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, which includes almost all historical periods - from the era of the ancient Hellenes to the very modern author of the war years of the early twentieth century.
The History of Military Art has long ceased to be just a book and has become a kind of desktop reading. Equipped with magnificent engravings, diagrams and colorful illustrations, the monograph quickly received the well-deserved title of one of the best books on similar subjects.
Military art
The battle theme is perhaps one of the most popular, especially in the male circle. From childhood to the most advanced years, men are interested in tactics, strategy of military battles, enthusiastically comprehend the structures of the army units of different countries, and also actively study the world history of wars. Apparently, the essence of a warrior and defender did not completely disappear in modern representatives of the stronger sex, transforming 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, out of difficult life situations, and also develops leadership qualities and a solid character in a young man. Therefore, such literature is very popular with strong-willed people who are often fond of reading biographies of military people of the past.
The most popular encyclopedias
It is difficult to name the most popular books on the history of military art. Usually a person begins to get acquainted with this topic, acquiring instructive literature or entertaining publications such as coloring books or works of art. The art of military maneuvers is found even in ancient tales, although there it is often devoid of any cruelty or complexity.
Books on 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 through the works of the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, telling about the talented commanders and military leaders of the past. The boy’s father was a district judge and raised his son in severity, which only benefited the future star of historical science. Delbrück graduated with honors from high school and entered the University of Heidelberg. However, this young seeker of knowledge was not enough, and in the next few years, he alternately takes full courses at the University 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 further scientific career.
In the postwar years, Delbrück worked a lot, collecting material for his monograph, which the scientist decided to call "The History of Military Art." 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 repeatedly called Friedrich Wilhelm Rüstov, a German historian and political emigrant, who devoted most of his life to researching the biographies of great commanders and distinguished soldiers his inspiration.
Delbrück textbook
It is not surprising that the textbook G. Delbrück's “History of Military Art” has become incredibly popular in higher educational institutions, where young cadets and young officers were trained. In addition to historical education, the scientist was well educated and distinguished by an aristocratic style of expressing thoughts.
His work is not only a grandiose study of the military art of the whole world, but also a book strikingly interesting from the point of view of philology, written in a noble and pure literary language. This fact alone allows us to classify Delbrück's work as entertaining, as 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 types of weapons or battle scenes.
Reviews
Many Internet users and visitors to libraries around the globe write enthusiastic reviews of the History of Military Art by Delbrück, noting that they not only learned a lot of new information from the book, but also had a great time reading a decent example of the literature of the historical genre. Critics praise the historian for a very in-depth study of reality, and also note his outstanding analytical abilities, 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 what it can be seen now. It was he who proposed the majority of classifications in the battle sphere, and also the first to apply the comparative method of characterization.