most of it is still relevant. >don't fight strong enemy if you are weak >if you would lose a war, don't start it >if you don't give your people food, they will be hungry >if you rob the peasantry, burn the villages and sack the towns, the country will get poor. So do that only on your neighbours.
>painfully obvious advice >widely ignored by moronic generals
https://i.imgur.com/vO3ZQFk.jpg
Is it still relevant or has war just changed too much?
At the very least, it sets out the first principles of warfare and strategy that still applies to this day.
For example, that war is a means to an end, and so you must have a clear understanding of that end goal and work towards it, otherwise you will get bogged down in pointless battles, waste resources for no long term benefit, or even start wars you can't win.
It's mind blowing genius when you compare it to the way bronze age noblemen normally acted. They were more like chimps having tantrums (eg the trojan war) than cold blooded chessmasters.
It's mind blowing genius compared to how a lot of modern nations act too, just look at America's poorly thought out sandbox adventures, or pretty much everything Russia's done in Ukraine
>It's mind blowing genius when you compare it to the way bronze age noblemen normally acted. They were more like chimps having tantrums
so literally nothing changed
>Isn't it just for shithead princes who have never led soldiers before?
Other way around. During the Zhou Dynasty (1200s-700s AD) in China, the Chinese used to have a professional hereditary warrior class- the Shi- that monopolized all the military skills and were the only ones allowed to serve in the military. But when the feudal lords put crowns on their heads and battled for supremacy in the Warring States Era (700s-200s BC) the Shi got fricking mauled in near constant total warfare to the point that the Kings did something they never did before: open military service to commoners as either volunteers or conscripts.
The Art of War was purportedly written in this era of transition from elite chivalric warrior-class warfare to total war between actual state militaries filled with commoners who have zero background in military strategy. To give common-born officers a good foundation in military thinking, several generals began writing military treatises at the time. Sun Tzu only became so famous as his barebones only-the-essentials discussion of strategy was so timeless compared to very contemporary Warring states stuff like the Wu Qi or the Rule of the Sima Clan.
common sense is easily lost - reading this while agitated you might realize how utterly pointless/self-destructive your next action could have been and reconsider
>36 Stratagem >Reports, manuals, and guides released by the USMC & Army
It's mind blowing genius compared to how a lot of modern nations act too, just look at America's poorly thought out sandbox adventures, or pretty much everything Russia's done in Ukraine
There is an aim but without a decent plan the efforts are wasted. It makes me think sometimes that the wars were just a way to stimulate the economy or that they're trying to waste as much money as possible.
I always find it funny on these forms that everybody assumes whatever it is is a complicated plot, instead of people fumbling through what they're doing like anybody else would. Why would genius exist so easily?
Forgot to mention "A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates"
I always find it funny on these forms that everybody assumes whatever it is is a complicated plot, instead of people fumbling through what they're doing like anybody else would. Why would genius exist so easily?
Listening to a former 4 Star General it seems as though for whatever reason a lot of the top brass got replaced with idiots at some point. I just find it hard to comprehend how that could have happened beyond thinking anyone with a bachelor's is competent to lead a military.
Plus it is full of timeless, quotable gems: >“The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven.”
I think of Chechens hiding in Grozny's sewers, and D-Day airborne jumps when I read this.
Still relevant, and more importantly easy to read
most of it is still relevant.
>don't fight strong enemy if you are weak
>if you would lose a war, don't start it
>if you don't give your people food, they will be hungry
>if you rob the peasantry, burn the villages and sack the towns, the country will get poor. So do that only on your neighbours.
>painfully obvious advice
>widely ignored by moronic generals
At the very least, it sets out the first principles of warfare and strategy that still applies to this day.
For example, that war is a means to an end, and so you must have a clear understanding of that end goal and work towards it, otherwise you will get bogged down in pointless battles, waste resources for no long term benefit, or even start wars you can't win.
It's mind blowing genius when you compare it to the way bronze age noblemen normally acted. They were more like chimps having tantrums (eg the trojan war) than cold blooded chessmasters.
It's mind blowing genius compared to how a lot of modern nations act too, just look at America's poorly thought out sandbox adventures, or pretty much everything Russia's done in Ukraine
Yeah that's true.
>It's mind blowing genius when you compare it to the way bronze age noblemen normally acted. They were more like chimps having tantrums
so literally nothing changed
Every piece of classical literature ever written is still relevant today
Isn't it just for shithead princes who have never led soldiers before? Nowadays all of it seems like common sense I thought
>Isn't it just for shithead princes who have never led soldiers before?
Other way around. During the Zhou Dynasty (1200s-700s AD) in China, the Chinese used to have a professional hereditary warrior class- the Shi- that monopolized all the military skills and were the only ones allowed to serve in the military. But when the feudal lords put crowns on their heads and battled for supremacy in the Warring States Era (700s-200s BC) the Shi got fricking mauled in near constant total warfare to the point that the Kings did something they never did before: open military service to commoners as either volunteers or conscripts.
The Art of War was purportedly written in this era of transition from elite chivalric warrior-class warfare to total war between actual state militaries filled with commoners who have zero background in military strategy. To give common-born officers a good foundation in military thinking, several generals began writing military treatises at the time. Sun Tzu only became so famous as his barebones only-the-essentials discussion of strategy was so timeless compared to very contemporary Warring states stuff like the Wu Qi or the Rule of the Sima Clan.
common sense is easily lost - reading this while agitated you might realize how utterly pointless/self-destructive your next action could have been and reconsider
>Nowadays all of it seems like common sense I thought
tell that to the russians and nazis
It's babby's first book of war, but yes, it's still relevant.
>Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.
>baby's first war book
Any other recommendations?
Anything written by Nikephoros II Phokas or during his reign. He considered every aspect of war and his genius shines through as you read works.
I really wish that the books Pyrrhus wrote had survived.
Excellent, thanks for the tip.
Wait, I can't seem to find any books written by him, just this one.
Modern books are frequently collected works of stuff that old.
>201$
Is his genius worth it?
>36 Stratagem
>Reports, manuals, and guides released by the USMC & Army
There is an aim but without a decent plan the efforts are wasted. It makes me think sometimes that the wars were just a way to stimulate the economy or that they're trying to waste as much money as possible.
I always find it funny on these forms that everybody assumes whatever it is is a complicated plot, instead of people fumbling through what they're doing like anybody else would. Why would genius exist so easily?
Forgot to mention "A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates"
Listening to a former 4 Star General it seems as though for whatever reason a lot of the top brass got replaced with idiots at some point. I just find it hard to comprehend how that could have happened beyond thinking anyone with a bachelor's is competent to lead a military.
A book that is literally just the textbook for Warfare 101 is always going to be important
'Don't be moronic, moron' is indeed a lesson that some today could still stand to learn.
Plus it is full of timeless, quotable gems:
>“The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven.”
I think of Chechens hiding in Grozny's sewers, and D-Day airborne jumps when I read this.
Yes.
If you're strong enough.