The Art of War

The Art of War
Thoughts from Madison Nef
Part One (Laying Plans)
Sun-tzu believed that the “art of war” was governed by five main factors: The Moral Law, Heaven, Earth, The Commander, and Method and Discipline.
• Moral Law is what makes the people be in accord with their ruler- so they will follow him no matter what, even if death is imminent.
• Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.
• Earth stands for distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; and the chances of life and death.
• The Commander represents the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness.
• Method and discipline are the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among officers, the maintenance of roads that are used to bring supplies to the army, and the control of military expenses.
“These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious, and he who knows them not will fail.”
 “All warfare is based on deception. 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.”
I agree with this. In war, intimidation and deception ARE key points to winning. There would be no need to make a plan to attack the enemy in a certain way if the enemy had automatic access to the plan and knew the attack was coming! It is the same way in karate. Deception is a large part of sparring- being able to fake movements so that you can score the first point. Intimidating people is another good tactic in both war and sparring. If you are feared, people are less likely to attack you quickly. In fact, in the sparring ring, if you are feared, people are more likely to be defensive and not attack at all!
“Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
 If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
 If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
 If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
 Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
 These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.”

Sun-tzu ends the first part of the book by saying that he who makes few calculations before battle often loses, while the winner has often planned and made calculations in advance. My dad is constantly telling me before sparring matches to have a plan before I go in- otherwise, I won’t be prepared and will fight blindly. I agree that this is best- going into anything and having no strategy is never good.
 “All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”- Sun-tzu

Part Two (Waging War)
“In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.”
Sun-tzu knew that if a war took a long time, the weapons would grow dull… if you lay siege to a town, your strength would get exhausted. There has never been an account in history where anyone ever benefited from prolonged warfare. He also knew that if other armies and generals saw this exhaustion and lack of goods, they would take advantage of the position and attack. If attacked when low on resources, as Sun-tzu says, “no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue”.

Sun-tzu believed in foraging off the enemy, saying to bring supplies from home, but never load your supply-wagons twice. Foraging off the enemy would supply enough for your army so that your resources would never be depleted.
“With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated; while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.”

The point is to forage. If you don’t, you’re leaving the enemy with resources AND your own resources will dry up faster. If your resources dry up, your army grows weak, and if your army grows weak, you are sure to fail. It’s a vicious cycle, really. “Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy’s provisions is equivalent to twenty of one’s own”.
“Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards. Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one's own strength. In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people's fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril.”
Incentive always helps. For example, if I’m doing really tough schoolwork and want to quit, my incentive is playing video games. I know I’m not allowed to play xBox OR any online game until all my homework is done, so I have good reason to finish it. As said above: let your great object be victory (finishing schoolwork) not lengthy campaigns (letting schoolwork drag on for weeks and weeks… like this paper).


Part Three (Attack by Stratagem)
“In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”
Well, that pretty much says it. Sun-tzu believed that it was better to win wars while dealing as little damage as possible- because the more damage you deal, the longer time it takes and the more energy you use. “The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided”.  He knew that too often, generals would become frustrated with the enemy quickly and not want to plan things out, and would command the army to attack. The result would be manslaughter, often with a third of the army being killed and the town still standing untouched.
“Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem.”

According to Sun-tzu, there are three ways in which a ruler could bring misfortune to himself and his army:
1) By commanding his army to advance or retreat- ignoring the fact that it can’t. This is called hobbling the army.
2) By trying to run and govern his army in the same way which he governs his kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier’s minds.
3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
If the army is restless, distrustful and has a low confidence level, the enemy will attack more freely. Bringing misfortune to your army is inviting danger in and discarding any hopes of victory.

“Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. (2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. (3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. (4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. (5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.”
The same applies to life, really. (1) You have to know what is worth your time and what isn’t, and when to speak and what to say. (2) You will learn how to deal with many different types of people, and meet many different personalities. (3) Your family represents your army. Often times, your family has similar thoughts and feelings to you- and regardless of this, they always have your back. (4) In this case, the enemy could be anything. The true moral of this quote is to be prepared for anything that life throws at you. Being unprepared can lead to huge mistakes that are not worth it in the end.

“Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”