A special division of this work will treat of the study of man
individually and nationally, which among the Italians went hand in hand
with the study of the outward conditions of human life.
War as a Work of Art
It must here be briefly indicated by what steps the art of war assumed
the character of a product of reflection. Throughout the countries of
the West the education of the individual soldier in the Middle Ages was
perfect within the limits of the then prevalent system of defence and
attack: nor was there any want of ingenious inventors in the arts of
besieging and of fortification. But the development both of strategy
and of tactics was hindered by the character and duration of military
service, and by the ambition of the nobles, who disputed questions of
precedence in the face of the enemy, and through simple want of
discipline caused the loss of great battles like Crecy and Maupertuis.
Italy, on the contrary, was the first country to adopt the system of
mercenary troops, which demanded a wholly different organization; and
the early intro- duction of firearms did its part in making war a
democratic pursuit, not only because the strongest castles were unable
to withstand a bombardment, but because the skill of the engineer, of
the gunfounder, and of the artillerist-- men belonging to another class
than the nobility--was now of the first importance in a campaign.
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