This is a list of military theorists and writers. Its focus is on military theory (military science and military strategy) and military history from ancient times to the present.
Introduction The list is broadly defined. It provides an alphabetical overview of important authors in the field of military science and military strategy, including military thinkers, military theorists, military authors, strategists, military historians, memorabilia writers, and others. The list does not claim to be complete or up-to-date. Various biographical details, major works, and other relevant information are provided.
Famous works include, for example, The Art of War by Sunzi (Sun Wu), The Art of War by Machiavelli, On War by Carl von Clausewitz, or Guerrilla Warfare (La guerra de guerrillas) by Che Guevara.
List A Donald Abenheim (born 1953), US military historian Youssef H. Aboul-Enein (de) (born 1970), American military officer and military writer; Islamic Rulings on Warfare (with Sherifa Zuhur) Dmitry Adamsky (born 1978); professor in the School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at the IDC Herzliya / Reichman University, in Israel; The Russian Way of Deterrence: Strategic Culture, Coercion, and War (2023); Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy (Stanford, 2019); The Culture of Military Innovation (Stanford, 2010) Aelianus Tacticus (1st–2nd century), Greek military writer, Tactica Georg von Alten (de) (1846–1912), general, military writer, editor of Handbuch für Heer und Flotte. Enzyklopädie der Kriegswissenschaften und verwandter Gebiete (Handbook for the Army and Navy. Encyclopaedia of Military Science and Related Fields) Aniceto Afonso (de) (born 1942), Portuguese military historian, Guerra Colonial (with Carlos de Matos Gomes) Agathias (6th century), Eastern Roman historian, wrote about the wars of Justinian Aineas the Tactician (Aeneas Tacticus, first half of the 4th century BC), Greek strategist and military writer John R. Allen (born 1953), American military officer; Future War and the Defence of Europe (Oxford 2021, with Frederick B. Hodges and Julian Lindley-French) Ammianus Marcellinus (4th century), Roman historian James F. Amos (born 1946), United States Marine Corps general; the US Army manual FM 3-24 Counterinsurgency was created by General David H. Petraeus and him Gerhard von Amyntor (1831–1910) (Dagobert von Gerhardt), military officer and writer; Der Antagonismus Frankreichs und Englands vom politisch-militairischen Standpunkte und die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer französischen Truppenlandung auf der englischen Südküste (1860) John Antal (born 1955), American author and US Army veteran, contributions to military anthologies such as Maneuver Warfare, Digital War and By Their Deeds Alone Aleksei Antonov (1896–1962), General of the Soviet Army, from 1945 to 1946 Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union; operational art and staff theory; left a Chief of Staff war diary Appian, Roman historian, wrote about the Roman civil wars Arkolay (i.e., Johann Woldemar Streubel) (1827–1873, Illenau Asylum), Saxon military writer Armand von Ardenne (1848–1919), general, military writer John Arquilla (born 1954), American political scientist (Professor and Chair at the Department of Defense Analysis) Arrian (c. 85/90 – after 145/46), The Campaigns of Alexander on the campaigns of Alexander the Great Robert B. Asprey (1923–2009), US officer, military writer; War in the Shadows: The Guerrilla in History (1975) Edouard Edmond Aublet (1854-1895), French officer, military writer; La guerre au Dahomey, 1888-1893: d'après les documents officiels (Berger-Levrault, Paris/Nancy 1894) Hyacinthe Aube (1826–1890), French admiral and Minister of the Navy, co-founder of the Jeune École Mariano d'Ayala (1808–1877), Italian military officer, politician, and writer
B Muhammad Ali Baig, Pakistan political scientist; US-China Strategic Competition Military Strategy and Contemporary Doctrine (2025) William Balck (1858–1941), general, military writer; Taktik (6 volumes, Eisenschmidt, Berlin, c. 1900-10); Entwickelung der Taktik im Weltkriege (2nd, significantly expanded edition, Berlin 1922) Oreste Baratieri (1841–1901), Italian military officer and colonial administrator, served as the governor of Eritrea from 1892 to 1896; Memorie d´Africa (Turin 1898; French version: Mémoires d´Afrique (1892-1896), Paris 1899) Bardet de Villeneuve (es) (18th century), military writer and theorist; Cours de la science militaire à l'usage de l'infanterie, de la cavalerie, de l'artillerie, du génie et de la marine (1740) Étienne Alexandre Bardin (1774–1841), French general, author of a Manuel d’infanterie Digital copy (4th ed., Paris 1813) and the comprehensive Dictionnaire de l'armée de terre, ou Recherches historiques sur l'art et les usages militaires des anciens et des modernes. 17 vols., Paris: J. Corréard, 1841–1851 (Online excerpts: "Auteur militaire" & "Bibliothèque militaire") Muhammad Ahmad Bashmil (محمد بن أحمد باشميل), The Great Battle of Badr Christopher Bassford (born 1953), American military historian, The Spit-Shine Syndrome: Organizational Irrationality in the American Field Army, with a Foreword by Lt. Gen. Robert M. Elton (Greenwood Press, Westport, CT 1988) Jacques Baud (fr) (born 1955), member of the Swiss strategic intelligence service, security expert, Eastern Europe specialist Floribert Baudet (born 1971), Dutch military historian Wolf Stefan Traugott Graf von Baudissin (1907–1993), German lieutenant general, military theorist and peace researcher Alberto Bayo (1892–1967), Latin American revolutionary, author of 150 preguntas a un guerrillero (150 Questions to a Guerrilla Fighter), a guerrilla warfare manual Raimond de Beccarie de Pavie, Seigneur de Fourquevaux (1505/1508–1574), French noble, governor, military commander and diplomat during the latter Italian Wars and first French Wars of Religion; Instructions sur le fait de la Guerre (Paris 1548 – sélections) André Beaufre (1902–1975): French officer, military writer; An Introduction to Strategy; Strategy of Deterrence; Strategy of Action Ian F. W. Beckett (born 1950), British military historian; with John Pimlott (eds.): Counter-Insurgency. Lessons from History, London 1985 (ND Barnsley 2011); (ed.): The Roots of counter-insurgency. Armies and guerilla warfare, 1900-1945 (London 1988) Walther Beckmann (20th cent.), officer, military writer; (ed.) Unsere Kolonien und Schutztruppen - Das Ehrenbuch der Überseekämpfer - unter Mitarbeit von Major a.D. Otto Müller für die Abschnitte "Land und Leute" der afrikanischen Kolonien, sowie von Walter Merzdorf für die Abschnitte "Kolonien und Flotte", "Kiautschou" und "Südsee" (Kyffhäuser-Verlag, Berlin 1934); Ludendorff als Mensch und Feldherr (Berlin 1935); (ed.) Helden der Luft Heinrich Beitzke (1798–1867), military writer Guillaume du Bellay, Seigneur de Langeay (1491-1543); wrongly attributed: Instructions sur le fait de la guerre (Paris 1548) (with full title: Instructions sur le fait de la Guerre, extraites des livres de Polybe, Frontin, Vegece, Cornazan, Machiavelle, et plusieurs autres bons auteurs) (see under Raimond de Beccarie de Pavie, Seigneur de Fourquevaux) Albert Benary (1881–1963), officer and military writer Medea Benjamin (born 1952), an American political activist; Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control (2012) Samuel Bendett, political scientist, research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, analysis of military robotics, drones/UAVs, AI and Russian military weapons development Georg Heinrich von Berenhorst (1733–1814), military writer Karl Gustav von Berneck, pseudonym: Bernd von Guseck (1805–1871), novelist and military writer Friedrich von Bernhardi (1849–1930), Prussian cavalry general and military historian; Deutschland und der nächste Krieg (Germany and the Next War) Carlo Bianco (1795–1843), Italian revolutionary; Della guerra d'insurrezione nazionale per le bande applicata all'Italia (1830) Keith Bickel, US military historian Eugen Bircher (1882–1956), Swiss officer, military writer and politician Andrew J. Birtle (born 1957), US military historian (U.S. Army Center of Military History); U.S. Army counterinsurgency and contingency operations doctrine 1860-1941 (Washington, DC 1998), U.S. Army counterinsurgency and contingency operations doctrine 1942-1976 (Washington, DC 2006) Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Bismarck (1783–1860), Württemberg lieutenant general, diplomat, military writer, responsible after the accession of William I for reorganizing the mounted forces, lifelong member of the chamber of Estates of Württemberg Geoffrey Blainey (born 1930), Australian historian; The Causes of War (1973) Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805–1881), French socialist revolutionary; Instructions pour une prise d'armes (1866) Willi A. Boelcke, German historian; So kam das Meer zu uns. Die preußisch-deutsche Kriegsmarine in Übersee, 1822–1914 (Ullstein, Frankfurt a. M./Berlin-West/Wien 1981) Albert von Boguslawski (de) (1834–1905), Der kleine Krieg und seine Bedeutung für die Gegenwart (Berlin 1881); he translated Précis de l'art de la guerre (Summary of the Art of War) of Jomini into German (Digital copy; Militärische Klassiker des In- und Auslandes) Daniel P. Bolger (born 1957), American military officer and military historian Brian Bond (1936–2025), British military historian; (ed.) Victorian Military Campaigns (London 1967) Viktor Nikolayevich Bondarev (born 1959), Russian colonel general, from August 2015 to September 2017 Commander of the Air and Space Forces; Грозное небо. Авиация в современных конфликтах / Thunder Sky: Aviation in Modern Conflicts (ed.) Ralph Bosshard (born 1966), Swiss security expert, military historian, and former general staff officer of the Swiss Army Honorat Bovet (14th century) (attributed): L'Arbre des batailles (Digital copy) John Boyd (1927–1997), military strategist, inventor of the OODA-Loop or decision cycle Antoine Fortuné de Brack (1789–1850), French general and military theorist; Avant-postes de cavalerie légère (Advance Posts of Light Cavalry) (1831) Horst-Heinrich Brauß (born 1953), German military officer Gary Brecher (born 1955), author of War Nerd (Warriors of War) Walter von Bremen (1852–?), Oberst; German officer; Die Kolonialtruppen und Kolonialarmeen der Hauptmächte Europas. Ihre geschichtliche Entwicklung und ihr gegenwärtiger Zustand (Bielefeld/Leipzig 1902) Arthur L. Bresler, military writer; Die Armee der Vereinigten Staaten in Nordamerika. Mit Abbildungen von Offizieren und Soldaten aller Truppengattungen, sowie von Uniforms- und Rangabzeichen, Ausrüstungsgegenständen, etc., nebst genauer Beschreibung der Uniformirung und Mittheilungen über Organisation, Stärke, Eintheilung und Dislocation der nordamerikanischen Armee, sowie der Milizen (M. Ruhl, Leipzig 1891) Antony Brett-James (1920–1984), British military historian Henri Alexis Brialmont (1821–1903), Belgian general and military writer Bernard Brodie (1910–1978): War and Politics (1973); Strategy in the Missile Age (1959) Reinhard Brühl (de) (1924-2018), German officer, director of the Militärgeschichtlichen Instituts der DDR; editor-in-chief of Wörterbuch zur deutschen Militärgeschichte (in 2 vols. = Schriften des Militärgeschichtlichen Instituts der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik; Berlin, Militärverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 1985) Aleksei Brusilov (1853–1926), Russian and later Soviet general, most noted for the development of new offensive tactics used in the 1916 Brusilov offensive; Мои воспоминания. Из царской армии в Красную (My Memories: From the Tsarist Army to the Red [Army]) Zbigniew Brzeziński (1928–2017), Polish-American diplomat and political scientist; The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives (1997)