If you want peace, prepare for war, the Latins used to say. If you want to survive in times of war, prepare while there is still peace.

It is not in your hands whether war will come. What is in your hands, however, is to do your best to survive, whether in times of peace or in times of war. In times of peace, well, more or less we all know what we need to do. But in times of war, how do you survive?

Having gathered testimonies and advice from people who have lived through the fire of war, we present to you this book that can make the difference between life and death in times of war.

Remember that it is not the strongest who survive. It is not the smartest. Not even the craftiest. It is the one who adapts best to the circumstances, and that is the law of nature. It is the reality, and whenever theory disagrees with reality, reality always wins.

We have collected advice from Syrians, Serbs, Ukrainians, and Greeks who have experienced war. Not just men, but above all women, who were left alone with their children at home, starving, thirsty, trembling with fear about whether they would live to see the next day.

Don't forget that if you are a man aged 18 to 55, you won't have much of a problem, because the army will take care of you! Clothes, water, food, doctors, weapons, all ready. The only thing you will worry about is the danger of death in battle. Is that a small thing? Yes, compared to those you leave behind. If you are a woman, if you are a child up to 17 years old, or a man older than 55, then you also have the fear of death that the soldier has, plus hunger, plus the anxiety of taking care of your child, plus the feeling of being powerless to do anything to protect yourself… or maybe not?

There are ways and smart tricks that will save you in case of war, as long as you know them, of course. Seemingly, the only way to know what to do in case of war is to have gone through it before. But that is what books are for, to transfer knowledge so that we don't have to suffer to learn because in serious situations like war, experiences are painful.

So let's see what advice we get from those who have lived through war firsthand.