Journal Article- Machiavelli and the Idea of the Offensive torrent

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Academic Journal

The Journal of Military History
Vol. 67, No. 2 (Apr., 2003)
pp. 381-404

Article: Machiavelli and the Ideology of the Offensive: Gunpowder Weapons in The Art of War
Author: Ben Cassidy

Abstract:
Historians have often claimed that Niccolo Machiavelli shunned
the use of gunpowder weapons, both field artillery and hand-held
weapons, because of their absence in the ancient world which the
Italian loved so dearly. Machiavelli, however, did not reject the use
of gunpowder weapons, but gave them a secondary role in his military
scheme. The reason for this was that, in Machiavelli\'s time,
reliance on gunpowder weapons necessitated defensive tactics in
battle, while Machiavelli believed that an army should take the
offensive in war, and he prescribed the role of guns in his army
accordingly.