Sun Tzu Art of War for Maxis

Drill and discipline, are what make it possible for a victory in battle. If warriors going into battle are not accurately trained in the practice of drill and discipline it can result in a mere senseless blood brawl ending with large amounts of casualties and grave losses. In the battle of Agincourt 1415 is was a battle between King Henry V of England whom wanted to reclaim lands both “won and lost during the previous century” from France which was under the rule of King Charles VI although the army outnumbered the English, it was in this battle the French suffered many casualties due to poor strategy. In the battle of Waterloo 1815 two hundred years later it was a battle between the English army commended by the Duke of Wellington and

Throughout time, countless surrenders have occurred, the most common in war. In John Steinbeck's novel The Moon Is Down, a small town surrenders to invaders that changes how the people act and think. In Antigone, Antigone never surrenders, trying to put moral beliefs before the law. The poem and movie Invictus suggest to never surrender and to control fate or destiny. This idea of surrendering is a motif in the works of The Moon Is Down, Antigone, and Invictus. In the face of adversity, the human spirit prevails in those who never surrender what they love.

" The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices...to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill...and suspicion can destroy...and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own -- for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is...that these things cannot be confined...to the Twilight Zone."

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” (Budha).

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

7. “The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into sphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise…make the masses to comfortable.”

“...still show spirit of alacrity…” (Waldo 151). This quote shows that nevertheless they still have a cheerful willingness to fight. The harder we fight the more eagerness to have glorious triumph ( Paine 153). This information shows that the harder we try, the better the consequence.

“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 order to live a fulfilled life, we must go through “bloodshed” and be able to overcome it with our own strengths.

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.

That to beat and force Fortune down is to not be afraid of its opposition. The fear of such could cripple Fortune’s resistor from executing decisions impetuously. Decisions like these may compromise safety, but prove themselves necessary at times for the prosperity of the resistor.

The comprehension of the term ‘total war’ has had great significance towards the understanding as to how wars are fought, affect society and differ from other conflicts. The main issue that arises is conclusively defining total war and is continually differing between both historians and military combatants alike. Roger Chickering defines states “total war is distinguished by its intensity and extent. Theatres of operation span the globe; the scale of the battle is practically limitless” all the while adding “total war requires the mobilisation not only of armed forced but also of whole populations” This definition, while not quintessential is a good starting point for a definition due to its broadness and acceptance of the idea of the incapability to fully mobilise a society’s entire resource. David A. Bell states that it is often defined as ‘a war involving the complete mobilization of a society’s resources to achieve the absolute destruction of an enemy, with all distinction erased between combatants and non-combatants’ . However, he notes the limitations of such an idea including the inability for societies to meet such criterion, in particular, the ability for a society to completely utilise its resources towards the war effort. Ultimately, Jeremey black, while not giving a conclusive definition for the term, total war, does acknowledge different definitions by various individuals distilling many of their arguments and consequently outlining main characteristics of

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.

Throughout the ages of history, there were many wars that were fought. For every victory and defeat, what was it that really determined the outcome of the war? Which army leader had the better or worse battle plan? With the plan they had, did it increase their chances of victory? Were there key factors in an army leader’s plan that lead to their defeat? Or, was the best decision made to completely avoid war? For a lot of the wars that took place and the ones that were avoided many years ago, the mystery still remains unsolved on how and why certain army leaders were victorious or gained a certain advantage because of the choices they made. On the other hand, it is also unknown on how or why an army leader failed to a certain extent

This essay intends to define and give an overview of the ‘Principles of War', the philosophers that coined these principles and with examples from the various countries that used and have their own perspectives on the ‘Principles of War'.