The Art Of War Rhetorical Analysis

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Strategy
Machiavelli recognized that military strategy is essential for all armed conflicts. He knew that infantry had the tactical advantage in a variety of different environments, while cavalry had the prime advantage in a flat open territory. Machiavelli points out that infantry had a greater range of military tactics to perform rather than cavalry. The commander of several battalions of infantry had many more options available to him compared to a general who had cavalry. Infantry units had the option to arrange their lines in the best tactical way depending on the situation. Cavalry, however, was only effective if it could charge the opposing side when they were unaware. There were many different types of specialized troops that used pikes
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Horses had always cost a substantial amount of money. One reason was because they provided so many services to an army, farmer, or business. Horses required a lot of food and needed their hooves taken care of regularly. The cavalry-men required saddles, stirrups, spurs, blankets, and many other items to stay on the horse, while making it as comfortable as possible. Each of the cavalry soldiers required armor and weaponry as well. Furthermore, horses were sometimes equipped with armor, which could cost a lot of gold or currency. Infantry troops, however, only needed a weapon, provisions, and armor. This made infantry considerably cheaper than cavalry. Machiavelli was lacking enough currency to pay for a mercenary or a full army, since they had been waging war against Pisa for several years. He decided to use wealth that the Florentines did have to build a militia force to take the coastal city of Pisa out once and for all. One of the reasons why Machiavelli couldn’t afford horses was because of the smaller population of horses in Italy compared to the rest of Europe. Horses did not naturally live in Italy and were brought in from Northern Europe, where the habit was more suitable for them. Most of their horses had been killed in previous wars with Pisa. Machiavelli was a firm believer that cavalry was ineffective and because of the lack of horses, he was against the idea. He knew that the Italians valued cavalry, even though it wasn’t effective, and that the cost of buying and transporting thousands of horses from Northern Europe would have been astronomical and not financial feasible for any of the Italian city