17. July 2012
First, I have to state that this page is strictly a work in progress. Comments and additions are most welcomed!
I will use it to write down anything I conclude from Sun Tzu’s Art of War and my own concepts about tactics.
If you apply the concepts which I present here, then you alone are responsible for their outcome.
I got the determination to write this article after a brief yet amazing contact with iLookChina at http://ilookchina.net/2010/08/18/sun-tzus-the-art-of-war-hq-1-of-10/.
For simplicity, I will only consider states as participants in war.
The concepts:
- What is peace?
- What is war?
- What is more natural, peace or war?
- When to stay at peace
- How to keep peace in face of an aggressor
- When to go to war
- How to end war
- Comparison: emotional enemy and rational enemy
What is peace?
I define peace as period without any act applied by any state on another which the later would not liberally agree with.
What is war?
I define war as period with peace.
What is more natural, peace or war?
Without aggressors, no war can exists. Therefore, peace is natural.
One may discuss whether human nature does not force war to exist. I fear she does.
When to stay at peace?
Peace is the best seed for human improvement, which I define as our ultimate goal. Stay at peace whenever possible.
How to keep peace in face of an aggressor.
A difficult topic which I will discuss more in depth later.
When to go to war:
Case: aggressive neighbor:
- Defense is the opposite of attack. Defense means saving lifes, attack means taking lifes.
- Those who focus on attack are weak at defense. Defense requires patience and fixed structures like Forts, attack requires strength and moveable structures if any. Therefore, attacks lack patience, so they cannot wait to fight, and their superabundance of strength makes them aggressive and easy targets for manipulation.
- Furthermore, they are not used to building defensive structures, which makes those ineffective. Ineffective structures are easy to take in, and then the untrained and aggressive defenders will panic, which ruins coordination.
- They are very willing to make long marches if they expect to meet the ennemy there. Thus, they can easily be lured into a trap, e.g. have them dry out in a desert.
- They love to underestimate defensive ennemies. Defense appears feminine while attack appears male. A feminine state will be low estimated by male states.
Conclusion: The army of an aggressive state must be baited into a trap, weakened, and finally be offered a surrender or be killed. If they cannot be baited, their defense will be weak.
One can also bait him to attack a stronger third state and keep the negotiations secret. This is killing with a borrowed knife.
Case: friendly neighbor:
Stay at peace. Use diplomacy to share useful ressources. Form a defense union.
How to end war:
At best don’t start it. End war either by winning it or by providing repair resources. Keep the image of a strong state, otherwise the target state may feel invited to launch a counter-war.
How to win a war:
Kill the commander of the targer state and put yourself into his position.
There are many different kinds of rulership system, so there is no patent-solution. Still, removing ANY potential leader gives you a useful base for further moves. Keep in mind that a state without head won’t direct it’s movements wisely.
Comparison: emotional ennemy and rational ennemy:
Emotional ennemies love peace and overview, therefore they must be put under pressure and time-limits. Extend warfare at wait for mistakes.
Rational ennemies must be attacked out of the blue and then be instantly over-demanded and prompty conquered. Lose no moment.
Nomi Sunrider 