This is a book written by Italian Renaissance political philosopher and historian, Niccolo Machiavelli. The Art of War written in Italian as Dell’ante Della Guerra is Machiavelli’s self acclaimed best book. It was written between 1519 and 1520 and published in 1521. It was Machiavelli’s only historical or political work printed during his lifetime.
The book is divided into a preface and seven books (chapters). This takes the form of a series of dialogue that takes place in the Orti Oricellani (gardens built in a classical style by Bernardo Rucellani). The work is dedicated to Lorenzo di Filipo Strozzi, Patrizio Fiorentino in a preface which ostentatiously pronounces Machiavelli’s authority. After repeated uses of the first person singular to introduce the dialogue, Machiavelli retreats from the work, seeing as neither narrator nor interlocutor.
The format of The Art of War is a Socratic dialogue. The purpose, declared by Lord Fabrizio Colonna makes Machiavelli to write in his preface, ‘the military is like the roof of a palazzo protecting the contents’. Fabrizio is enamored with the Roman Legion of the early to mid Roman 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 character, for the most part, simply yield to his superior knowledge and merely bring up topics, ask him questions for clarification. These dialogues, then, often become monologues with Fabrizio detailing how an army should be raised, trained, organized, deployed and employed.