Art of War
There are two books entitled The Art of War, one by Sun Tzu and one by Niccolò Machiavelli. Both are about military warfare.
Sun Tzu's Art of War
This Book is often considered to be one of the definitive tomes on military strategy.
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; Pinyin: sūn zĭ bīng fǎ; literally "Sun Tzu's Military Strategy") is a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics. It is one of the most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on both military planning and beyond. First translated two hundred years ago by Father Amiot, a French missionary, The Art of War has been credited with influencing Napoléon, the German General Staff, and even the planning of Operation Desert Storm. Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong and Giap have claimed to have drawn inspiration from the work.
The 13 chapters
Chapter titles from Lionel Giles' 1910 translation
- I. Laying Plans
- II. Waging War
- III. Attack by Stratagem
- IV. Tactical Dispositions
- V. Energy
- VI. Weak Points and Strong
- VII. Maneuvering
- VIII. Variation in Tactics
- IX. The Army On The March
- X. Terrain
- XI. The Nine Situations
- XII. The Attack By Fire
- XIII. The Use of Spies
Quotations
Verses from the book occur in modern daily Chinese idioms and phrases, such as the last verse of Chapter 3:
故曰：知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必敗
So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
This has been more tersely interpreted and condensed into the modern proverb:
知己知彼, 百戰百勝
If you know yourself as well as your enemy, you will come out of one hundred battles with one hundred victories.
Similar verses have also been borrowed -- in a manner construing skillfulness as victory "without fighting" (perhaps meaning "without traditional fighting", see Aikido) -- for example:
百戰百勝，非善之善也﹔不戰而屈人之兵，善之善者也
One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Seizing the enemy without fighting is the most skillful.
Military Applications
In many East Asian countries, The Art of War was part of the syllabus for potential candidates of military service examinations. Various translations are available and were used by some European military institutions, for instance, in Germany before World War I. In the United States Marine Corps, it is reportedly required reading for intelligence personnel and recommended for all Marines.
During Sengoku Jidai in Japan, a Samurai named Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) became almost invincible in all battles without relying on guns, because he studied The Art of War. The book even gave him the inspiration for his famous battle standard "Furinkazan" (Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain). Japanese historians say that had Shingen not died from illness, he would have become the Shogun of Japan.
During the Vietnam War, many Vietcong officers studied The Art Of War, and reportedly could recite entire passages.
Application outside of the Military
Some have suggested or implied that The Art of War is applicable to more than just military endeavors. Much of the text is about how to fight wars without actually having to do battle. It gives tips on how to outsmart one's opponent so that physical battle is not necessary. In more recent times it has been used as a training guide to prepare one for "office politics" and corporate culture, and the books have most prominently appeared in the business sections of bookstores in the West.
Many Japanese companies make this book required reading for their key executives. In recent times the book has gained widespread popularity among Western business management, who are turning to this book for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations. It has also crept its way into sport: Australian cricket coach John Buchanan handed out excerpts from the book to his players before a match against England in 2001, and the book is allegedly a favorite of University of South Carolina football head coach Steve Spurrier.
It has found use in political campaigning as well: Republican election strategist Lee Atwater claimed to travel everywhere with the book.
Some have also interpreted The Art of War as providing methods for developing social strategies, such as developing relationships in social or working circles. It stresses subtlety and always making it appear like one is trying to achieve something away from the actual intention.
The use of individual quotations from the book has been criticized by many scholars of Chinese history for using The Art of War as a source of fortune cookie-like proverbs and not seeing the general coherence of the text.
Niccolò Machiavelli's Art of War
The purpose, declared by Fabrizio at the outset, "To honor and reward virtù, not to have contempt for poverty, to esteem the modes and orders of military discipline, to constrain citizens to love one another, to live without factions, to esteem less the private than the public good." To these ends, Machiavelli notes in his preface, the military is like the roof of a palazzo protecting the contents.
Written between 1519 and 1520 and published the following year, it was the only historical or political work printed during Machiavelli's lifetime, though he was appointed official historian of Florence in 1520 and entrusted with minor civil duties.
Format
The Art of War is divided into a preface (proemio) and seven books (chapters), which take the form of a series of dialogues that take place in the green and shady retreat of a garden between Cosimo Rucellai, a friend of Machiavelli's who had died young, and "Lord Fabrizio Colonna" (a transparent disguise for Machiavelli himself), with other patrizi and captains of the recent Florentine republic. The work is dedicated to Lorenzo di Filippo Strozzi, patrizio fiorentino.
Fabrizio (Machiavelli) is enamored with the Roman Legions of the early to mid Republic and strongly advocates adapting them to the contemporary situation of Renaissance Florence.
Fabrizio dominates the discussions with his knowledge, wisdom and insights. The other characters, for the most part, simply yield to his superior knowledge and merely bring up topics, ask him questions or for clarification. These dialogues, then, often become monologues with Fabrizio detailing how an army should be raised, trained, organized, deployed and employed.
Critique
Machiavelli's Art of War, echoes many themes, issues, ideas and proposals from his earlier, more widely read works; The Prince and The Discourses. While his theories are based on a thorough study and analysis of classical and contemporary military practices, some of his proposals proved impractical for the time. For example, he underrated the effectiveness of both firearms and cavalry. However, his basic notion of emmulating Roman military practices was slowly and pragmatically adapted by many later rulers and commanders, most notably Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. They would lay the foundations for the system of Linear Tactics which would dominate the warfare of Europe and the world until after the Napoleonic Wars.
While Machiavelli's influence as a military theorist are often given a backseat to his writings as a political philosopher, he considered Dell'arte della guerra to be his most important work, since it concerned itself solely with war, which to him was the most important aspect of statecraft (The roof on the palazzo of state, afterall).
Voltaire would say, "Machiavelli taught Europe the art of war; it had long been practiced, without being known."