ART OF WAR

Sir Charles Oman’s classic study of Mediaeval Warfare.

Despite being written in 1923 (assuming you have the revised edition, rather than the original, one volume release of 1898), Sir Charles Oman’s Art of War is still widely regarded as being one of the definitive texts on warfare. The thousand pages of text cover all aspects of military craft in Europe and the near east - from the decline of the Roman Legion (circa 235AD) up to the end of the Wars of the Roses, (1485). Oman’s status as a great military historian stems from the amazing amount of depth placed into this work – he covers all the major (and many of the minor) nations during their military moment in the sun over the 1250 year spread of his narrative – including some of the less known, yet still interesting – in a military sense – nations such as the Hussites, the Magyars and the Lombards.

But it’s not just a dry retelling of history. Oman also faithfully chronicles the changes in arms, armour, fortification and siegecraft and artillery as well as the more traditional comparisons of horse versus foot. It is interesting to note that, during the course of the Middle Ages, there were definite periods of ascendancy both for cavalry (such as the Norman cavalry of the Battle of Hastings) and infantry (such as the infamous Swiss pike phalanxes of the 1200 to 1400s).

Oman also notes how changes in equipment led to changes in battlefield tactics – the most notable being the English adoption of the longbow against firstly the Scots and then the French which proved ascendant for 150 years. (And similarly the reinvention of the Macedonian syntagma by the Swiss).

Two things that are particularly noteworthy are that, firstly, very few generals seemed to learn anything from previous military history, resulting in most battles being won or lost before they were even fought. The second is, more interestingly, that it becomes obvious, through reading, at just how impressive the Roman military machine was as similar arms and tactics were being reinvented with great success over a thousand years later!

Oman does let himself down somewhat in that he is not dispassionate. There is an obvious bias towards the English military and he is particularly disparaging of the Swiss as a nation, and the Italian city states during the times of the condottieri. That said, The Art of War is still a tour de force and, while by no means a family book, it is one that should be read by every serious military enthusiast.