Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher who lived in the Spring and Autumn Period of ancient China, 771 to 476 BC. His name at birth was Sun Wu, known outside of his family by the name Changqing, later he became known as Sun tzu (Sun Zi to some). He is credited for writing “The Art of War”, an extremely influential Chinese novel on military strategy. Sun Wu has had a significant impact on Asian, especially Chinese, history and culture, both the an author but also as an important historical figure. Sima Qian along with other traditional historians place Sun Wu as a minister to King Helü of Wu and dated his lifetime to 544 to 496 BCE. Modern scholars however place the existing text of The Art of War in the
…show more content…
Even his adult life is somewhat unclear, uncertainties and conflicting opinions make it hard to sure about all the actions he took before and after the novel was written. Most his ideas are known threw the novel, but are sometimes also unclear due to translation differences.
The art of war has 13 major ideas, once for each chapter. Detail assessment and planning, waging war, strategic attack, disposition of the army, forces, weaknesses and strengths, military maneuvers, variations and adaptability, movement and development of troops, terrain, the nine battlegrounds, attacking with fire, intelligence and espionage are the 13 main ideas of the chapters. All the ideas themselves are self explanatory, and lead to a successful campaign. The novel defined the the way the armies worked at the time along with the 6 other military strategy books .
The art of war still plays a major role in military planning to this day. This is mainly shown in Asia, where parts of the novel are used in test to get into the military, so much so that in Vietnam officers that studied The Art of War could reportedly recite entire passages from memory. It is also a required reading for some members of the United States forces, and is required to be kept in military bases libraries. Some older examples are General Vo Nguyen Giap implementing ideas from the novel in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, and a daimyo named Takeda Shingen becoming “invincible” due to the study of the
Even his adult life is somewhat unclear, uncertainties and conflicting opinions make it hard to sure about all the actions he took before and after the novel was written. Most his ideas are known threw the novel, but are sometimes also unclear due to translation differences.
The art of war has 13 major ideas, once for each chapter. Detail assessment and planning, waging war, strategic attack, disposition of the army, forces, weaknesses and strengths, military maneuvers, variations and adaptability, movement and development of troops, terrain, the nine battlegrounds, attacking with fire, intelligence and espionage are the 13 main ideas of the chapters. All the ideas themselves are self explanatory, and lead to a successful campaign. The novel defined the the way the armies worked at the time along with the 6 other military strategy books .
The art of war still plays a major role in military planning to this day. This is mainly shown in Asia, where parts of the novel are used in test to get into the military, so much so that in Vietnam officers that studied The Art of War could reportedly recite entire passages from memory. It is also a required reading for some members of the United States forces, and is required to be kept in military bases libraries. Some older examples are General Vo Nguyen Giap implementing ideas from the novel in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, and a daimyo named Takeda Shingen becoming “invincible” due to the study of the