Art of War Summary

7.) To what extent is Lao-tzu in favor of military action? What seems to be his views about the military?

This essay will explore the influences of Sun Tzu in the Second World War. Sun Tzu (544 – 496 BC) was a Chinese general and strategist in times of the Zhou dynasty. His techniques, even today are highly respected. The teachings of Sun Tzu were used not only in Asia and Europe but have also been applied today by the western society.

In the following sections, the author explains how “Search and Destroy Strategy” uses the soldiers as bait to attract the enemies. Soldiers were dehumanized by basic training, proceeding by American’s war strategy. Appy also explains that the helicopters were useless to locate the enemies in thick terrains. As the war progresses, the soldiers have little idea whether they were dealing with their enemies or the defenseless civilians. Formulate rules of engagement offers

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a time of immense change in Europe. Germany had recently unified, destabilizing the centuries-old balance of power. The second industrial revolution was in full swing, and Europeans thrilled to the latest inventions, from the skyscraper, the first airplanes, and, most ominously, to the machine guns of Maxim and Krupp. During this time, Europeans perceived sports in a number of ways. First of all, many saw sports as an arena to train their nations for war. Secondly, others saw sports as a unifying principle around which to build nationalism and ethnic identity. Finally, many simply saw sports simply as a healthy and productive activity.

Carl Von Clausewitz and Helmuth Moltke the Elder were both practitioners and theorists of the war art in the 19th century. Their military thoughts on war’s character and its dynamics have influenced the later militaries in the conduct of war. Particularly, the Clausewitzian concept of the “culminating point of victory” and the Moltke’s principle of “Auftragstaktik”, or mission type tactics by a decentralized command were implemented and culminated in the battlefield of World War II. Moreover, today, the US Army has adopted both concepts in its latest refined “AirLand Battle” doctrine recognizing their importance in the operational art of modern warfare.

Clausewitz who was convinced that no theory of war could be taken seriously unless it included the psychology of commanders and soldiers and their relations to one another (Peter Paret, Napoleon and the Revolution in War, pg. 134). The human factor within the nature of war is the most complex and difficult to predict a sure outcome without addressing psychological state of the enemy and environment in with you are about to conduct operations. Boyd integrates the key ideas of two primary theorists, Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz, and hypothesizes that making sense of one’s environment, making military decisions, and acting on those decisions is a respective, competitive process (OODA loop) in which one seeks to make faster and better decisions than one’s adversary, overwhelming his ability to make sense of his environment and cope with change. (Module 3, John Boyd and A Discourse on Winning and Losing, pg. 6). This thought process is relevant today through our military war games, operation plans, and TDG’s providing an opportunity for multiple levels of outcome based scenarios fundamentally rooted in understanding the

“The Tragedy of war is that it uses man’s best to do man’s worst” wise words from Henry Fosdick. When it comes down to the time where an individual hits rock bottom, a man either do its best or do its worst. Although, Man can do its best and do its worst at the same time. There are many reasons how man’s best can result to man’s worst. Henry Fosdick statement is both true and false.

In the primary sources, Sun Tzu's Art of War and Tyrtaeus's Praise of Virtuosity of Citizen Soldier both have a sense on the war aspect. While analyzing and examining both documents the focus will be on: main ideas, speakers and audiences, how the documents reflect the societies, gender, and personal criticisms. Sun Tzu's main idea in the Art of War excerpt is to explain the basic rules of warfare and gives military leaders advice on when and how to fight. Throughout the document Sun Tzu he goes into detail about positional strategy. In the first chapter he uses the strategy "Laying Plans", which is governed by five constant factors: The Moral Law, Heaven, Earth, The Commander, and Method and Discipline.

The United States has the most capable intelligence apparatus of any country in the world. The information produced by various agencies gives the United States a substantial advantage when it comes to understanding world events, predicting and preparing for unsettled times, fielding military forces, and making a host of other political and economic decisions. From an ethical perspective, it means that the United States Intelligences information can create the risk of security for the United

To look at how Lao Tzu’s philosophy influenced Sun Tzu’s, The Art of War, one must understand the point of view in context with the writers. Eastern philosophy is much different from those of its Western counterparts. The Western world has more of an inner focus on “determinism and moral responsibility.” Ones reasoning, logic, and ethics play a role with the decisions they make. While the Eastern world has more of a focus on the foundational beliefs of “fundamental connectedness”, and “personal liberation”. The

In his book The War of Art, Steven Pressfield talks about resistance. He defines resistance as self-sabotage of anything in the lines of creativity, art, music, spirituality, and more. Pressfield describes many characteristics of resistance in the first half of his book.

Sun Tzu understood the nature of war as “the province of life or death,” and a “matter of vital importance to the state.”1 I agree. In my own experience, war awakens your primordial instincts and strips you of your self-rationalizations. Sun Tzu defined the character of war when he wrote, “water has no constant form, there are in war no constant conditions.”2 Accordingly, Sun Tzu’s principals of war offer a framework adequate to explain the nature and character of 21st century warfare, which I rationalize as a near-continuous battle of ideologies fought through asymmetric means to advance the values and interests of state and non-state actors.

This was a tactic in attempts to keep the enemy guessing and to cause the enemy to feel threatened and unsafe. It was a good strategy to trick the enemy into always thinking and feeling that an attack would happen at any given moment, something that would cause the enemy to develop stress or become restless with less chances of obtaining a sense of peace or assuming that an attack was not going to happen. If one was able to master the technique of deception, then it was likely that one will increase the chances of victory. In addition, it was crucial to become aware and analyze the enemy in order to determine if a planned and deceptive attack would work. Or, it was better to avoid confrontation if it was determined that the enemy would be stronger. Sun Tzu took into consideration that pacifism was also an important option which would benefit future and better planned attacks. He also made it clear from the beginning of his documentation that he took analytical measurements into account and the one that made more precise calculations than the enemy, one will win the war.

Lessons from the Sun Tzu theory of war about potential war between Vietnam and China in 21st Century

Sun Tzu Wu, also known as Sunzi, was a military strategist and general who served the state of Wu near the end of the Spring and Autumn Period between 770 and 476 bc. His art of war earned him the attention of the Ho Lu, the King of Wu, and after a demonstration of his skills he was appointed general over the Wu forces. Sun Tu defeated the Ch’u state in the west and the Ch’I and chin states in the north which spread his fame abroad amongst the feudal princes.