Masters of Warfare

In Masters of Warfare, Eric Pinzelli presents a selection of fifty commanders whose military achievements, skill or historical impact he believes to be underrated by History and modern opinion. He specifically does not include the household names (the Gods of War' as he calls them) such as Alexander, Julius Caesar, Wellington, Napoleon, Rommel or Patton. Those chosen come from every period of recorded military history from the sixth century BC to the Vietnam War.

The selection corrects the European/US bias of many such surveys with Asian entries such as Ba Qi of Qin (Chinese), Attila (Hunnic), Subotai (Mongol), Ieyasu Tokugawa (Japanese) and General Giap (Vietnamese). Naval commanders are also represented by the likes of Khayr al-D?n Barbarossa, Francis Drake and Mihiel de Ruyter. These Masters of War are presented in chronological order, with a concise overview of their career and the reasons for their inclusion in this list.

Altogether they present a fascinating survey of the developments, and more importantly the continuities, in the art of command through the ages.