Pantino, Steffi Kay D.

BSA 5
TTh | 3:00 4:30 PM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Little is known of Sun Tzu's early life. He was originally born Sun Wu, the
son of an aristocrat during the Spring and Autumn period of Ancient China. He
had a strong interest in battle and became a mercenary soldier. Over time Sun Tzu
gained a reputation as a good leader of soldiers.
For generations, scholars have been trying to figure out who Sun
Tzu wasif he existed at all. Legend has it that he was a Chinese military leader in
an era known as the Spring and Autumn Period. This was a time of great turmoil
in China, as many vassal states vied for power and control of the countrys
unpopulated territories. Under these circumstances, Sun Tzus skills as a warrior
were much in demand.
The exact birth of Sun Tzu is still uncertain, due to unreliability of the
oldest available sources. The official chronicle of the State of Lu, The Spring and
Autumn Annals states that Sun Tzu was born in Qi whereas The Records of the
Grand Historian or Shiji states that Sun Tzu was a native of Wu. Both sources
agrees on the fact that he was born in the late Spring and Autumn Period of China

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(722481 BC), where he was a general and strategist, serving under the king of
Wu, King Hel. His victories at the wars inspired Sun Tzu to write The Art of
War. In the subsequent Warring States Period (475-221 BC), The Art of War
became the most widely read military treatise. Warring States Period was period
of constant war fought between seven nations (Zhao, Qi, Qin, Chu, Han, Wei and
Yan) to gain control over the vast expanse of fertile territory in Eastern China.
Sun Tzu proved his theories were effective on the battlefield as he had a
successful military career. Sun Tzus descendant, Sun Bin, also became a famous
scholar of the military arts.
The King of Wu noticed that Sun Tzu was a good leader. He brought Sun
Tzu to his palace to test him. He ordered Sun Tzu to train 180 of his concubines
(wives) as soldiers. Sun Tzu divided the women up into two groups and assigned
two of the women as their leaders. He then gave them a command. The women
just giggled. Sun Tzu had the two leaders executed. He then assigned two more
women as leaders. The next time he gave the command, the women obeyed
flawlessly.
As his knowledge about war grew, Sun Tzu had begun to form his own
theories and strategies regarding war. He tested many of them out as general for
the King of Wu. When the state of Wu went to war against the powerful Chu state,
Sun Tzu led them to many victories including the capture of the Chu capital city
of Ying.

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Sun Tzu wrote down his theories about war in a book called the Art of
War. This became one of the most famous books on war strategy in the world.
There are thirteen chapters in the book. Each one describing strategies for a
different aspect of war. Sun Tzu did not advocate war. He recommended avoiding
war if possible, but also thought that it was best to win any war quickly. He
believed that long wars were harmful even for the winner.
ECONOMIC RELEVANCE
Written nearly 2500 years ago by ancient Chinese philosopher Sun
Tzu, The Art of War was written for the purpose of victory on the battlefield.
However, The Art of War still remains an effective tool not only
formilitary warfare, but serves as a philosophy for business administration and
successful leadership in ourmodern age as well. Sun Tzu states, To win without
fighting is best. And the point of The Art of War is to help people learn
to negotiate conflicts and learn guidelines to succeed.
Sun Tzu's "Art of War" presents thirteen chapters that describe how
to factor in all important variables when trying to win a conflict. The strategic
thinking principles can be applied to military problems as well as the challenges
of the marketplace or even personal struggles. The stakes in war are too high for
the state to lose, so therefore it must only employ its military tools when it can
achieve victory. The economics of warfare is repeatedly stressed by Sun Tzu

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because of the heavy toll that maintaining an army in the field extracts from its
society. War should not be the first tool that a state uses to gain its desired
outcomes because it is so expensive.
Other concepts discussed include simplicity, secrecy, deception,
practicality, responsibility, practicality, shared objective, strategy, structure,
system, staff, skill, style, innovation leadership and mergers and acquisitions.
What I like about the words of Sun Tzu is that he is quick to the point. There
arent a lot of wordy explanations, just very precise statements, which adds to the
books effectiveness.
Ever since The Art of War was published, military leaders have been
following its advice. In the twentieth century, the Communist leader Mao Zedong
said that the lessons he learned from The Art of War helped him defeat Chiang
Kai-Sheks Nationalist forces during the Chinese Civil War. Other recent devotees
of Sun Tzus work include Viet Minh commanders Vo Nguyen Giap and Ho Chi
Minh and American Gulf War generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell.
Meanwhile, executives and lawyers use the teachings of The Art of War to
get the upper hand in negotiations and to win trials. Business-school professors
assign the book to their students and sports coaches use it to win games. It has
even been the subject of a self-help dating guide. Plainly, this 2,500-year-old book
still resonates with a 21st-century audience.

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POLITICS
The Art of War has been applied to many fields well outside of the
military. Much of the text is about how to fight wars without actually having to do
battle: it gives tips on how to outsmart one's opponent so that physical battle is not
necessary. As such, it has found application as a training guide for many
competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat. One such field is that of
politics.
The political dimensions of

The Art of War are examined

through three perspectives. Direct references to politics have been shortly

depicted at first, then praxiological core of Sun Tzus principles, and then some
game-theoretical aspects that were developed into more complex problems. The
Art of War by Sun Tzu refers directly topolitics in a few cases only and his
remarks are clearly too limited to consider him as a political thinker. However, a
wider praxiological aspect of Sun Tzus ideas makes them suitable to be applied
to other domains of social life.

ANALYSIS

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The book, dating back beyond 1500 B.C., has been used by many business
people as some sort of a blueprint in embarking financial decisions. Some of
those who read it pereceive it as a model for creating tactics, and structure of
operations for business and for life. It is viewed in this manner because the
subject is so readily applicable to the characteristics that make up the business
game.

In the first several chapters of the Art of war Sun Tzu talks about three
main military strategies they are detail assessment and planning, waging war and
strategic attacks. At first I found this book to be a bit confusing but after getting
into it I began to understand what Sun Tzu was trying to say about how many
variables there are in warfare. There are so many things that he could not control.
But he knew how to use them for his advantage. Tzu laid out 5 main factors to
success in warfare they are the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and
management. After I began to think more in depth about this I realized how smart
Tzu was. He had figured out the military keys to success 100s of years before
people began to think about in depth military strategy. This book reminded me
somewhat of the Mongols when we studied them, and without these 5 key
ingredients they would not have been successful.
In the second and third chapters Tzu talks about waging war and strategic
attacks. After reading about his explanations of how to understand the economy of

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warfare and in order to be successful you need to go for the jugular, it made me
realize how much of a military mastermind this guy was for someone in his day.
Once again I was reminded of the Mongols when he talked about unity being
another key ingredient to success and that how unity could defeat numbers. Like I
mentioned earlier this book was like a game of chess, in how Tzu spoke of
strategies and thinking ahead of his opponent. I really enjoyed reading the first
half of this book even though it was a bit confusing at times.
CONCLUSION

The Art of War is about military philosophy which was written about 2500
years ago, and yet its relevance to the modern world is one that is interesting to
note since its primary purpose was for warfare advice for the Chinese rulers back
then, It offers situations, on how you will defeat an enemy by starting with a
single step, which is to be ready and prepared. A speedy reaction time is not
always easy, but the faster you can cope up with every situation, the better results
show in only a short amount of time.

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