Search results
Jan 30, 2024 · Introduction. The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating back to the 5th century BCE. Traditionally, the text is attributed to Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general and...
Nov 24, 2015 · November 24, 2015. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is perhaps the oldest and one of the most widely read classics of military strategy. Published in ancient China an estimated 2,500 years ago, it has remained “the most important military treatise in Asia” according to the historian and translator Ralph D. Sawyer. [1]
The book contains a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century BC Chinese military, from weapons, environmental conditions, and strategy to rank and discipline. Sun also stressed the importance of intelligence operatives and espionage to the war effort.
- Mark Cartwright
- Initial Estimations. The book opens with the following statement: "Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the Way [Tao] to survival or extinction.
- Waging War. The importance of supplies and logistics to an army are expressed. Weapons will dull, food will run out and soldiers tire so that, "No country has ever profited from protracted warfare" (ibid, 159).
- Planning Offensives. A commander should limit the destruction inflicted on the enemy: "The highest realisation of warfare is to attack the enemy's plans; next is to attack their alliances; next to attack their army; and the lowest is to attack their fortified cities" (ibid, 161).
- Military Disposition. Planning and preparation are again stressed. Commanders must know when to attack and when to defend. They must always measure, estimate, calculate, and weigh the strength of their enemy, then victory will be assured.
Mar 6, 2024 · Sunzi was a Chinese general and most famously the author of The Art of War, one of the first documents on military strategies. Although Sunzi wrote this document thousands of years ago, it continued to influence many world leaders within the past century.
May 16, 2023 · The Chinese word for this concept of “ situational potential ” is 勢, or “shì” – the name of Chapter Five in “Art of War.” Almost every Western version translates it differently, but it is key...
People also ask
How did Chinese writers write the art of war?
Who wrote the art of war?
What is China's Art of war?
Why did you read 'Art of war'?
Is the art of war a good book?
Why did Mao Zedong cite the art of war?
Early Chinese writers wrote their thoughts and sayings onto bamboo strips, which were then bound together into rolls. The earliest manuscripts of The Art of War are such rolls, leading scholars to debate the original order of the work.
