The Art of War

By Sun Tzu

Hardcover edition available, ISBN: 9789387669321

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise written by Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician. The text is composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly known to be

• Language: English
• Publisher: GENERAL PRESS
• Release date: Sep 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9789380914893

Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu was a an ancient Chinese general during the latter part of the Spring and Autumn Period. Also referred to as Sunzi or Sun Wu, the great Chinese philosopher and military general was revered by many generations of Chinese leaders to come. His given military name, "Sun Tzu" translates as "master sun", and was thought to be an honorific title. It has been speculated Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War during the Warring States Period, when China was divided and war was imminent. His profound insight on military strategy and expert leadership inspired nearly all who read his work, earning him a spot in history as one of the greatest military generals of all time.

Book preview

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Contents

Introduction

About the Author

Chapter 1

Laying Plans

Chapter 2

Waging War

Chapter 3

Attack by Stratagem

Chapter 4

Tactical Dispositions

Chapter 5

Energy

Chapter 6

Weak Points and Strong

Chapter 7

Manoeuvring

Chapter 8

Variation of Tactics

Chapter 9

The Army on the March

Chapter 10

Terrain

Chapter 11

The Nine Situations

Chapter 12

The Attack by Fire

Chapter 13

The Use of Spies

Introduction

‘The Art of War’ is an ancient Chinese military treatise written by Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician. The text is composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly known to be the definitive work on military strategy and tactics of its time. It has been the most famous and influential of China’s Seven Military Classics, and for the last two thousand years it remained the most important military treatise in Asia, where even the common people knew it by name.

Sun Tzu believed war to be an essential wrongdoing that must be got rid of whenever it can be. The war should be fought fleetingly to reduce economic decline. Sun Tzu harped on the significance of placement in military tactics. The planning to position an army must be dependent on the stipulations in the physical surroundings and the subjective thoughts of various militants in those conditions. He believed that strategy cannot be considered as planning with respect to glancing through a previously decided list. It is better represented by the fact that it needs speedy and suitable reactions to altering situations. Planning gives results in restrained surroundings. But in case of an altering environment, similar plans come in each other’s ways and give rise to undesired outcomes. It has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond.

About the Author

Sun Tzu, also known as Sun Wu or Sunzi, was an ancient Chinese military strategist believed to be the author of the acclaimed military text, ‘The Art of War’. Details about Sun Tzu’s background and life are uncertain, although he is believed to have lived C 544-496 BCE. Sun Tzu believed in the use of the military sciences to effect outcomes that would result in peace. Through ‘The Art of War’, Sun Tzu’s theories and strategies have influenced military leaders and campaigns throughout time, including the samurai of ancient and early-modern Japan, and more recently Ho Chi Minh of the Viet Cong and American generals Norman Swarzkopf, Jr. and Colin Powell during the Persian Gulf War in the 1990s.

Chapter 1

Laying Plans

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1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.

2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.

4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.

5, 6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

7. Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.

8. Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and secu­rity; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.

9. The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness.

The five cardinal virtues of the Chinese are

(1) humanity or benevolence; (2) uprightness of mind; (3) self-respect, self-control, or ‘proper feeling’;

(4) wisdom; (5) sincerity or good faith.

10. By Method and discipline are to be understood the marshalling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the grada­tions of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.

11. These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them will not fail.

12. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a compar­ison, in this wise.

13. (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law?

(2) Which of the two generals has most ability?

(3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?

(4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?

Tu Mu alludes to the remarkable story of Ts‘ao Ts‘ao (A.D. 155-220), who was such a strict disciplinarian that once, in accordance with his own severe regulations against injury to standing crops, he condemned himself to death for having allowed his horse to stay into a field of corn! However, in lieu of losing his head, he was persuaded to satisfy his sense of justice by cutting off his hair. ‘When you lay down a law, see that it is not disobeyed; if it is disobeyed, the offender must be put to death.’

(5) Which army is the stronger?

(6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained?

‘Without constant practice, the officers will be nervous and undecided when mustering for battle; without constant prac­tice, the general will be wavering and irresolute when the crisis is at hand.’

(7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?

That is, on which side is there the most absolute certainty that merit will be properly rewarded and misdeeds summarily punished?

14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.

15. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer—let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts