Prof. Brian Todd Carey's Readings in Military Philosophy

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Focus on the Literature of War: Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince and Art of War

At the beginning of the Early Modern era (1500-1800 CE) Italy was divided into a dozen city states, some ruled by old medieval institutions (kingdoms, duchies and the Papal State), while others experimenting with a type of neo-republicanism modeled after ancient Rome. This was also a time when Italy found itself at the mercy of greater European powers. The Italian Wars (1494-1559) began when King Charles VIII of France (r.1483-1498)) crossed the Alps and invaded the Italian city states,…

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Focus on the Literature of War: Medieval Islamic Furusiyah Military Manuals

Islamic military philosophy drew inspiration from numerous sources, first and foremost the Quran and the Hadith associated with the life and times of Muhammad (c.570-632 CE), but also on Arabic, Persian, North African and Central Asian martial practices as Islam spread across the Near East during the first centuries of conquest. Over time, numerous military manuals emerged, with a special emphasis on writing down best practices occurring during the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 CE), an Islamic…

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Focus on the Literature of War: Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings

Perhaps the most well-known and influential Japanese military manual in Japan and the West was written by an undefeated samurai at the beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings or Go Rin No Sho (1643) is an instruction manual on strategy, outlining his philosophy and techniques for achieving victory in combat, emphasizing adaptability and mental clarity. It focuses more on the psychology and philosophical aspects of Japanese swordsmanship rather than an in…

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Focus on the Literature of War: Science of Politics (Arthashastra)

Focus on the Literature of War: Science of Politics (Arthashastra) Classical and medieval India produced very few military treaties and tactics and strategy. Unlike in classical Greece and Rome and China, Indian writers were not interested in chronicling the origin, course, and outcome of major wars and campaigns, nor do we have memoirs detailing the strategic processes of major military figures. Instead, Indian political and military theory is shaped by long-held religious considerations…

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Focus on the Literature of War: Sunzi’s The Art of War

The most influential military theorist in East Asian history is Sunzi (more commonly Sun Tzu in the Wade-Giles transliteration), author of The Art of War, a title translated as bingfa in Chinese literature. Chinese history records numerous bingshi or “art of war” treatises written by different authors across the ages. Tradition maintains Sunzi lived between 544-496 BCE during the long-lived Zhou Dynasty’s (1046-256 BCE) Spring and Autumn period (c.770-475 BCE), a historical era described by…

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Focus on the Literature of War: Julius Caesar’s Gallic War

Focus on the Literature of War: Julius Caesar’s Gallic War The Hellenistic era (323-31 BCE) was a dynamic era of military history, an era which inspired and influenced Hellenistic Greek and later Roman historians, whose chronicles of these centuries have shaped our modern understanding of Hellenistic and Roman warfare. Most of the important chroniclers of Philip II and Alexander the Great’s conquests, as well as those of the Hellenistic Successor States and the rise of Rome as a Mediterranean…

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Focus on the Literature of War: “Byzantine Military Manuals”

Byzantine military manuals, known in medieval Greek as Strategika or Taktika, date back to the early medieval era, however, they build upon lessons learned in the military arts and sciences of the classical world dating back to the Hellenic Greece (c.500-338 BCE) when Western warfare was going through great changes. Greek and then Roman military theorists continued to build on these early military principles, with Byzantine authors inheriting their work when the Eastern Roman Empire…

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Focus on the Literature of War: “Homer’s Iliad as a Primary Source for Understanding Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greek Warfare”

In Greece, the invasion of the Mycenaeans in the seventeenth century BCE brought a chariot-borne aristocracy to southeastern Europe. The Mycenaean Greeks were part of the larger Indo-European migrations who spread from their original location in the steppe region north of the Black Sea to India, Iran, and Europe. The Mycenaeans entered Greece from the north and successfully challenged the Minoans, a civilization based on Crete, for mastery of the Aegean. By 1400 BCE, the Mycenaeans established…

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