Military treatise

A military treatise or treatise on war is any work that deals with the "art of war" in some basic aspect. Fundamentally military treatises are treatises on military strategy. Other works may also be included in the definition that, although they deal with other topics, include sensitive information about military matters. These may include, among others, description of specific battles, sieges, general campaigns, reports of military authorities, and commented works about ground or naval battles.

Page from a 14th century French translation of Epitoma rei militaris

Etymology

The term treatise derives from the Latin word "tractatus", meaning a formal, systematic discourse.^[1]

Chronology

Considering the various aspects of the war, the armies and the military operations, a chronology of military treatises allows to locate each work within a timeline, facilitating its consultation and comparison with similar works.

This chronology includes actual military treatises together with some works related to the subject (military expeditions or campaigns, descriptions of sieges and others). Whenever possible, references will include the possibility of consulting the original work or a complete translation.

10th century BC

• 1100 - 900 BCE Dhanurveda, a Hindu text which is also known as "Military science".^[2]

5th century BC

• c. 496 BC. The Art of War. Sun tzu.

4th century BC

• 370 BC Anabasis. Xenophon. Despite not being a treatise, the "Expedition of the Ten Thousand" shows many aspects of a military withdrawal from that era.^[3]
• c. 350 BC. Commentarius Poliorceticus. Aeneas Tacticus.^[4]

3rd century BC

• c. 220 BC. Poliorcetica. Philo of Byzantium. A. de Rochas d'Aiglun: Traité de Fortification, d'Attaque et de Défense des Places par Philon de Bysance. Paris, 1872.^[5][6]
  • Treatise on war machines: Belopoeica.^[7]

• Arthashastra - Written by Indian philosopher Chanakya.

1st century BC

• Commentarii de Bello Civili
• Commentarii de Bello Gallico
• De Bello Alexandrino
• De Bello Africo
• De Bello Hispaniensi

1st century AD

Outline of a Roman camp.

• Strategematicon Libri IV. Sextus Julius Frontinus.^[8]

2nd century

Outline of a Roman camp.

• 106 AD Περί Στρατηγικών Τάξεων Ἑλληνικών (On Tactical Arrays of the Greeks). Aelianus Tacticus.
• c. 110 AD Liber of munitionibus castrorum. Hyginus Gromaticus.^[9][10]
• 130 AD Poliorcetica. Apollodorus of Damascus.^[11]
• c. 160. Flavi Arrià. He wrote two treatises.
  • Tactics. Lost work.
  • Arrians array against the Alans.^[12]

• 163. Polyaenus was a Greek writer who authored a work on war strategies (Στρατηγήματα), Stratagems, the most part of which has been preserved. ^[13][14]

5th century

• c. 450. De Re Militari. Flavius Vegetius.^[15]
  • Libellus de vocabulis rei militaris, medieval compendium based on Vegetius
• c. 480. Strategikon of the Byzantine Emperor Mauritius.^{[16] [17]}
  • This manual indicates the use of a cowboy-like "lasso" by Byzantine cavalry soldiers.^[18]

10th century

• c. 900. Tactics of Leo VI the Wise.
  • Italian translation.^[19]
• c. 950. Sylloge Tacticorum.^[20]
• c. 970. Liber de velitatione bellica. Nikephoros II Phokas.^[21]

11th century

• c. 1078. Strategikon of Kekaumenos. ^[22][23]

14th century

• Kitab fi ma'rifat 'ilm ramy al-siham, a treatise on archery written by Ḥusayn al-Yūnīnī around 1320
• Munyatu'l-Ghuzat^[24]
• c. 1385. Francesc Eiximenis in the Twelfth of Crestian spoke of war in general and naval war, explaining the discipline and order that must be observed on ships.

15th century

• 1402. Siege and destruction of the Christian castle of Izmir by the forces of Tamerlan.^[25]
• 1480. Guillaume Caoursin, Obsidionis Rhodiæ urbis descriptio
  • The Latin original is a relatively short description of the siege of Rhodes from 1480. A study by Albert G. Hauf i Valls allows the content to be viewed in Catalan.^[26] This study includes the original text in Latin.
  • Joan Esteve's Liber Elegantiarum uses many phrases from the Latin original translating it into Valencian.
    • The above study by A. Hauf and Valls presents in a very clear way the original sentences of Caoursin and the translation of Joan Esteve.

16th century

• 1521. Dell'arte della guerra. Niccolò Machiavelli.^[27]
• 1565. The siege of Malta (1565) was very important from the point of view of military theory and fortification. There is a work that describes the siege.^[28]
• 1577. Theorica y practica de guerra. Bernardino de Mendoza.^[29]
  • English translation as Theorique and Practise of Warre (1597)^[30]
• 1582. De jure et officiis bellicis et disciplina militari. Balthazar Ayala.
  • English translation published in 1912 in the Carnegie Institution Classics of International Law series.^[31]
• 1589. Discurso sobre la forma de reducir la disciplina a mejor y antiguo estado. Sancho de Londoño
• 1596. Libro del arte militar. Sancho de Londoño

17th century

De ivre belli ac pacis, cover of the second edition of 1631.

• 1605. Les Elemens de l'Artillerie. Florence Rivault.^[32]
• 1606. Il mastro di campo generale. Giorgio Basta.^[33]
  • German translation: Il maestro di campo generale, das ist: außfürliche Anzeig, Bericht und Erklärung von dem Ampt eines General-Feldt-Obersten (1617)^[34]
• 1610. I Carichi Militari. Lelio Brancaccio^[35]
• 1612. Il governo della cavalleria leggiera. Giorgio Basta.^[36]
  • German translation as Governo della cavalleria, Das ist, Bericht Von Anführung der leichten Pferde (1614)^[37]
  • French translation as Le gouvernement de la cavallerie légère (1616).^[38]
• 1625. De iure belli ac pacis. Hugo Grotius.
  • English translation as The Rights of War and Peace (1814).^[39]
• 1633. Principes de l'art militaire. Gamaliel de La Tour.^[40]
• 1634. A Discourse of Military Discipline. Gerat Barry.
• 1640. Military Preludes. Domènec Moradell.
• 1697. Dell'arte della guerra. Raimondo Montecuccoli.^[41]

18th century

• 1740. Mémoires contenant les maximes sur la guerre. Antoine de Pas de Feuquières.^[42]
• 1743. Elements de la guerre des sieges. Guillaume Le Blond.^[43]
• 1756. Traité de la difference entre la guerre offensive et défensive.^[44]
• 1757. Science de la marine: le service et l'art de la guerre sur mer. P. P. A. BARDET DE VILLENEUVE.^[45]
• 1772. Art militaire des chinois, ou recueil d'anciens traites sur la guerre, composés avant l'ere chrétienne, par différents généraux chinois. P. Amiot. ^[46]
• 1796. Grundsätze der Strategie, erläutert durch die Darstellung des Feldzuges von 1796 in Deutschland. Charles Louis of Austria (Duke of Teschen).^[47]
• 1799. Geist des neuern Kriegssystems hergeleitet aus dem Grundsatze einer Basis der Operationen. Heinrich Dietrich von Buelow (Bülow).^[48]

19th century

• 1809. Nouveau dictionnaire historique des sièges et batailles et mémorables et des combats maritimes les plus fameux.^[49]
• 1812. Pyrotechnie militaire, ou traité complet des feux de guerre et des bouches à feu. Claude Fortuné Ruggieri.^[50]
• 1828. The Naval Battles of Great Britain: From the Accession of the Illustrious House of Hanover to the Throne to the Battle of Navarin. Charles Ekins.^[51]
• 1832. From the war. Carl von Clausewitz
• 1851. Dell'arte della guerra. Girolamo Ulloa Calà.^[52]
• 1853. The principles of war. Auguste Frédéric Lendy.^[53]
• 1855. Considerations on tactics and strategy. George Twemlow.^[54]
• 1858. Elementary history of the progress of the Art of War. James John Graham.^[55]
• 1860. Elements of Military Art and Science. Henry Wager Halleck.^[56]
• 1862. The Art of War. Antoine Henri baron of Jomini.^[57]
  • In French: Volume 1.^[58]
  • In French: Volume 2.^[59]
• 1862. Elements of Military Art and Science. Henry Wager Halleck.^[60]
• 1863. CAMPAIGNS OF 1862 AND 1863 ILLUSTRATING THE PRINCIPLES OF STRATEGY. EMIL SCHALK.^[61]
• 1863. Elements of Military Art and History. George Washington Cullum.^[62]
• 1870. Der Gebirgskrieg (The War in the Mountains). Franz Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld.^[63][64]
• 1871. Covered by the art of war. Louis-Nathaniel Rossel.^[65]
• 1873. Difesa dell'Italia secondo i principi sviluppati dal generale Franz von Kuhn. Orazio Dogliotti.^[66]

20th century

• 1933. Die Truppenführung. Ludwig Beck.
• 1937. A history of the art of war in the sixteenth century. Charles Oman.^[67]
• 1975. United States Strategic Institute.^[68]
• 1993. Theory and Nature of War: Readings.^[69]
• 1995. Strategic Intelligence: Theory and Application.

21st century

• 2006. Irregular Enemies and the Essence of Strategy: Can the American Way of War Adapt?^[70]
• 2009. Schools for Strategy: Teaching Strategy for 21st Century Conflict.^[71]
• 2023. Modern positional warfare and how to win it. Valerii Zaluzhnyi.^[72]

See also

• Byzantine military manuals

References

1. Allen, R.E., ed. (1990). Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English (8th ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 1293. ISBN 0-19-861243-5.
2. The Brahmanda Purana Part 1: Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Volume 22, J.L. Shastri, Dr. G.V. Tagare, Motilal Banarsidass, p. 349
3. Jenofonte (1781). Las obras de Xenofonte ateniense. en la Imprenta Real de la Gazeta.
4. J.-Jacques de Beaux de Beausobre (1757). Commentaires sur la défense des places d'AEneas le Tacticien, le plus ancien des auteurs militaires: avec quelques notes, le tableau militaire des Grecs du mesme temps, les écoles militaires de l'antiquité et quelques autres pièces. chez Pissot.
5. Apollodore de Damas; Athenaeus Mechanicus; Philon de Byzance; Bitōn; Héron de Byzance; Giovanni Battista Aleotti; Héron d'Alexandrie; Bernardino Baldi; Sextus Julius Africanus (1693). Veteres mathematici. ex Typographia regia.
6. PHILON DE BYZANCE. TRAITÉ DE FORTIFICATION.
7. Technē and Method in Ancient Artillery Construction: The Belopoeica of Philo of Byzantium. Mark J.Schiefsky.
8. Sextus Julius Frontinus (1855). Sextus Julii Frontini Strategematicon libri IV.: Euisdem de aquae ductibus urbis Romae liber. Ad optimorum librorum fidem. Sumptibus et typis B.G. Teubneri. pp. 18–.
9. Hyginus (Gromaticus.) (1848). Liber de munitionibus castrorum: Textum ex codicibus constituit, prolegomena, commentarium, tabulas duas. Vandenhoeck et Ruprecht.
10. Hyginus Gromaticus. De munitionibus castrorum.
11. Apollodore de Damas; Athenaeus Mechanicus; Philon de Byzance; Bitōn; Héron de Byzance; Giovanni Battista Aleotti; Héron d'Alexandrie; Bernardino Baldi; Sextus Julius Africanus (1693). Veteres mathematici. ex Typographia regia.
12. Arrian's Array against the Alans.
13. Polyaenus di Lampsaco (di Lampsaco) (1821). Gli Stratagemmi di Polieno tradotti da Lelio Carani. dalla tipografia di Gio. Battista Sonzogno. pp. 53–.
14. Polyaenus (1793). Strategems of War; Translated from the Original Greek by R. Shepherd. pp. 2–.
15. Flavius Vegetius Renatus (1869). Epitoma rei militaris. In aedibvs B.G. Tevbneri.
16. Mauricio (Emperador de Oriente.) (2014). Strategikon: (sobre el general). Ministerio de Defensa, Secretaría General Técnica. ISBN 978-84-9781-944-2.
17. Military review. Escuela de Comando y Estado Mayor del Ejército de EE. UU. 1994. pp. 1–.
18. Maurice (Emperor of the East) (3 January 2001). Maurice's Strategikon: Handbook of Byzantine Military Strategy. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 13–. ISBN 0-8122-1772-1.
19. Imperator Leo (Imperium Byzantinum, IV.) (1586). Trattato brieve dello schierare in ordinanza gli esecciti et dell'apparecchiamento della guerre di Leone Imperatore. pp. 3–.
20. A Tenth-Century Byzantine Military Manual: The Sylloge Tacticorum. Taylor & Francis. 14 July 2017. ISBN 978-1-317-18640-3.
21. Nicephorus II Phocas (Emperor of the East) (1828). Liber de velitatione bellica Nicephori Augusti e recens. C.B. Hasii.
22. Kekaumenos (1998). Raccomandazioni e consigli di un galantuomo: Stratēgikon. Edizioni dell'Orso. ISBN 978-88-7694-320-1.
23. Cecaumeni Strategicon.
24. Kurtuluş Öztopçu, ed., Munyatu'l-Ghuzat: A 14th-century Mamluk-Kipchak Military Treatise (1989)
25. Ali Cherefeddin (1723). Histoire de Timur-Bec, connu sous le nom du grand Tamerlan, empereur des Mogols et Tartares. chez Reinier Boitet. pp. 3–.
26. Una versió valenciana quatrecentista desconeguda de la «Obsidionis Rhodie» de Guillaume Caoursin
27. Niccolò Machiavelli (1869). Libro dell' arte della guerra. Barbèra. pp. 23–.
28. Francesco Balbi; Francisco Balbi di Correggio (2005). The Siege of Malta, 1565. Boydell Press. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-1-84383-140-2.
29. Bernardino de Mendoza (1596). Theorica y practica de guerra. Plantiniana.
30. Bernardino de Mendoza (1597). Theorique and Practise of Warre. Translated by Edward Hoby.
31. Balthazar Ayala (1912). Three Books on the Law of War and on the Duties Connected with War and on Military Discipline. Classics of International Law. Translated by John Pawley Bate. Washington DC: Carnegie Institution.
32. Florence Rivault (1605). Les Elemens de l'Artillerie. Paris: Adrian Beys.
33. Giorgio Basta (1606). Il mastro di campo generale. Venice.
34. Giorgio Basta (1617). Il maestro di campo generale, das ist: außfürliche Anzeig, Bericht und Erklärung von dem Ampt eines General-Feldt-Obersten. Translated by Johann Theodor de Bry. Nicolaus Hoffman.
35. Lelio Brancaccio (1610). I Carichi Militari.
36. Giorgio Basta (1612). Il governo della cavalleria leggiera. Venice.
37. Giorgio Basta (1614). Governo della cavalleria, Das ist, Bericht Von Anführung der leichten Pferde. Translated by Johann Theodor de Bry. Frankfurt am Main.
38. Giorgio Basta (1616). Le gouvernement de la cavallerie légère. Rouen: Jean Berthelin.
39. Hugo Grotius (1814). The Rights of War and Peace: Including the Law of Nature and of Nations. B. Boothroyd.
40. Gamaliel de La Tour (1633). Principes de l'art militaire: concernant l'exercice des armes practique en Hollande. Geneva: Jacques Chovet.
41. Raimondo Montecuccoli (1697). Arte universal de la guerra del Principe Raymundo Montecucoli... por Rafael Figuero.
42. Antoine de Pas marquis Feuquières (1750). Mémoires contenant les maximes sur la guerre. Dunoyer.
43. Guillaume Le Blond (M.) (1743). Elemens de la guerre des sieges, ou Traité de l'artillerie, et de l'attaque, et de la defense des places a l'usage des jeunes militaires ...: Traité de la defense des places, avec un memoire contenant plusieurs observations generales sur la visite des places; et un petit dictionnaire ... chez Charles-Antoine Jombert. pp. 92–.
44. Traité de la difference entre la guerre offensive et défensive: où l'on a repondu particulierement à la question: Qui est l'aggresseur ou le premier assaillant lors du commencement d'une guerre?. 1756. pp. 6–.
45. P. P. A. BARDET DE VILLENEUVE (1757). Science de la marine: le service et l'art de la guerre sur mer, etc. Les Van Duren. pp. 6–.
46. Joseph Amyot (1772). Art militaire des chinois, ou recueil d'anciens traites sur la guerre, composés avant l'ere chrétienne, par différents généraux chinois. Ouvrages sur lequels les aspirant aux grades militaires sont obligés de subir des examens. On y a joint dix précepts adressés aux troupes par l'empereur Yong-Tcheng, ... Traduit en francois, par le P. Amiot ... revu & publié par m. Deguignes. chez Didot l'ainé, libraire et imprimeur, rue Pavée, pres du quai des Augustins. pp. 230–.
47. Austriae, Carolus Archidux (1817). Principes de Strategie. pp. 15–.
48. Heinrich Dietrich von Buelow (1799). Geist des neuern Kriegssystems hergeleitet aus dem Grundsatze einer Basis der Operationen, auch für Laien in der Kriegskunst fasslich vorgetragen von einem ehemaligen preussischen Officier. Campe.
49. Nouveau dictionnaire historique des sièges et batailles mémorables et des combats maritimes les plus fameux, de tous les peuples du monde, anciens et modernes, jusqu'à nos jours;: ouvrage dans lequel on a soigneusement recueilli les exploits des grands capitaines, les actions héroïques des officiers et soldats de toutes armes, et les stratagèmes militaires les plus singuliers. Gilbert et Cie. 1809. pp. 1–.
50. Claude Fortuné RUGGIERI (1812). Pyrotechnie militaire, ou traité complet des feux de guerre et des bouches à feu, etc. pp. 139–.
51. Sir Charles Ekins (1828). The Naval Battles of Great Britain: From the Accession of the Illustrious House of Hanover to the Throne to the Battle of Navarin. Baldwin and Cradock. pp. 20–.
52. Girolamo Ulloa Calà (1851). Dell'arte della guerra per Girolamo Ulloa. Tip. Savoiardo e Bocco. pp. 1–.
53. Auguste Frédéric Lendy (1853). The principles of war; or, Elementary treatise on the higher tactics and strategy.
54. George Twemlow (1855). Considerations on tactics and strategy, by G. Twemlow.
55. James John Graham (1858). Elementary history of the progress of the Art of War. pp. 7–.
56. Henry Wager Halleck (1860). Elements of Military Art and Science, Or, Course of Instruction in Strategy, Fortification, Tactics of Battles, &c: Embracing the Duties of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, and Engineers : Adapted to the Use of Volunteers and Militia. D. Appleton. pp. 32–.
57. Antoine Henri baron de Jomini (1862). The Art of War. Lippincott.
58. Antoine Henri baron de Jomini (1838). Précis de l'art de la guerre, ou Nouveau tableau analytique des principales combinaisons de la stratégie: de la grande tactique et de la politique militaire. Anselin.
59. Antoine Henri baron de Jomini (1840). Précis de l'art de la guerre: ou Nouveau traité analytique des principales combinaisons de la stratégie, de la grande tactique et de la politique militaire; suivi du tableau analytique des principales combinaisons de la guerre et de leurs rapports avec la politique des états, pour servir d'introduction au traité des grandes operations militaires. J. B. Petit. pp. 5–.
60. Henry Wager Halleck (1862). Elements of Military Art and Science: Or, Course of Instruction in Strategy, Fortification, Tactics of Battles, &c., Embracing the Duties of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, and Engineers. D. Appleton.
61. EMIL SCHALK (1863). CAMPAIGNS OF 1862 AND 1863 ILLUSTRATING THE PRINCIPLES OF STRATEGY. pp. 22–.
62. George Washington Cullum (1863). Elements of Military Art and History: Comprising the History and Tactics of the Separate Arms; the Combination of the Arms; and the Minor Operations of War. D. Van Nostrand.
63. Der Gebirgskrieg. [With] Karter. 1870. pp. 1–.
64. Franz Freiherr von Kuhn (1872). La guerra di montagna. Tip.sociale nello stab.di. S.Filippo Neri.
65. Louis-Nathaniel Rossel (1871). Abrégé de l'art de la guerre: extraits des oeuvres de Napoléon, Jomini, L'Archiduc Charles, etc... E. Lachaud.
66. Orazio Dogliotti (1873). Difesa dell'Italia secondo i principii sviluppati dal generale Franz von Kuhn nell'opera (Der Gebirgskrieg) La guerra in montagna. Tip. C. Voghera. pp. 3–.
67. Charles Oman (1937). A history of the art of war in the sixteenth century. Metheun. ISBN 9780598497574.
68. Strategic Review. United States Strategic Institute. 1975.
69. Theory and Nature of War: Readings. U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College. 1993.
70. Colin S. Gray (2006). Irregular Enemies and the Essence of Strategy: Can the American Way of War Adapt?. Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. ISBN 9781584872344.
71. Colin S. Gray (2009). Schools for Strategy: Teaching Strategy for 21st Century Conflict. Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. ISBN 978-1-58487-411-9.
72. Zaluzhnyi, Valerii (2023). Modern positional warfare and how to win it.

External links

• Aeneas Tacticus (complete text, Greek and English translation)
• How to Survive Under Siege