A Handbook on Great Commanders, Some Underrated

Given that Dr. Pinzelli, who specializes in 17th and 18th century military history, is the author of Venise et l'Empire Ottoman: les Guerres de Morée (1684-1718) and numerous articles, this reviewer had high hopes for Masters of Warfare, considering the hundreds of able commanders across the ages and the globe who are hardly known beyond a handful of scholars. And it's true that he does include such men as Blas de Lezo, Bai Qi, Corvinus, Yi Sun-Sin, Almeida, Zizka, al-Walid, Morosini, Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, Du Guesclin, and a fair number of other commanders largely unfamiliar to even fairly seasoned military historians today, and of course largely unknown to the layman.

Alas, one also finds in this book Marlborough, Cortes, Vauban, Epaminondas, Clive, Belisarius, Ataturk, Charles XII, Bolivar, Giáp, and quite a goodly number of other commanders who are hardly "underrated". Then too, there are a few commanders here more probably meriting the epithet "overrated" than "underrated", among them Germanicus, Hawkwood, and Hindenburg. One looks in vain for Putnik, Heraclius, Doria, Alba, Ashoka, Montecuccoli, and a goodly number of other impressive commanders largely forgotten today save by specialists.

Now these profiles, whether of a genuinely overlooked commander or more familiar ones are quite good. Each gives the reader an excellent thumbnail sketch of their background, careers, influence, even writings, plus some useful references. So Masters of Warfare is worth a read.

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Note: Masters of Warfare is also available in e-editions.

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