Sun Tzu and The Art of War

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Sun Tzu is commonly listed as the author of The Art of War, one of the most influential battle texts in history. Yet historians cannot decide on many details of his life, including whether he lived at all.

(For convenience, this article will refer to Sun Tzu as a historically known person who was the definitive author of The Art of War.)

Sun Tzu

According to the Spring and Autumn Annals, compiled by Confucius, Sun Tzu was born in Qi. A later source, Records of the Grand Historian, lists his birthplace as Wu. He is known to have served Helü, onetime king of Wu; other sources refer to him as Sunzi, Sun Wu, and Changqing. The name Sun Tzu means "Master Sun."

Helü is known to have been king from 514 B.C. to 496 B.C., during the Eastern Chou dynasty. Sun Tzu is thought to have served that king from the early days of his reign in Wu and, through participation in and observation of warfare, gained inspiration for the book that bears his name. The book provided strategies and inspiration for many in the nearly constant warfare that made up the overlapping Warring States period.

Sun Tzu is said to have taken part in the Battle of Boju, a 506 B.C. victory for the Wu kingdom over its rival the Chu. This pivotal battle ended the war between those two kingdoms, yet Sun Tzu features very little in accounts of the battle or the war. That could have something to do with what happened at the battle. According to the popular narrative, the king's brother, Fugai, followed Sun Tzu's advice to attack despite being outnumbered and despite the king's orders not to attack. Sun Tzu, however, had scouted the enemy and knew their weaknesses, the primary one of which was that the Chu despised their commander, Nang Wa, and shrank away from following his orders. Echoing one of the most famous observations in the book ("How victory may be produced for them out of the enemy's own tactics—that is what that multitude cannot comprehend."), Sun Tzu urged an attack and Fugai complied. The strategy succeeded so well that the Wu force drove the Chu enemy from the field, sending them reeling, and pursued them all the way to the Chu capital, Ying, which the Wu army then took as well, ending the war.

These tactics flew in the face of Chinese military tradition, which portrayed warfare as a civil contest governed by a set of rules that would not be out of place in the days of medieval chivalry in the West. Sun Tzu taught that the object of fighting a war was to achieve victory and that the sooner that happened, the fewer soldiers would die, on both sides. He also emphasized the need for commanders to be flexible and to adapt their strategies to what they were seeing happen on the battlefield, as opposed to adhering to the common wisdom of how battles should be fought.

One of the most well-known statements in the book is "All warfare is based on deception." Sun Tzu taught that psychological warfare was equal in importance to, if not moreso than, straightforward strategies of battlefield tactics and weaponry deployment. He considered the ability to unsettle an enemy psychologically far more of an effective strategy than the use of straightforward brute force, even if that force was an overwhelming one.

The book has 13 chapters, each of which considers a different aspect of warfare:

  1. Warring States periodThe opening chapter urges a commander to consider many things before committing to battle. Among those things to consider are the weather, the terrain, the military leaders (on both sides), and the Tao, or the Way. At the same time, a successful commander will ensure that his enemy does enjoy such luxuries: "Attack him where is he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected."
  2. Chapter 2 is all about cost–how much warfare consumes in terms of money, manpower, and resources. "If victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped." And, "When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions."
  3. In the third chapter are the five factors needed to win any war: attack, strategy, alliances, army, and cities. In addition, Sun Tzu stresses the need for unity in an army. "The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field." As well, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat."
  4. Sun Tzu The Art of War Chapter 4 focuses on not risking losing the territory that a commander already controls by stretching beyond the capabilities of his army to defend. "The skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy."
  5. Creativity and timing are the main points of focus for the fifth chapter. "In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack–the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers."
  6. Chapter 6 urges a commander to look for his enemy's weaknesses and be ready to exploit them, even at a moment's notice. "He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain."
  7. In the seventh chapter, Sun Tzu examines the ways of maneuvering an army so as to achieve maximum effect. "A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods."
  8. "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
    — Sun Tzu
    Chapter 8 discusses the need for flexibility, both in a commander's thinking and in an army's fighting style and tactics. "The student of war who is unversed in the art of war of varying his plans ... will fail to make the best use of his men."
  9. An army's need for awareness and adaptability are the focus of the ninth chapter. "He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them."
  10. Chapter 10 focuses on areas of resistance and how to overcome them. "If we know that our own men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the enemy is not open to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory."
  11. In Chapter 11, Sun Tzu walks the commander through decision-making in whether to fight based on the lay of the land–geographically and tactically. "The skillful tactician may be likened to the shuai-jan. Now the shuai-jan is a snake that is found in the Ch’ang mountains. Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its middle, and you will be attacked by head and tail both."
  12. He spends considerable time discussing the use of fire in the 12th chapter, not only in the lobbing of burning projectiles at an enemy force but also the use of fire to disrupt supply depots and baggage trains. Near the end of the chapter, Sun Tzu reminds commanders to keep their soldiers first and foremost in their minds: "No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique."
  13. The last chapter focuses on intelligence-gathering and the need for a good spy network, so as to be able to exploit the enemy's weaknesses and dismantle their strengths. "Spies are a most important element in war, because on them depends an army's ability to move."

The Art of War was a runaway success and continues to be popular, providing inspiration for military commanders to this day. As well, students of business and politics have found inspiration in what Sun Tzu may or may not have written.

As for simple things like birth date and place and day and place of death, history does not record those definitively for anyone named Sun Tzu. A later strategist named Sun Bin wrote a text titled Military Methods that bears a strong resemblance to The Art of War. Some sources list Sun Bin as a descendant of Sun Tzu; other sources say that they were the same person and that he was the sole author or at least one of a few authors of the famous military treatise.

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