The Art of War
Throughout history people have shared bought and sold books for the purpose of storing and transferring information. Books date back to when the fist forms of writing began. For a book to last hundreds, even thousands of years is pretty amazing. The Art of War is one of those books. This book has been passed down generation to generation to aid in the creation of strong leaders.
“The Art of War” is relevant in today’s society due to its morals/lessons. Sun Tzu’s writing is based on war, but its lessons can be put into everyday life situations. It is interesting how a writing from 5th century B.C. is so relevant in life today. Sun Tzu’s writing states the way that life should be lived in order to achieve ones goals. “Disciplined
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military today. While at the academy, soldiers are highly recommended to read and study the teachings of Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu believes that war is not fair and encourages deception. Tzu writes, “When able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.” (Doc 3). The use of deception is key to war today, spies and tactical missions are the key to success in war. Sun Tzu also expresses the importance of “knowing the enemy” and exposing their weaknesses. As written in The Art of War “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”(Page 15, The Art of War). The use of technology is the basis of war today but without knowing the enemies strengths the chances of success are lowered significantly. That’s why Sun Tzu’s teachings are still plausible to be used in warfare today. No matter what technology an army has at its disposal, if there is not an intelligent plan of action then the chances of succeeding are going to be minuscule. The U.S. military has taken the advice/wisdom of Sun Tzu and use deception to outsmart their enemies giving them a large advantage over their
Hicks, Patrick. "War, Literature and the Arts." War, Literature and the Arts. An International Journal of the Humanitie, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. .
Is it true Americans are rightfully notorious for creating inaccurate paradigms of what really happened in historical events Americans are tied to? Has America ever censored historical events in order to protect Americans innocent democratic reputation? After reading, “The Best War Ever” by Michael C.C Adams, I have found the answers to these questions to be yes. Some of the myths that Adams addresses in his book include: 1. America was innocent in world war two and was an ever acting protagonist in the war; 2. World war two or any war for that matter can be, or is a “good war” and bring prosperity to America; 3. War world two brought unity to Americans.
Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Samuel B. Griffith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963.
...portant before engaging in any warfare. The team should plan well on how to engage the enemy and adhere to the plan unless an unprecedented occurrence takes place; the team should also consider a plan B. Thirdly, apart from physical warfare, the mental warfare can be used to convey a message that affects the confidence of the enemy negatively. The First Special forces adopted a strategy of scaring away the Germans using stickers with threatening messages; the color of their faces was also scary and facilitated in camouflaging. Fourthly, military concepts should never be made public, the adoption of the force was a big secret but the success was tremendous. Lastly, coordination and a good chain of command is key in conquering in any battle. Without proper coordination an army can be destabilized by the enemy, however, proper chain of command guarantees performance.
Tim O’Brien states in his novel The Things They Carried, “The truths are contradictory. It can be argued, for instance, that war is grotesque. But in truth war is also beauty. For all its horror, you can’t help but gape at the awful majesty of combat” (77). This profound statement captures not only his perspective of war from his experience in Vietnam but a collective truth about war across the ages. It is not called the art of combat without reason: this truth transcends time and can be found in the art produced and poetry written during the years of World War I. George Trakl creates beautiful images of the war in his poem “Grodek” but juxtaposes them with the harsh realities of war. Paul Nash, a World War I artist, invokes similar images in his paintings We are Making a New World and The Ypres Salient at Night. Guilaume Apollinaire’s writes about the beautiful atrocity that is war in his poem “Gala.”
War is what keeps a nation from dying, it is the backbone of a country. This is the shown throughout the course of World War I, also known as “the war to end all wars.” World War I started in the summer of 1914. Archduke Francis Ferdinand, from the Austro – Hungarian Empire was visiting Bosnia. He was shot, along with his wife, Sofia, by a young man from the Black Hand, Gavrillo Princip. What were the three main factors that started World War I? There were three main underlying causes that started World War I: greed, nationalism, and militarism.
"The Internet Classics Archive | The Art of War by Sun Tzu." The Internet Classics Archive | The Art of War by Sun Tzu. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. .
The astonishing book, the Wednesday Wars, takes place in Kentucky in the 1960’s during the time of the Vietnam War. Education and social is in a different style then known today and religion played a big part of the people’s lives. The protagonist feels he is different from anyone else because he is the only Presbyterian in his class and on Wednesday's when all the Catholics go to Catechism and the Jews go to Hebrew school he is alone with his English teacher. And he believes for this reason and many untold of his 7th grade English teacher, Mrs.Baker, hates him and his guts. When he addresses this issue to his family his mother assures him that the teacher doesn’t hate him,his father tells him to be good to Mrs. Baker because she was related
Besides metaphors, Auden also uses historical allusion to show how society is stuck in an authoritarian and conformist mindset. September 1, 1939 is not just the day Auden sat feeling depressed in a bar, but the day Germany invaded Poland, ultimately sparking world war two. The U.S. was in shock and fear as they could only watch as Hitler and the nazi army invaded the Slavs in an attempt to expand Germany's territory. (History.com) Auden used this current event as a way to draw people to his poem, and gain more attention to a theme he felt strongly about. The war was Auden's door to sneak his society advancing thoughts into dull conservative minds.
The time period after the war lead to a new world of literature. Preceding World War I, people viewed war as courageous and patriotic. The realities of World War I led the formally traditional
Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general but most importantly a philosopher that lived in the 6th century BC. He is the author of The Art of War, a book about military strategy. The Art of war contains thirteen chapters all delivering keys to military strategy for success. It is a famous work of art that is used nowadays in many fields including business, sport and diplomacy. Business leaders develop strategies inspired form Sun Tzu ideas to reach their goals.
The Thirty Years War was a series of conflicts, not-knowingly involving most European countries from 1618 to 1648. The war, which was fought mainly in Germany, was started when Bohemian Protestants furiously attacked the Holy Roman Emperor in terms to impose a restriction on their religious and civil liberties. By understanding the Thirty Years War, you will notice the notable religious, political and social changes. The changes paved the religious and political maps of Europe. Not only did this war affect the religious and political demographic, it caused populations to perish and lose large amounts of their goods. What was known as a religious battle, turned out to be a political feud in competition of which state has the greater power affecting men, women, soldiers and civilians. “[The bohemians] had no idea that their violent deed would set off a chain reaction of armed conflict that would last thirty years and later be called Europe’s “first world war” of the modern era.” When the war ended, the lands were defiled and over 5 million people were killed.
In his first chapter of his study titled The Author, Griffith gives many different possibilities as to who the actual author of the writings is. Griffith sites many theories from other sources trying to validate the origin of the author, but settles on one basic theory for the text. The Art of War was written by a single author probably around the time of the Warring States and during the periods from 400-320 B.C. (p. 11) Furthermore, Griffith states that there is not enough evidence to positively say if a person named Sun Tzu actually wrote the book or if it was written as a tribute to him, and the case of the authorship remains unsettled.
One of the biggest influential pieces of Chinese literature written in our lifetime is arguably the Art of War by Sun Tzu. This text, possibly written in the spring and Autumn Period, is a military rule book that assists in guiding any Chinese military faction into success by means of giving the reader the perfect strategies to conquer their opponent. In late ancient china this text became extremely influential due to not only the accuracy of the military strategies within the text , but also due to the writer, Sun Tzu’s well known achievement as a general in Spring and Autumn Period of ancient China. Due to the influence The Art of War had on ancient China during the spring and autumn period, many Chinese armies adapted the strategy written
Essay on war War has been a part of human culture since its birth. It has led to a great many massacres and has shown us the evil that exists within the souls of humanity. Some have even gone as far as saying that war is human nature. To better understand the reasons behind war and how it affects others, I've examined several different societies and cultures so as to better understand the necessity of war and see the cause of their external war attitude. To do so, different variables from two topics (military institutions and external war attitude) were matched up and crossed so as to look into the answers to these questions.