Book: The Seven Books on the Art of War

Overview
Machiavelli’s The Seven Books on the Art of War (composed c. 1519–1520) is a systematic defense of citizen arms and disciplined infantry as the foundation of a free and secure state. Written as a dialogue rather than a manual, it fuses close reading of Roman practice with lessons drawn from Italian wars, arguing that political liberty and military organization stand or fall together. Across seven “books,” it treats the full spectrum of war: recruitment, arms, training, organization, marching and camping, battlefield tactics, sieges, fortification, command, and state policy.

Structure and Setting
The treatise unfolds as conversations in a Florentine garden led by the seasoned captain Fabrizio Colonna, who answers questions from civic interlocutors. Each book advances from first principles to practical prescriptions, mirroring the Roman habit of ordering a legion: first raising men, then arming and disciplining them, then moving and fighting, and finally securing conquests. The literary frame lets Machiavelli embed technical detail within a civic lesson about who should bear arms and how a republic should govern them.

Core Arguments
Machiavelli condemns mercenary and auxiliary troops as “useless and dangerous,” corrupting commanders and bankrupting states. He proposes a citizen militia recruited from the countryside, drilled regularly, and kept under firm laws. Infantry is the decisive arm: steadfast ranks of trained foot soldiers break enemies through discipline rather than shock alone. Virtù, skill, constancy, and courage forged by training and law, must tame fortuna. Good order, not raw valor, wins battles; law, not charisma, sustains good order.

Raising, Arming, and Training
Selection favors hardy peasants accustomed to labor. Musters and registers bind men to service, while frequent exercises keep formations ready. Arms should mix long pikes for reaching power with swords and large shields (“targeteers”) for close combat, supplemented by missile troops using crossbows and the still-developing arquebus. Machiavelli prizes drill above gadgetry: teaching files and ranks to wheel, advance, retire, and hold formation under stress. Physical conditioning, weapon practice with wooden arms, and strict penalties and rewards build cohesion and obedience.

Organization, Marches, and Camps
Units are arranged into companies and larger “battalions,” each with clear officers, standards, and signals. Order in march mirrors order in battle: scouts forward, baggage controlled, intervals maintained to prevent confusion. Camps are laid out on the Roman model with regular streets, assigned quarters, and fortified perimeters of ditch, earth, and palisade. Logistics, provisioning, forage, and water, receives sustained attention, since hunger and disorder defeat armies more surely than enemies do.

Tactics and Technology
On the field, Machiavelli recommends a balanced formation: pikes guard the front, targeteers exploit openings, and missile troops skirmish and disrupt. Cavalry is useful for pursuit, reconnaissance, and striking flanks but cannot decide battles alone against firm infantry. Artillery is potent in sieges yet of limited battlefield value once lines are joined, given its slow handling and vulnerability. Terrain and weather must be chosen rather than suffered; ambushes, feints, and reserves allow a prudent commander to shape the fight.

Siegecraft and Fortification
He counsels besiegers to prefer blockade and trenching to rash assaults, employing batteries, saps, and mines while severing supplies. Defenders should provision well, sortie judiciously, and rely on low, thick earthworks with angular projections that deny straight approaches, features anticipating the Italian trace. Towns are secured by disciplined garrisons and rational layouts, not by tyrannical citadels that alienate citizens.

Strategy and Civic Ends
The dialogue closes by tying military art to republican governance. Sound wars require clear aims, unified command, and laws that maintain the militia in peace as well as war. A state that entrusts its defense to its own citizens preserves both safety and liberty; one that rents its swords imperils both. Machiavelli’s synthesis of Roman method and contemporary necessity forged a durable template for early modern military thought and a lasting argument that political virtue grows from, and is guarded by, ordered arms.