📚 The Art of War ⚔️

Despite its high status, in some ways, it did not fully live up to the hype it carries. I collected a summary on its core principles, aiming to provide a nuanced perspective on what is often considered the ultimate manual on strategy and conflict resolution.

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About the book

Author:	Sun Tuz
Year of release:	1772
Genre:	Classics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, War, Politics, Leadership
Pages:	270
Average WPM:	200
Date Started/Finished:	13 to 14 August 2022
Time took:	0.89 Hours

What I Didn’t Like About It

• Overhyped so I had high expectations, it didn’t live up to it

Summary + Notes

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Chapter 1 - Laying Plans

• 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. These are:
  1. the Moral Law;
     • 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.
  2. Heaven;
     • Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.
  3. Earth;
     • Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.
  4. The Commander;
     • Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness.
  5. Method and Discipline;
     • method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers

• These 5 heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.

• According as circumstances are favourable, one should modify one’s plans.

• All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

• If he is in superior strength, evade him.

• If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

• If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.

• Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

Chapter 2 - Waging War

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

Chapter 3 - Attack by Stratagem

to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.

Thus the highest form of generalship is to baulk the enemy’s plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy’s forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy’s army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.

• There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon his army: —
  1. By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army.
  2. By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier’s minds.
  3. By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
• army, and flinging victory away. Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:
  1. He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.　
  2. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.　
  3. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.　
  4. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.　
  5. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

Hence the saying: 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.

Chapter 4 - Tactical Dispositions

• The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

• One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.

• In respect of military method, we have, firstly, Measurement; secondly, Estimation of quantity; thirdly, Calculation; fourthly, Balancing of chances; fifthly, Victory.

Chapter 5 - Energy

Sun Tzu said: The control of a large force is the same in principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.

Chapter 6 - Weak Points and Strong

• Sun Tzu said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

• Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him.

• By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord; or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near.

• Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.

Chapter 7 - Manoeuvring

• We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbours.

• It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor to oppose him when he comes downhill.

• Do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight; do not attack soldiers whose temper is keen.

Chapter 8 - Variation in Tactics

There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general:

1. Recklessness, which leads to destruction;　
2. cowardice, which leads to capture;　
3. a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;　
4. a delicacy of honour which is sensitive to shame;　
5. over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.　

Chapter 9 - The Army on the March

• The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade. Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming.

• Therefore soldiers must be treated in the first instance with humanity, but kept under control by means of iron discipline. This is a certain road to victory.

• If in training soldiers commands are habitually enforced, the army will be well-disciplined; if not, its discipline will be bad.

Chapter 10 - Terrain

• Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.

• Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete

Chapter 13 - The Use of Spies

what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge. Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation. Knowledge of the enemy’s dispositions can only be obtained from other men.