Art of War

By Sun Tzu

A short treatise on warfare from ancient China, traditionally credited to Sun Tzu, a general said to have served the king of Wu around the end of the sixth century BC. Its thirteen chapters are made up of brief numbered sayings. It opens with the planning that should come before any campaign, weighing a state's prospects against five fundamental factors, among them the qualities of the commander and the discipline of the army, and moves on through the cost of war, attack by stratagem, the use of ground, the conduct of an army on the march, attack by fire and, last, the employment of spies. Throughout, it treats war as a matter of life and death for the state, decided by calculation, deception and timing rather than courage alone, and holds that the best victory is the one won without a battle.

Description community-written - CC BY-SA 4.0.

Genres: business, classics, history, military-history, parenting-relationships, philosophy, politics, religion-spirituality, self-help

Recordings