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book1940

Roots of Strategy

Disciplines:
history
military history
military strategy
military strategy/sun tzu
military strategy/vegetius

Summary

Thomas Phillips's 1940 anthology collecting the foundational military strategy texts — Sun Tzu's The Art of War, Vegetius's Military Institutions of the Romans, Maurice de Saxe's Reveries on the Art of War, Frederick the Great's Military Instructions, and Napoleon's Maxims — making the canon of military strategy accessible in a single volume.

Core Contribution

Made the foundational canon of military strategy accessible in translation — allowing readers to see the continuity of strategic thought across 2,500 years — and demonstrating that the same principles (know your enemy, concentrate force, preserve initiative) recur in every era.

Historical Influences

Thomas Phillips

Intellectual Lineage

Military Strategy Literature Thomas Phillips Compilation

Allied Works

On War The Art of War The 33 Strategies of War

Contemporaries & Peers

On War The Art of War

Minds Influenced

Military strategy education Business strategy literature Founders podcast content

Intellectual Posterity

Roots of Strategy

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