The Art of War - Deepstash
The Art of War

Josef Nový's Key Ideas from The Art of War
by Sun Tzu

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Laying Plans

Laying Plans

The Art of War is governed by five factors:

  • The Moral Law - following your leader regardless of their life
  • Heaven - night/day, cold/heat, times and seasons
  • Earth - distances great/small, danger/security
  • The Commander - wisdom, courage, strictness, benevolence
  • Method and Discipline - marshaling of army in proper subdivisions, ranks among officers

By considering these factors, you can forecast your victory.

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603 reads

Waging War

Waging War

When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

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499 reads

Attack by Stratagem

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.

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454 reads

Tactical dispositions

Tactical dispositions

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

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Energy

Energy

The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men:

  • it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.

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Weak Points and Strong

Weak Points and Strong

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

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Maneuvering

Maneuvering

After that, comes tactical maneuvering, than which there is nothing more difficult.

The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.

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Variation in Tactics

Variation in Tactics

When in difficult country, do not encamp. In country where high roads intersect, join hands with your allies.

Do not linger in dangerously isolated positions. In hemmed-in situations, you must resort to stratagem.

In desperate position, you must fight.

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The Army on the March

The Army on the March

We come now to the question of encamping the army, and observing signs of the enemy. Pass quickly over mountains, and keep in the neighborhood of valleys. 

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Terrain

Terrain

We may distinguish six kinds of terrain, to wit:

(1) Accessible ground

(2) entangling ground

(3)temporizing ground

4) narrow passes;

(5) precipitousheights

(6) positions at a great distance from the enemy.

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The Nine Situations

The Nine Situations

The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground:

(1) Dispersive ground;

(2) facile ground; (3) contentious ground;

(4) open ground;

(5) ground of intersecting highways;

(6) serious ground;

(7) difficult ground;

(8) hemmed-in ground;

(9) desperate ground.

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196 reads

The Attack by Fire

The Attack by Fire

There are five ways of attacking with fire:

  • The first is to burn soldiers in their camp
  • The second is to burn stores
  • The third is to burn baggage trains
  • The fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines
  • The fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy

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The Use of Spies

The Use of Spies

Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State.

The daily expenditure will amount to a thousand ounces of silver. There will be commotion at home and abroad, and men will drop down exhausted on the highways.

As many as seven hundred thousand families will be impeded in their labor.

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