Book Review - The Art of War in Italy, 1494-1529

Over the past couple of weeks, I have read the book The Art of War in Italy, 1494-1529 by F. L. Taylor. I have the Classic Reprint Series edition by Forgotten Books, published in 2009, which is a facsimile reprint of a work originally published in 1921.

As I have noted in a prior post, I have a growing interest in this period, but know very little about it. With that in mind, I need to find some books to read through to expand my very limited knowledge. This seemed like a reasonable place to start, as I have seen this book mentioned elsewhere. Overall, I think it served as a useful overview of warfare in the period, and did a pretty good job of describing the changing roles of infantry, cavalry and artillery, especially with respect to the ways in which the French, Italians, Germans and Spanish took different approaches to things. Varying strategies and tactics of the various nationalities were reviewed, and a number of different battles were summarized. As a follow on to my very limited readings to date (Osprey Campaign series books on Fornovo and Pavia and their Landsknecht books, as well as Arnold's Renaissance Warfare book), I thought this was a good next step.

The one thing that concerns me a little bit about this book, and only time and further reading will tell, is that my lack of knowledge prevents me from knowing whether the fact that this book is 90 years old has rendered its interpretations and conclusions flawed or out-of-date. Perhaps modern scholarship has invalidated some of what Taylor lays out in this book; at this point I have no way of knowing whether that is true. I guess there is only one way to find out - read more!

Landsknechts

Having gotten through most (or at least a lot) of my unpainted lead piles for the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses, I need to figure out what to tackle next. The two periods for which I have sufficient figure stock to keep me going for a while are the Seven Years War and the Great Italian Wars of the Renaissance (1494-1529).

I am strongly leaning towards the Renaissance at this point, as I have a good number of beautifully painted Landsknechts that need company. I have stands of pikes, halberds and arquebusses, but nobody for them to play with. No friends and no enemies, other than 4 or 5 stands of artillery. I can send most of the foot overseas, and can play around with painting the cavalry myself. That should be fun. As colorful as the period is, you can pretty much go completely bonkers and still not have gone over the top.

I'll make a final decision soon.

And yes, these figs are some of the many that need proper basing.