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[[File:BranniganBookOfWar.png|link=Futurama|frame|Accept no substitutes!]]
{{quote|''"A good soldier obeys without question. A good officer commands without doubt."''|'''The Tactica Imperialis''', ''[[Warhammer
War is a [[Matter of Life and Death]]. How do you go about it? How do you train your troops? What moral codes do you follow? How do you keep your morale up? What tactics do you use in battle? What strategies do you follow?
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In [[Real Life]], there's no easy answer. In fictionland, however, you can just ask the Big Book Of War.
A specific type of [[Fictional Document]] (and occasionally [[Encyclopedia Exposita]]), the
Other organized groups, from [[
It can be [[Played for Laughs]] if a character tries to appear knowledgeable by quoting a rule, only to be corrected by someone else that he picked a completely wrong section of said document.
A subtrope of the [[Great Big Book of Everything]].
{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* The ''Junior Woodchuck Guidebook'' used by [[Donald Duck]]'s nephews. Later exported to animation via [[
▲== Comic Books ==
▲* The ''Junior Woodchuck Guidebook'' used by [[Donald Duck]]'s nephews. Later exported to animation via [[Duck Tales]]. Probably (in the planning stages, at least) a take on the Boy Scout Handbook.
** A Don Rosa Uncle Scrooge story reveals the truth about the Guidebook: thousands of years ago, a scribe copied down all the knowledge in the library of Alexandria, shortly before the library was destroyed in a fire. That knowledge was compressed and summarized dozens of times over the millennia by various scholars, until it was discovered by the founder of the Junior Woodchucks and made into their guidebook. Of course, Scrooge only learns this after traveling all over the world in search of that same document...
* ''[[Rogue Trooper]]'' carries around a copy of the ''Guide to the Nu-Earth War'' in Bagman.
== [[Film]] ==▼
* ''[[Hercules]]'' has Philotetes' oft-quoted rules of conduct and engagement for heroes-in-training.
▲== Film ==
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' features a number of references to the Pirates' Code until the physical book is actually trotted out and referred to. While Barbarossa claims that it's more a book of ''guidelines'' than rules, the pirate community seems to treat the book itself with quite a bit of
▲* ''[[Hercules]]'' has Philotetes' oft-quoted rules of conduct and engagement for heroes-in-training.
▲* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' features a number of references to the Pirates' Code until the physical book is actually trotted out and referred to. While Barbarossa claims that it's more a book of guidelines than rules, the pirate community seems to treat the book itself with quite a bit of reverance. Historically, Carribean pirate ships, like all ships at the time, tended to have their own set of written rules to establish discipline and resolve disputes, even going as far as to state how many shares of the stolen booty each pirate would receive.
* ''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines]] (or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes)'': "But... how will I learn to fly, Herr Colonel?" "The way we do everything in the German army: from the book of instructions!" "Step one: Sit down."
* ''[[
* ''[[The Thief and
* The ''Dragon Fighting Manual'' from ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (
* The Christian movie ''[[
== [[Literature]] ==
* General Tacticus' memoirs ''Veni Vidi Vici: A Soldier's Life'' in [[Discworld]], featuring practical advice such as "When one army is within an impregnable fortress, well-garrisoned and well-stocked with provisions and the other is not - endeavor to be the one on the inside."
** But not for nothing is Tacticus considered history's greatest warlord, and the man who lent his name to the art of large-scale combat. On the same subject, he notes that if you are ''not'' the one inside, then let them ''stay'' there.
* In [[David Gemmell]]'s ''The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend'' the Ventrians have a highly formalized way of making war, based on an ancient treatise. So slavishly do they adhere to this text that the defenders of a hotly contested city leave the walls after the fourth attack in one day because the book says that launching more than four attacks in a day should be avoided as it is bad for morale and as a result no Ventrian general would presume to launch a fifth attack.
* "The Rites of Kanly", governing warfare in the ''[[Dune]]'' universe.
* In ''[[Cold Comfort Farm]]'', the heroine, Flora Poste, is guided by "The Higher Common Sense" as she extracts her relatives from their idiotic
* The New Bushido from ''[[Hyperion]]''.
* In Laurie J. Marks' Elemental Logic series, Mabin's ''Warfare''.
* ''[[
▲== Live Action TV ==
** The infamous ''[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Rules_of_Acquisition Ferengi Rules of Acquisition]'', introduced in in ''[[Star Trek
▲* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]''
▲** The infamous ''[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Rules_of_Acquisition Ferengi Rules of Acquisition]'', introduced in in ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine (TV)|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]''. It's a list of maxims and advice on how to earn profit, which the mercantile Ferengi pursue with military ferocity. The document is [[Defictionalization|no longer fictional]], as some of the rules were gathered and published--[[The Merch|as a bit of Star Trek merchandise]], of course.
** Starfleet's General Orders, which has rules for everything Star Fleet does. Various General Orders were mentioned in the series and films, and many have been compiled together in online list. General Order 1 is, of course, the [[Alien Non-Interference Clause|Prime Directive]]. General Order 7, for example, is the command to avoid the planet that Captain Pike found in the original pilot, on the basis that the locals were the first God-like aliens that Starfleet had ever encountered.
* ''[[
** The Space Corp Directives are brilliantly organized, too, where (from memory) Section 132 Paragraph 24 Subparagraph 14 is a guide to the treatment of prisoners of war, and Subparagraph 15 is a list of how parking spots are assigned to the Chinese representatives of the conference. You can't blame Rimmer for getting it mixed-up.
*** That was actually from the "All-Nations Agreement" although the Space Corp Directives have a similar setup (for example the directive forbidding crew from wearing a ginger toupee on duty is next to the one requiring deflector shields before navigating an asteroid belt).
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** Both have been published.
* An episode of [[Sharpe]] has a guide to what a good soldier should be, written by an officer who's never been to the front. The men who can read - or know someone who can read it to them - find it ''hilarious''.
* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' has The Roommate Agreement
* ''[[The Young Ones]]'' has a charter of various rules that cover the aspects of living together such as food and laundry. All of them have the universal exception "... except Mike."
* The Argentine TV series ''Los únicos'', about secret agents with superpowers, has a set of bylaws for the agents. The main rule is that agents shall not develop romantic relations among themselves (of course, they all defy the rule and get in trouble as a result), but other laws are mentioned from time to time.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==▼
▲== Tabletop Games ==
This trope does not refer to the actual rulebooks for these games. Usually.
* ''[[Warhammer
** The ''Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer'', on the other hand, is so full of propaganda, misinformation, and outright lies, that it functions best as a [["Faux To" Guide]]. Though every [[Badass Normal|Imperial]] [[Redshirt Army|Guardsman]] is required (on pain of death) to carry it, the bright ones quickly realize that [[Our Elves Are Better|Eldar]] technology is not antiquated and prone to malfunction, an [[Our Orcs Are Different|Ork]]'s bulging muscles are not just for show, and the [[Beam Spam|Tau]] aren't likely to run away if you yell at them loudly enough.
*** The ''Uplifting Primer'' is more of a darkly humourous, satirical nature, however. Its status as canon is dubious.
** The ''Codex Astartes'', by the Ultramarines' Primarch, fills this roles for many Space Marine chapters. However, many Space Marines have gotten into trouble for treating the Codex as a perfect, unquestionable how-to manual, rather than a comprehensive set of guidelines. The author realised what his descendants haven't, namely that new enemies will require new tactical doctrines, and that no two battles are exactly alike. Which is why many Chapters are "non-Codex", especially those that specialize on a particular enemy and/or form of warfare.
** The Soul Drinkers' ''Catechisms Martial'' is one part tactical meditations to two parts prayer book, used as often in religious ceremonies as in forward planning. Since [[Warrior Monk|Space Marines]] don't really differentiate between warfare and religion, it matters little.
* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] Fantasy'' has a book on tactics written by the High Elf General Mentheus that is referenced occasionally.
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' has ''The [[Lady of War|Steel Princess]]' Field Guide to Tactics of the [[Praetorian Guard|Purple Dragon]]'' by Her Royal Highness Princess Alusair Nacacia [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|Obarskyr]] of Cormyr. Yeah, she published it with her nickname right in the title.
** Appropriately enough, the holy scripture of [[War God|Tempus']] faith is one of these, the ''Red Book of War''. Same goes for ''Master Tactician'', a holy book of the Red Knight's faith.
* ''[[Exalted]]'' has the ''Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier''. It is primarily used by the Realm, the major empire of the game setting, and is regarded as an excellent manual of war. Except, now that the empire is in decay due to the disappearance of its leader, [[Modern Major-General|politically-appointed officers]] [[Small Name, Big Ego|who believe they know better]] [[Too Dumb to Live|just chuck the thing aside]]. Or abridge it, which is even worse. The latter is especially true because, unlike
* ''[[Iron Kingdoms]]'' has (Supreme) Kommandant Irusk's book, ''How to Fully Subjugate Your Enemies''.
* The ''[[GURPS]]'' International Super Teams universe has ''The Metahuman in Combat,'' a Big Book of superhero combat.
* ''[[Eberron]]'' has Karrn the Conqueror's ''Analects of War''. Think Sun Tzu as a [[Blood Knight]] and you'll pretty much have the idea.
* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' Troubleshooters tend to have their little red survival books, full of notes, treasonous material, and other useful tips on survival. Typically, a great deal of information in the book will be wrong. This is Alpha Complex after all.
== [[Theatre]] ==
* In [[Gilbert
==
* The ''Carlson & Peeters'' military manual from ''[[Beyond Good
▲* In Gilbert & Sullivan's ''Ruddigore'', the heroine of Rose Maybud was raised from birth by a "little book of etiquette," the contents of which are never known except that Rose herself is an expert in all matters of propriety as a result.
▲* The ''Carlson & Peeters'' military manual from ''[[Beyond Good and Evil (Video Game)|Beyond Good and Evil]]''. Double H's [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|characteristic idiosyncrasy]] is that he quotes from it ''all the time'', offering such advice as "If you can't go through a door, go around it!" and "W.W.T.A.O.! We Work Together As One!" You do eventually get to see a portion of the book in digital form, from a chapter that deals with "Defense and Detection".
** Point of fact, his characteristic idiosyncrasy is that he believes in it [[The Fundamentalist|the way some people believe in the Bible]] - so strongly, in fact, that he actually spouts, "CARLSON AND PEETERRRRRS!" as a battle cry, especially when he's about to [[Use Your Head|ram headfirst into something]].
* The hints and tips on ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'''s main game screen are attributed to various [[Fictional Document]] sources, including tactical manuals and characters' journals.
* ''[[Sid
** Adhering closest to the trope would be the ''Spartan Battle Manual'' and ''Planet: A Survivalist's Guide'', both written by Colonel Corazon Santiago.
* ''[[Icewind Dale]] 2'' includes an item, the book ''How to Be an Adventurer'', with such helpful chapters as "101 Uses for a 10' Pole", "Getting the Most out of Your Party's Thief", and "Face It, You're Actually Neutral Evil". Reading it grants a character 10,000 [[Experience Points]] and consumes the book.
* ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'''s [[Department of Redundancy Department|Assassins have their own Creed]]. ([[Captain Obvious|Well, duh...]])
* ''[[Star Wars]] [[Republic Commando]]''
* In ''[[A Tale of Two Kingdoms]]'', the Way of the Warrior by [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Moon Tzu]]. It explains how honorable it is to cast sand at the enemy's eyes during a swordfight.
* The Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' a device that party-member Dak'kon has from the start. Technically, it's a book on the history and religion of the githzerai people, but both subjects focus on the uprising against the illithids and the civil war that resulted. If [[The Protagonist| The Nameless One]] is a Mage, he can help Dak'ron decipher the eight circles, eventually gaining experience, spells, and increased Scores for both party members.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates'' -- [[Retcon|er, that is,]] ''The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries'' -- is frequently quoted in ''[[
▲* ''The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates''--[[Retcon|er, that is,]] ''The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries''--is frequently quoted in ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]''. This includes such gems as:
** 1. [[Rape, Pillage and Burn|Pillage]], ''[[In That Order|THEN]]'' [[Rape, Pillage and Burn|burn]]. ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20030308.html 1], [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20040404.html 2], [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20040722.html 3])
** 2. [[Don't Ask, Just Run|A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.]] ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20090731.html 1])
** 3. [[Oh Crap|An ordnance technician]] [[Don't Ask, Just Run|at a dead run outranks
** 4. [[Gunship Rescue|Close air support covereth a multitude of sins.]] ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20080415.html 1])
** 5. [[Friend or Foe|Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.]] ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20100421.html 1])
** 6. [[
** 7. If the food is good enough, the grunts will stop complaining about the incoming fire. (Appears in the 2012 Monthly Calendar)
** 8. Mockery and derision have their place. Usually, it's on the other side of the airlock.([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20021121.html 1])
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** 13. Do unto others. ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20030308.html 1])
** 15. Only you can prevent friendly fire. ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-11-18 1])
** 16. Your name is in the mouth of others:
** 17. The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster. ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-02-20 1])
** 18. If the officers are leading from in front, watch out for an attack from the rear. ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-01-04 1])
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** 38. Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it can't be hard on your clients. (Mentioned [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20040326.html here], number given by [[Word of God]]).
* Parodied in ''[[Ansem Retort]]'', where [[Leeroy Jenkins|Leeroy Freaking Jenkins]], of all people, has a big book of war and is considered one of the greatest tacticians in history. When the characters open up the book, here's what they see:
{{quote|
'''Aerith:''' There is no way the book says to do that.
'''Zexion:''' That's the first thing the book says to do! What the fuck?! }}
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] is the [[Dr. Seuss]]-like ''[[Futurama|Zapp Brannigan's]] Big Book of War'', which, considering who [[General Failure|wrote]] [[Miles Gloriosus|it]], is probably best ignored.▼
==
* [[
▲* The [[Trope Namer]] is the Seuss-like ''[[Futurama|Zapp Brannigan's]] Big Book of War'', which, considering who [[General Failure|wrote]] [[Miles Gloriosus|it]], is probably best ignored.
* [[Four-Star Badass|Carl von Clausewitz]]'s ''On War'' is the West's premier work on military theory. Clausewitz notably argues for the inherent superiority of defense over offense and stresses the moral and political aspects of war. Even though the work is [[Author Existence Failure|unfinished]], it was highly influential at the time of the First World War and remains relevant today. The book coined the concept of the "fog of war" and memorably defined war as "the continuation of politics by other means."
* Machiavelli's ''[[
▲* [[Warrior Poet|Sun Tzu's]] ''[[The Art of War (Literature)|The Art of War]]'', the [[Older Than Feudalism|classic Chinese text]] and possible [[Trope Maker]] in the public consciousness, beloved by military strategists and pretended to be read by [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Nietzsche Wannabes]] everywhere. Despite its reputation, ''The Art of War'' is quite small, particularly in the original archaic Chinese. Publications usually include explanatory commentaries that are several times longer than the original work.
▲* [[Four-Star Badass|Carl von Clausewitz]]'s ''On War'' is the West's premier work on military theory. Clausewitz notably argues for the inherent superiority of defense over offense and stresses the moral and political aspects of war. Even though the work is [[Author Existence Failure|unfinished]], it was highly influential at the time of the First World War and remains relevant today. The book coined the concept of the "fog of war" and memorably defined war as "the continuation of politics by other means."
▲* Machiavelli's ''[[The Prince (Literature)|The Prince]]'', which covers military strategy as it pertains to ruling monarchs, and his [[Discourses On Livy]], which devotes the second of its three sections chiefly to conducting war as a republic. Part of Machiavelli's intention is to convince his readers that the Italian city-states should not be reliant on mercenaries, and should instead build up militias. His tactics were gradually amended over the years and became the basis for linear tactics.
** Machiavelli also wrote an ''Art of War''
* ''Summary of the Art of War'' was released in the 19th century by Baron Antoine Henri de Jomini, who served under Napoleon and was a professional rival to fellow theorist Clausewitz. Jomini's writing style is noted for his extensive use of historical examples and diagrams to illustrate his points, complete with a [[Lemony Narrator]] commentary. These days, most publishers shorten the title to ''The Art of War'', which can [[Name's the Same|lead to confusion]].
* ''The Book Of Five Rings'', a martial arts and military strategy book written by legendary [[Samurai]] warrior [[Miyamoto Musashi]] at around 1645. The Japanese-inspired [[Tabletop RPG]] ''Legend of the Five Rings'' is named in reference to it.
* The ''Dicta Boelcke'' by Oswald Boelcke is a list of fundamental aerial maneuvers of aerial combat that still has baring in aerial combat today.
* Vegetius's ''De Re Militari'' (roughly, ''On Military Matters'') was a major influence on Machiavelli and widely read for centuries.
* The ancient Greeks produced several, including ''The Cavalry Commander'' by [[
* The Byzantines were very fond of writing military manuals, the most famous of which is the ''Strategikon of Maurice'', allegedly written by the Emperor Maurice. The Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus also wrote a manual on campaigning and Emperor Nikephoros II wrote one titled ''Skirmishing'' and another titled ''Presentation and Composition on Warfare''. But there are a number of others, such as an anonymous, early sixth century, untitled manual on strategy, an anonymous, late tenth century, untitled manual on tactics, and an early eleventh century work titled ''Taktika'' by Nikephoros Ouranos.
* Mao himself wrote a book entitled ''The Art of War''. His "Little Red Book" (''Quotations from Chairman Mao'') and ''On Guerrilla Warfare'' would also qualify as examples of this trope.
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** Famously mentioned in Wouk's "The Caine Mutiny" where (right after "Navy way") the captain appends "and my way. On this ship, things will be done my way." It does not end well.
* Alfred Mahan's ''The Influence of Sea Power upon History'' (1890) is one of the most obscure and yet most influential books of the twentieth century, it basically set U.S. naval policy to where it is now. It's also a current favorite of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
** It also was one of the favourite textbooks for Wilhelm II and Tirpitz's expansion of the German navy and thus was a major influence on the British-German naval armament race that helped bring about [[World War
** Julian Corbett wrote ''Some Principles of Maritime Strategy'' in 1911. It was essentially the British answer to Mahan and was also incredibly influential. While Mahan wrote mainly about old school fleet battles Corbett focused on things like disrupting lines of communication and power projection which means that his work also aged a bit better. Though both are still studied today.
* Italian General Giulio Douhet and his ''Command of the Air'' (1921) exerted a similarly big influence on the air forces of the inter-war years, especially in Britain and Germany.
* ''The Law of Land Warfare'' (aka The Geneva Convention)[
* ''[[The Defence of
* The Apache traditionally had a very complex set of rules for raiding and warfare (two distinct operations in their culture), passed down orally. One rule was not letting men whose wives were pregnant come on expeditions (they'd be distracted); another was an argot, "warpath words", consisting of using different words for nearly every action ("dragged something" rather than "walked", for instance), so that even enemies who knew Apache wouldn't understand plans.
* Every team in American Football maintains a "playbook" full of dozens of [[Attack Pattern Alpha|Attack Patterns Alpha]].
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* ''Guerrilla Warfare'' by Ernesto "Che" Guevara, based largely on the tactics he used in the Cuban revolution.
* Jim Dunnigan and associates have written books over the years including ''How To Make War'', ''A Quick and Dirty Guide To War'', and ''Dirty Little Secrets: Military Information You're Not Supposed To Know'', not to mention [http://strategypage.com/ StrategyPage.com]. They amount to the equivalent of a fairly comprehensive ''Big Book of War'' for the modern layman.
* ''Överraskning och Vilseledning: Sovjetiska och ryska vilseledningsprinciper i krig och fred'' (near literal translation to
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Paratext]]
[[Category:Information Desk]]
[[Category:Big Book
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