Sun Tzu and The Art of War: Ancient Chinese Military Strategy

Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty. He was believed to have lived somewhere in the time period of the Warring States from 476-221 BC. Scholars believe he is the author of The Art of War, an extremely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy. Other scholars however, believe that Sun Tzu was in fact a combination of different generals and tacticians and that The Art of War was a collection of their combined efforts and wisdom.

The Art of War was discovered in the 8th century in Japan where it was released to the masses and saw an explosion in popularity during the 20th century. Prior to that, it was a collection kept under secrecy allowed only to the reigning emperor. The entire work is the foundation for military tactics today. There are three key principles developed by Sun Tzu, know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 battles you will never be in peril. To win 100 battles is not the height of skill, to subdue the enemy without fighting is. Avoid what is strong and attack what is week.

Utilizing these three key principles, Sun Tzu focused on achieving his goal with the minimal amount of casualties and resources. In his book, Sun Tzu teaches “winning without conflict. ” Conflict is expensive and the cost is ultimately burdened by the people of the states. Beating opponents and winning battles may satisfy the ego, but Sun Tzu considers that goal a foolish one. This belief can be seen through every war that American has been engaged in and the cost it has taken monetarily as well as emotionally on the people.

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In every conflict that America has been engaged in, tactics and teachings of Sun Tzu were either utilized by American forces, or against American forces. During the Vietnam war, General Vo Nguyen Giap, the military mastermind behind victories over American forces in Vietnam, was an avid student and practitioner of Sun Tzu's ideas. General Giap understands Sun Tzu’s teachings of indirect attacks to confuse and utilizes insurgents to stage hit and run attacks against the Americans.

This is similar to Sun Tzu invasion of Chu, where he would attack weaker outposts drawing the main forces to that area. When the main forces arrived, Sun Tzu was already gone attacking the next weak outpost causing his enemies military to constantly stay on the move and grow tired and weaker. As Sun Tzu says, it is more important to outthink your enemy than to outfight him. Looking at Sun Tzu’s teaching, you can see that he predicted the loss of the Vietnam War by the U. S as well as the victory of WWII.

As Sun Tzu states, in war numbers alone confer no advantage, do not advance relying on sheer military power. This tactic was utilized heavily by the United States in Vietnam and they learned that despite their overwhelming military might, they cannot win this war. General Giap takes Sun Tzu’s teaching of know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 battles you will know no peril, and learns the habits of the Americans. He comes to realize that the Americans are incredibly predictable; they prepare all landing zones by blanketing the area with artillery strikes and then bring in the troops.

General Giap has his soldiers lying in wait after the artillery rounds land and ambushes the incoming American soldiers. Through knowing his enemy General Giap utilizes Sun Tzu’s teaching of indirect attack, attack the weak points avoid the strong points, and through this the CIA comes to realize that roughly 80% of the conflicts occur due to the Vietcong choosing to engage. The Vietnamese chose whether they wanted to engage American soldiers due to the utilizing and understanding of these key principles of Sun Tzu. General Giap shows his understanding of Sun Tzu no better than the Tet offensive.

Sun Tzu states, let you plans be as dark and night then strike like a thunderbolt. This is portrayed perfectly by the Vietnamese when they attack roughly 100 targets at once during the Tet holiday in Vietnam. General Giap receives orders from his superiors to conduct a full frontal assault on American forces. Realizing this is suicide he instead coordinates a massive multipronged simultaneous attack on a hundred different locations on 31January1968. The Tet offensive was prepared in total secrecy and utilized to the fullest one of Sun Tzu’s favorite tactics, the spy.

Sun Tzu states that if you discover an enemy has spy’s within your ranks, to offer him luxury and monetary incentives to turn against his country and serve you. He also emphasizes utilizing a spy to properly disseminate false information to mislead your enemy into thinking you will attack one area when you are truly attacking another. One week prior to the Tet offensive, the Vietnamese attack Khe San, one of the marine outposts. This was a distraction to draw as many troops away from the other posts prior to the Tet holiday.

This onslaught progressed for days, at one point the President of the United States made the generals of each branch sign a letter stating they would not lose Khe San. This was all going according to plan for General Giap, know your enemy’s weakness, let your plans be as dark as night, utilize indirect attacks, have spies plant misinformation, and it is more important to outthink your enemy. All of these Sun Tzu teachings come together for the main operation on 31January1968, simultaneously Vietnamese troop’s assault over 100 American military positions taking them all.

It is the most successful attack done by the North Vietnamese. AS Sun Tzu states, use a direct attack to engage and an indirect attack to win. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, depicts to the reader the foundation for any successful military engagement. General Giap utilized these principles to their fullest during Vietnam to the detriment of the United States and other allied countries. If you look at all wars, past and present you will see that those who follow his teachings are victorious, while those who do not are doomed to fail.

By following Sun Tzu’s three key principles of know your enemy and know yourself, and in 100 battles you will never be in peril, to win 100 battles is not the height of skill, to subdue the enemy without fighting is, and avoid what is strong and attack what is week, your military will never know defeat. LAURANCE KENNY 2LT, OD References: Sunzi, Ralph D. Sawyer, Mei-chu? n Sawyer, and Bin Sun. The Complete Art of War. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996. Print. Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Tokyo: Project Gutenburg, 1910. Sun Tzu/ Lionel Giles. The Art of War: Sun Tzu. London: Pax Librorium, 1905.

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