The classic work of the bright Russian military thinker of the late XIX - early XX centuries N.P. Mikhnevich presents readers an essay on the development of military affairs for several thousand years and up to the beginning of the New Age. The author considers tactics and strategy not in isolation, but in the context of general civilization processes. "The state of military art of this era serves as the best indicator of culture and civilization, the product of which it has always been more or less; the energy shown by armies and troops during the war is the surest sign of the degree of strength of the state, whose strength is represented by armies and troops," he writes.