2 Books, 1 Thought: Comparing Machiavelli & Sun Tzu's War Strategies - Essay Sample

Introduction

Machiavelli is always giving out straight forward advice when it comes to how to organize and conduct some military operations in different countries. However, when comparing the two books, the “prince” and the Art of War, it is clear that they differ in terms of writing style. For instance, the writing format of the book Art of War is that of a conversation between the interested citizens or the audience and the military expert, which presents many arguable degrees of distinction between the author and the advice he gives out regarding the military tactics (Machiavelli, 2013). However, the current generation of the audience can be bored or be turned off by reading the book on how the military discussion progressively tracks the tactics and weapons when the western warfare was beginning to em0loy the gunpowder. Machiavelli is also known to have been the father of military tactics because long before the publication of the book Europe and other parts of the country were practising the military tactics during the warfare without knowing that the techniques belong to Machiavelli. This paper will review the Book Art of war by Niccolo Machiavelli and some of the strong points that are presented to create changes in the military system of any nation.

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Purpose of the Book

Machiavelli is widely known around the globe because of his statesmanship, and the prince works done in the 16th century. Through such a foundation, the author was able to expand and extend some of the literary talents beyond the political theory to something unique like biography, short story, discourse, and playwriting. However, most of the generations recognize Machiavelli through the work of Prince. Still, through the same source, Machiavelli has been able to gain popularity through the Book Art of War, which was first published in the year 1521, and they appeared in publication or printing early before his death I the year 1527 (Machiavelli, 2013). In the book “Art of War,” Machiavelli gives out a dialogue between sympathetic characters or actors who are his friends and Lord Fabrizio Colonna, who is a soldier functioning on behalf of the Machiavelli as his mouthpiece.

Also, the dialogue in the Art of war is set and organized in a shady garden happening in the afternoon during a hot summer period where the actors decide to retreat to seek a more refreshing and peaceful place to have a conversation. For instance, Fabrizio is often interrupted by other friends during the discussion, which makes the setting of communication insignificant since it involves some lengthy musings (Machiavelli, 2013). Therefore the Art of War is divided into seven sections whereby each piece offers a detailed explanation of various military disciplines that range from the ethical considerations of the soldiers and how the camp should be designed or arranged.

Book Organization

What makes the Art of War very unique form the other Machiavelli books is his combination of admiring the classical ideology and other combative comparisons regarding the Fortuna and virtu that makes the audience recall the Prince. However, what makes Art of war different from Prince is the general tone of each work published. For instance, the Art of War relies heavily on the use of direct speech, whereas Prince involves the use of indirect expressions and use of third person format. The art of war appears to be preachy; for instance, Fabrizio has a rambling, which gives the audience or reader manifestation as an interested audience to try and portray the omniscient warfare deity to the readers (Machiavelli, 2013). However, through the use of Fabrizio, the audience finds it difficult to allow any errors in rational or logic that some of the arguments presented in the book can possess or the viewers imagine to exist in the book.

The art of war is appreciated in so many perspectives through trying to accomplish what it is intended to achieve. Warfare is known as a vast discipline or subject which can have more than ten thousand words written about it for something simple such as little sword, and that is why Machiavelli tries to engage the audience in the arguments to bring out the importance of having an organized military and how to conduct warfare in a different situation with minimum casualties (Machiavelli, 2013). From most reviews, it is clear that the Art of War is a big success since it has been able to offer or present arguments by involving the audience to adopt the tactics and strategies in case of war.

Throughout the Art of War, the author tries to focus and concentrate mainly on the problems or the issues that are central or core to the structure of the army and how they conflict with the opinion or ideal command which comprises of the publics' militia. Machiavelli goes ahead and bases most of his foundations and practices from the Roman Republic army experienced in the war of Allia in 390BCE and disorganization of the republic due to Gaius Gracchus and Tiberius in the year 123BCE and 133BCE consecutively (Machiavelli, 2013). For instance, Fabrizio speaks in the book that even though Rome was well organized in its military system still, the soldiers or army did not believe the mandate or duty of soldiers as a profession. Machiavelli argues that “good laws create good men and good men create the good state,” which means that most of the professional soldiers tend to have a lust for power or authority, which might have the potential to be incredibly expensive or costly for a tumultuous nation (Machiavelli, 2013).

Sources Employed

According to Machiavelli, the ideal or suitable soldier is an individual who “does not want to get or gain anything from participating in the war or being a solider but can toil, danger and glory and when they are renowned well enough they only want to go back to their professions and homes. For instance, in Machiavelli's statement “A man is a soldier only during the war times, and once the war is over they take their glories and wages back to their homes where they tend to resume the virtuous life of a tradesman blacksmith or a farmer” depending on someone’s preference (Machiavelli, 2013). Moreover, in Romans, the soldiers are not well praised for their careers, but the soldiers are expected to be of virtue in that they are humble, have rustic lifestyle, and be mainly epitomized by Virgil in their Georgics.

Machiavelli has most of his adoration for the citizen militia, which creates small room for some of the warm feelings regarding mercenary, which is a trade that appeared to him as ugly and gangrenous in the organization of the military. Machiavelli has a supreme distrust when it comes to mercenaries and argues that a selfish act as a hired gun, for instance, they can fight for French with their lives until the Italians or Spanish decides to offer them a better salary. Therefore a mercenary army or soldiers which are created from a freelance professional is regarded as the lucrative form or unit to have in any nation since their short term paid temporary loyalty can provide the country with quick and brutal efficiency which can take a long period to be achieved by the citizens’ army.

Another unit that Machiavelli holds a lot of patience for is the Artillery since the gunpowder was mostly being used by the military, which made it hard to effectively practice the full potential of ancient artillery models in the warfare. In the classical period, the army was in constant use of ballista and catapult until Machiavelli's time when he decided to propose some of the ideas meant to destroy enemy fortifications (Machiavelli, 2013). However, Machiavelli had some little doubts concerning the effectiveness of employment or the use of artillery weapons in the war front since it is mostly cumbersome to operate and sometimes cannot be relied upon to accomplish the army objectives.

Machiavelli tries to provide the government with convincing arguments to start utilizing artillery models in their military since they aid in relaying and clarifying information from either the commanders or generals to their respective units during the war. "Such occurrences have a great effect upon a well-trained army and are even more effective in one without discipline. Good discipline is essential in warfare, so that small rumours, cries, or disturbances do not cause your troops to flee,” says Machiavelli in trying to convince the government to adopt the artillery design in their military operations (Machiavelli, 2013).

Evaluation

Also, a general has to take any type of precaution when it comes to commanding his army or troops so that there is a success of message transmission since any difference that might happen during the receiving of orders to avoid the misunderstanding of the instructions. For instance, if there is slight confusion between addietro and indeitro, the war might be lost since there is a room that has been created for manoeuvrability, which later is substituted by withdrawing all the command from the general or commander (Machiavelli, 2013). Machiavelli's military ideas are widely adopted to continue keeping his opinion or admiration of antique reasoning since most parts of the military ideas and strategies are being shaped by classical antecedents, which mean the outdated thoughts, clouded Machiavelli's strategic views. Therefore the failure of not identifying and supporting some of the contemporary weapon technology, as suggested by Machiavelli, makes the nation’s military weak or not updated about the latest weapon technology that other countries are using.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the book “Art of War” offers excellent insights about the importance of adopting some military ideas to be used by the different army across the world. The book strictly focuses on solid look and research on military manoeuvres and their history, and one can compare the military strategies of modern society and those of the past and see the difference. Machiavelli tries the best to introduce some of the martial techniques that the community will consider when handling their soldiers, and this can lead to influential empires or kingdoms to be feared and be respected by other states.

Reference

Machiavelli, N. (2013). The Art of War and The Prince. Simon and Schuster.