The Art of War
Human history may be said to be one of warfare. Indeed, as we progress into the twenty-first century, America is still militarily involved in the Middle East, tensions are high in East Asia, and the Indo-Pakistani conflict continues to rage on, not to mention Darfur and the ever-present reality of war in Africa. Even as technology advances, the tactics utilized by Alexander the Great are essentially the same as those used during the Gulf War. In fact, these strategies and tactics were outlined centuries beforehand in one of the most famous and enduring military texts ever written: Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.
Written over twenty-five hundred years ago, The Art of War is a military treatise that outlines the accumulated knowledge of warfare as understood by a society steeped in prolonged conflagration, making its leaders highly skilled in tactics and strategy.[1] Adapted from the conditions of Ancient China, The Art of War outlines, among other things, the conception of grand strategy, minimizing one’s own weaknesses while capitalizing on the weaknesses of the enemy, maneuvering, and the use of terrain. While The Art of War is a guide to warfare in a definition, the principles defining the “correct” manner of warfare as asserted by Sun Tzu are often presented with strong philosophical undertones, like the famous quote, “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. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”[2]
The principles described in The Art of War have survived and been utilized in nearly every major conflict since the text was created. France’s army created entirely of inflated balloon doppelgangers used to draw Hitler’s attention away from the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II is an illustrative example of the principle that “all warfare is based on deception.”[3] To cite another case of adherence, the North Vietnamese utilized the numerous principles of guerilla warfare espoused in The Art of War, prolonging the Vietnam War to the point that American was forced to retract its military presence in the country.
While the military applications of The Art of War are long and storied, a new field has been applying the principles of this ancient Chinese text: business. Many business men and women view the contemporary corporate world as an economic battlefield, and accordingly, attempt to apply Sun Tzu’s principles. Whether or not this is an appropriate context for The Art of War remains questionable, but the influence is still strong. More than two and a half millennia after its creation, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War remains an influential text, whether one is attempting to minimize losses in a world war or maximize profits in the fourth quarter.
Works Cited
Niou, Emerson M.S. and Peter C. Ordeshook. “A Game-Theoretic Interpretation of Sun Tzu’s
The Art of War.” Journal of Peace Research 31, no. 2 (1994), 161-174.
Tzu, Sun. The Art of War. Trans. Lionel Giles. http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html.
[1] Emerson M.S. Niou and Peter C. Ordeshook, “A Game-Theoretic Interpretation of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War,” Journal of Peace Research 31, no. 2 (1994), 161.
[2] Sun Tzu, “III. Attack by Stratagem,” The Art of War, trans. Lionel Giles, 18., http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html, accessed February 15, 2013.
[3] Sun Tzu, “I. Laying Plans,” The Art of War, trans. Lionel Giles, 18.
The Cave 