"History of military art": military literature, author, great battles, victories and defeats

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Despite the huge amount of fiction and documentary literature devoted to the world history of battles, a textbook on the history of military art, written by an outstanding scientist of his time - Hans Delbrück, is still considered a reference study of the history of military culture and customs of the past. The monograph covers a huge period of time, including almost all historical periods - from the era of the ancient Hellenes to the war years of the early twentieth century quite contemporary to the author.

"History of Military Art" has long ceased to be just a book and has become something like desktop reading. With excellent engravings, diagrams and colorful illustrations, the monograph quickly became one of the best books on the subject.

Military art

Battle theme is perhaps one of the most sought after, especially among men. From childhood to the veryof advanced years, men are interested in tactics, the strategy of military battles, enthusiastically comprehend the structure of the army units of different countries, and also actively study the world history of wars. Apparently, the essence of a warrior and protector has not completely disappeared in the modern representatives of the stronger sex, having transformed from real combat skills into an increased interest in the history of world battle scenes.

Historical literature

Books on the history of military art are one of the most popular genres among many historical books. Battles at all times interested men of different ages. And how many boys read stories about the great heroes of the past, their exploits and battles with evil or various opponents. This kind of literature has a good effect on the analytical abilities of boys, teaching them to think logically, get out of difficult life situations, and also develops leadership qualities and a strong character in a young man. Therefore, such literature is very popular among strong-willed people who are often fond of reading biographies of military people of the past.

Most popular encyclopedias

It is difficult to name the most popular books about the history of military art. Usually a person begins to get acquainted with this topic by purchasing instructive literature or entertainment publications such as coloring books or works of art. The art of military maneuver is found even in the old tales, although there it is often devoid of any cruelty or complexity.

Bookson the history of military art are very diverse - from seemingly naive children's publications to multi-volume monographs written by serious people for serious people.

Despite such an abundance of literature on the battle scenes of world history, there are still several serious publications, the most interesting of which is the monograph by Hans Delbrück.

G. Delbrück

Hans Gottlieb Leopold Delbrück was born on November 11, 1848 in the city of Bergen, located on the island of Rügen. From childhood, little Hans was interested in ancient and medieval battles, reading the works of the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, telling about talented generals and commanders of the past. The boy's father was a district judge and raised his son in strictness, which only benefited the future luminary of historical science. Delbrück graduated from high school with honors and entered the University of Heidelberg. However, this was not enough for the young seeker of knowledge, and in the next few years he alternately takes full courses of study at the Universities of Greifswald and Bonn. In these educational institutions, he gets acquainted with the works of such eminent professors as Noorden, Schafer and Siebel, and also begins to get involved in military affairs.

Participation in the Franco-Prussian War not only did not discourage the guy from studying the history of military art, but, on the contrary, tempered him as a researcher and significantly influenced his future scientific career.

In the post-war years, Delbrück worked hard, collecting material for his monograph, which the scientist decided titled "History of the Art of War". The professor was obsessed with the idea of creating a large-scale comparative review of various military tactics, tracing the history of their occurrence from the most ancient times.

Delbrück has repeatedly called Friedrich Wilhelm Ryustow, a German historian and political emigrant who devoted most of his life to researching the biographies of great commanders and distinguished soldiers, his ideological inspirer more than once.

Delbrück's textbook

It is not surprising that G. Delbrück's textbook "The History of Military Art" became incredibly popular in higher educational institutions where young cadets and young officers were taught. In addition to his historical education, the scientist was well-educated and distinguished by an aristocratic style of presentation.

His work is not only a grandiose study of the military art of the whole world, but also a strikingly interesting book from the point of view of philology, written in a noble and pure literary language. This fact alone makes it possible to classify Delbrück's work as entertaining reading, since the scientist's work is very easy to read and contains a lot of useful information from various spheres of human life, not limited to describing only the types of weapons or schemes of battle scenes.

Reviews

Many Internet users and library visitors around the globe write enthusiastic reviews of Delbrück's History of the Art of War, noting that they not only learned a lot of new information from the book,but also had a great time reading a worthy piece of literature of the historical genre. Critics praise the historian for a very deep study of reality, and also note his outstanding analytical skills, thanks to which the first comparative analyzes of the characteristics of armies, generals, and weapons appeared.

It was Hans Delbrück who made modern military history the way it can be seen today. It was he who proposed most of the classifications in the battlefield, and was also the first to apply the comparative method of characterization.