLEMAN OF FLORENCE
Many, Lorenzo, have held and still hold the opinion, that there is nothing which has less in common with...
The Book Of The Courtier - Count Baldessare Castiglione
mprinted at London by wyllyam Seres
at the signe of the Hedg-
hogge, 1561.
THE CONTENTES OF THE BOOKE
The first booke, entreateth of the perfect qualities of a Courtier.
The second, of the use of them, and of merie Jestes and Pranckes.
The...
The Prince - Nicco Machiavelli
CHAPTER I HOW MANY KINDS OF PRINCIPALITIES THERE ARE
CHAPTER II CONCERNING HEREDITARY PRINCIPALITIES
CHAPTER III CONCERNING MIXED PRINCIPALITIES
CHAPTER IV WHY THE KINGDOM OF DARIUS, CONQUERED BY ALEXANDER
CHAPTER V CONCERNING THE WAY...
The Strategemata - Sextus Julius Frontinus
Stratagems
Book I
Since I alone of those interested in military science have undertaken to reduce its rules to system,2 and since I seem to have fulfilled that purpose, so far as pains on my part could accomplish it, I still feel under obligation,...