Sun Tzu's Art Of War Principles

The Art of War: Written around the 5th century BC and credited to the general Sun Tzu of the state of Wu, this 13 chapter treatise argues that the supreme victory is the one won without fighting, and it has shaped strategy in war rooms, boardrooms, locker rooms and campaign offices for 2,500 years.

Sun Tzu: According to the historian Sima Qian, King Helü of Wu tested him by having him drill 180 palace women; when they laughed at his commands, he executed the king's two favorite concubines who led them, and the rest obeyed flawlessly.

Yinqueshan Han Slips: In 1972, workers in Shandong uncovered a Han dynasty tomb holding bamboo strips with the oldest known copy of The Art of War, plus a lost text by Sun Bin that proved the two strategists were different men.

Sun Bin: Sun Tzu's descendant had his kneecaps removed by a jealous rival, Pang Juan, then got revenge at the Battle of Maling by cutting his army's campfires each night to fake mass desertion, luring Pang into a fatal ambush.

Battle of Boju: In 506 BC the small state of Wu, traditionally with Sun Tzu advising, crushed the far larger army of Chu and captured its capital Ying, the victory that built his legend.

Cao Cao: The warlord made famous by the Three Kingdoms wrote the earliest surviving commentary on The Art of War around 200 AD, and his edited version is essentially the text we read today.

Seven Military Classics: In 1080 the Song dynasty placed The Art of War first in an official canon of seven strategy texts that officers had to master to pass the imperial military exams.

Thirty Six Stratagems: This later Chinese collection of dirty tricks, like 'kill with a borrowed knife,' is constantly misattributed to Sun Tzu, though it was compiled well over a thousand years after him.

Takeda Shingen: The samurai warlord's battle banner read Fūrinkazan, 'swift as wind, silent as forest, fierce as fire, immovable as mountain,' lifted almost word for word from Sun Tzu's seventh chapter.

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot: A French Jesuit living in Beijing published the first European translation in 1772, introducing the West to the idea that all warfare is based on deception.

Lionel Giles: His 1910 English translation, made while a curator at the British Museum, is now public domain, which is why it is the version quoted on most posters, memes and motivational calendars.

Basil Liddell Hart: The British strategist wrote the foreword to Samuel Griffith's 1963 translation, suggesting that if Europe's generals had absorbed Sun Tzu, the slaughter of the First World War might have been avoided.

Samuel B. Griffith: A US Marine brigadier general who had fought in the Pacific produced the 1963 Oxford translation that put Sun Tzu into the hands of Cold War officers and business schools.

Carl von Clausewitz: The Prussian's On War is the West's rival classic; where Clausewitz prizes the decisive battle, Sun Tzu prizes deception and winning before the fight, and war colleges now teach them as a pair.

Mao Zedong: Mao quoted 'know the enemy and know yourself' in his 1936 lectures on revolutionary strategy, and his guerrilla doctrine of retreating when the enemy advances echoes Sun Tzu throughout.

Vo Nguyen Giap: The Vietnamese general who beat France at Dien Bien Phu studied Sun Tzu closely, favoring the long, patient war of attrition that avoids an enemy's strength and strikes its weariness.

John Boyd: The US Air Force strategist behind the OODA loop opened his famous Patterns of Conflict briefing with Sun Tzu, treating him as the founding father of maneuver warfare.

Warfighting (MCDP 1): The US Marine Corps' 1989 doctrine manual built its maneuver warfare philosophy on Sun Tzu style ideas: avoid strength, hit weakness, and shatter the enemy's cohesion rather than grind it down.

Operation Desert Storm: In 1991 a Marine amphibious force floated off Kuwait's coast to pin Iraqi divisions in place while the main Coalition army swept far west in the 'left hook,' a textbook case of appearing where you are not expected.

Luiz Felipe Scolari: Brazil's coach handed his players passages from The Art of War before the 2002 World Cup, and Brazil went on to win the tournament.

Wall Street (1987 film): Gordon Gekko quotes Sun Tzu to his protégé, claiming every battle is won before it is fought, helping turn the ancient text into required reading for a generation of traders.

Tony Soprano: In The Sopranos, the mob boss tells his therapist he has been reading The Art of War and prefers it to Machiavelli, a scene credited with a bump in the book's sales.

Masayoshi Son: The SoftBank founder built his own 25 character business philosophy by blending Sun Tzu's maxims with his own, and credits it with guiding his biggest bets.

Lee Atwater: The hard charging Republican strategist behind the 1988 Bush campaign was widely reported to keep The Art of War close and to have read it many times, applying its deception tactics to politics.

Shogun: Total War: The 2000 strategy game wove Sun Tzu quotes into its loading screens and advice, introducing millions of young gamers to ancient Chinese strategy.