Objective Analysis
69. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (Sunzi bingfa) is a remarkably lucid, compact and sometimes enigmatic treatise. Although the main purpose was to be applied in war, its philosophies can be applied in any activity involved with conflicts or competition. Written in the sixth century BCE, it emphasises the role of military force in international relations: “Warfare is the greatest affair of the state, the basis of life and death, the Way (Tao) to survival or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analysed.” Several points about The Art of War are frequently noted. First, the text appears to suggest ambivalence about employing violence: “One who excels at employing the military, subjugates other people’s armies without
…show more content…
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”. To prevent the enemy from fathoming one’s intentions is of the first importance. Thus deceived, the enemy will not know whether or where to attack or defend and, thus, will have to prepare on all fronts. Such an enemy has his forces stretched, is consequently weak everywhere, and will certainly be defeated.
72. If it is essential to keep all knowledge of one’s operations secret, it is equally vital to know as much as possible of the enemy’s plans. Good intelligence is a second essential in war, and this lies behind Sun Tzu’s view that an extensive spy network is a basic necessity. “Wars are won as a result of good ‘foreknowledge’ (i.e. intelligence) and this cannot be elicited from spirits, or from gods, or by analogy with past events, nor by astrological calculations. It must be obtained from men who know the enemy situation.” The Army relies on the information gathered by spies for its every move. There is no place, Sun Tzu argues, where espionage is not possible, and a large network of well-paid spies is a requisite and valuable investment for the state. As Sun Tzu stresses, knowledge or intelligence is of vital importance in war.
73. The person responsible for strategy, and so for deceiving the enemy and evaluating the
How should leaders approach the ideas of peace and war? This question has fascinated those in positions of power for ages. Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu believes that war should only take place in the direst of situations and should not be considered virtuous (61; sec. 31). On the contrary, Niccolo Machiavelli, a fifteenth-century Italian philosopher, states, “A prince, therefore, must not have any other object nor any other thought, nor must he take anything as his profession but war…” (86). While Lao-Tzu formulates an ideal approach to war and Machiavelli a practical one, neither one of their strategies would be effective in the real world; leaders must conduct their military with a balance of serenity and brutality.
Nicolo Machiavelli’s The Prince and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War both both provide directions for leadership with similar goals. The Prince is primarily geared towards providing valuable information about how a ruler of many principalities may govern different populations and acquire new lands. The Art of War provides us with a schematic of the optimal path to victory. This book is instead directed towards generals of powerful militaries with only the goal of winning. Concepts such as Machiavelli’s view of destruction will be contrasted with Sun Tzu’s victory-oriented argument for taking whole and several of their other ideas will be compared. Although Machiavelli and Sun Tzu have different intended audiences, many of their ancient tactics can
“Weapons are tools of fear. A decent man will avoid them.” Lao-tzu is against military action. The only way he is in favor of military action is in the “direst necessity.” And only in the most
Today, no one seems to give much value of literary works or reading. Not because it doesn’t give anything beneficiary, but because not everyone had the urged to at least finish a book. We now live in a world where social medias almost dominates our daily activities. It’s unlikely to have a place for us to consume a non-fiction or fiction book. As absurd as it sounds but that’s how people often think. We now live in an egalitarian society, where everyone is given the freedom and right of its own.
Lao-Tzu’s stand on war is not what one might expect; he believes that peace has more power than war and that all men with a good set of morals look down upon the men who seek to fight. Along with war being an unnecessary product of compromise, Lao-Tzu view’s weapons as a disgrace as well; this idea is shown on page 209 when he adds, “Weapons are the tools of violence; all decent men detest them.” He later then states, “There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself, no greater misfortune than having an enemy,” (page 210). Lao-Tzu detests war and sees it as a shame to even take part of the hate that is involved with fighting. On the other hand, Machiavelli suggests that it is fit for a leader to show close to perfect fighting techniques on and off the battlefield. War is shown as a lesson of fortitude for leaders during his time, Machiavelli explains, “Its institution, and its discipline; because that is the only profession which befits one who commands; and it is of such importance,” (page 221). He later discusses, on page 222, how a leader must train in his free time to prepare and become the most powerful fighter of all the men by mentioning, “and in peacetime he must train himself more than in time of war; this can be done in two ways: one by action, the other by the mind.” One can conclude that Machiavelli defines a strong leader through both psychological warfare and hand to hand combat. He also sees war as a learning curve for the men who wish to become a leader; Machiavelli’s understanding off a strong leader
Espionage at the commencement of the American Civil War was not an organized system; however the war necessitated the development of more structured intelligence systems for both the Union and the Confederacy. By the middle of the war the dimensions of the espionage system had augmented significantly. Thus espionage came to play a critically important role that affected general’s decisions in both the North and the South, ultimately affecting the outcome of the Civil War as a whole.
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.
Intelligence gathering and collection in the United States has significantly increased over time. This paper examines how intelligence reporting and pre-mission planning was crucial to the success of the United Nations involvement at The Battle of Inchon during the Korean War. By examining how intelligence played a role in this battle, you will be able to understand why it is important to gather and collect intelligence prior to every mission executed. Intelligence collection should be the baseline for all military operations. Inchon Landing has an ample amount of actionable intelligence; collected and disseminated appropriately we will discuss how it played a role in a low probability mission accomplishment to the last great amphibious assault in history. This paper provides detailed explanations on why The Battle of Inchon was a success and what could have been the outcome had it gone the other way.
War is a human endeavor. Humanity continually pursues solutions to counter evolving threats with the end of preserving power while also enabling peace. Civilizations resort to war to maintain their perception of this equilibrium. Defined threats and adversaries have changed throughout history, however, the essence of human nature and the base concept of conflict itself have not. Carl von Clausewitz’s theories on warfare capture the relationship between humanity and its application of war, remaining relevant in today’s era through their pensive explanations of timeless philosophical principles regarding the concept of war. These theories regarding war in politics, the key factors affecting war, and the extent that war is applied are inherently interconnected, providing insight on the relationships between humanity and its application of war.
By discovering the enemy’s disposition and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy must be divided.
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
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.
War or conflict is a part of the mankind’s world. Although nobody likes war but it still exists as a certain fact with various appearances and characters. In the 21st century, the phantom of the war and terrorism become a truly threaten to international community. In Vietnam, there is no terrorism or religious war. Frankly, Vietnam does not have to deal with this complicated issues. However, Vietnam is facing to many unforeseen risks that directly threaten against the security and national defense as well stability and development of Vietnam. One of that unforeseen risks is potential war between Vietnam and China. The Sun Tzu
What is the ‘Principles of War'? An answer for this can be said that the ‘Principles of War' apart from wars itself can aid to understanding strategic rules that can be used in conducting military operations, law, business and life on the hold. This has stood the test of practice, experimentation and analysis by a Chinese philosopher called Sun Tzu, circa 500 BC who captured the essence of his philosophies in a book called ‘Sun Tzu on the Art of War'. To any country or state the ‘Art of War'
The theories that can be applied for business purpose is Line 3.38 when ignorant of the affairs of the enemy to participate and interfere with the army’s administration and Line 3.39 This causes the officers and men to be confused and perplexed. The theories explain that the company must be lead by an effective board of director because the right person for each position in the company will help the company to make a wise decision which will guide the company achieves goals. Besides, as a leader must always prepared themselves and get close with their subordinates. If a company is manage by an incapable person, the company will having a risk of takeover by another competitors. If the situation is getting worse, the company may have facing financial crisis and even have the risk to face bankruptcy in the near future. As an example, Proton Company has poor market sales compared to Toyota Company which is very strong competitors to compete with. Proton Company sales are not comparable with Toyota company because Proton Company does not have effective board of director as Toyota Company to manage the business. Therefore, this problem have lead the Proton Company take risk in the market and their customer are