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[autodidact-adventures]

100 Documents: The Art of War

The Art of War ( 孫子兵法, Sun Zi Bing Fa) is the greatest of China’s Seven Military Classics.  Its origins are uncertain - Sun Tzu may not even have existed, and the ideas may have been collected and modified by various people over a long period of time.  It is definitely an ancient work, however - the Yinqueshan Han Slips (206 BC - 220 BC) are an almost-complete bamboo scroll copy of The Art of War, nearly identical to modern editions.

The Yinqueshan Han Slips.

The Art of War has 13 chapters, each concerning a key aspect of warfare:

Laying Plans

Waging War

Planning Offensives

Disposition of the Army

Forces

Weaknesses and Strengths

Military Manouevres

Variations and Adaptability

Movement and Development of Troops

Terrain

The Nine Battlegrounds

Incendiary Attacks

Intelligence and Espionage

The chapters are written in simple, clear terms.  Rules such as “He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces” are given.

Sun Tzu considers war an necessary evil, to be avoided wherever possible.  Wars should be fought swiftly, or the army’s morale will drop, and the nation’s resources will be strained.  “There is no instance of a country having benefitted from prolonged warfare.”

He explains that all warfare is based on deception - that the army must seem incapable when it is capable; inactive when it is active; far away when it is close, and close when it is far away.

The 6 main “calamities” are flight, insubordination, collapse, ruin, disorganization, and rout.

Sun Tzu states that a great general will be skilled at “estimating the adversary; of controlling the forces of victory; and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers and distances.”

Military commanders throughout history have benefitted from The Art of War, and have credited it for some of their successes.  They include Napoléon Bonaparte, General Võ Nguyên Giáp (Vietnam People’s Army) and General Norman Schwarzkopf (Gulf War).