The Art of war, written by Sun Tzu, a Chinese military general and a strategist. There is no other book as far as military strategy and warfare is concerned that has received much attention as this book, not withstanding that the book was written around 500 and 400 BC. Even presently, most of the instructions in the book is still very much applicable both in military ,leadership, sports and even in competing business firms. But my attention will be directed to only military matters. The book itself consists of 13 chapter each of with dealt extensively about an accepts of war,such as discipline, types of grounds, rewards, and he holistically focused on the GENERAL of an army
The writter, Sun Tzu was the military general appointed to train and lead the army of the Wu kingdom against their rival,the Chu kingdom. In one instance, he killed the favourite wife of the king of wu, who was making fun as he ordered them to demonstrate a military parade. This act was done to prove that discipline was a MUST in any military setting and that war was a serious business.
Now, the Chu Kingdom was more superior in number than the wu kingdom, out-numbering them 10 to 1. The odds was very much against the Wu kingdom. But Sun Tzu took-up the challenge of conquering the Chu kingdom. His strategy was simple, ‘Quality over Quantity’. He understood his enemy perfectly then planned his attacks and prepared his army by making them as efficient as possible. For instance, during his grouping of each platoon of his army, he picked the men who had committed a capital offence and had been condemned to death or men who wanted to redeem their honor, such set of men he grouped together, to serve for most dangerous missions because as far as the kingdom was concerned those men had forfeited their lives and joining the army was the only way they could redeem their self and family honor. For the grounds of war, he suggested how the army should move across rivers, valleys or attack depending on the natural topology of the site of battle, so as to main the concept of surprise and crush the enemy.
During the ensuing battles between the Wu and Chu kingdoms, the Wu Kingdom headed by the strategist Sun Tzu was able to defeat the armies of the Chu kingdom by going on the offensive against the kingdom instead of remaining on the defensive and waiting for the inevitable. According to his philosophy, war is less destructive when it isn’t fought on one’s home land. However, he was also a firm advocate for a short war period (If every other means of avoidance of war has been exhausted), because an extended duration of war puts a large strain on the resources of a state, both in manpower and In finance.
Chu’s defeat was due to their general’s poor understanding of the actual concepts of war, also due on his dependence only in the size of his army. He failed to understand that numbers in war counts for only statistics and nothing more. Because a well planned and executed strategy, backed by technology and armaments always has, and will always defeat any size of an army.
At this point, I’ll drop my pen, but I’ll leave you to ponder on these;
- “ The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected” Sun Tzu <
- “ Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy resistance without fighting” Sun tzu<
- “ If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles” Sun tzu<
- “ It is more important to out think your enemy than to out fight him” Sun tzu<
- “ All warfare is based on deception, hence when we’re able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we’re near, we must make the enemy believe that we’re far away; when we’re far away, we must make him believe that we’re near” Sun tzu <
