"Who was Sun Tzu’s Napoleon?" Topic
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Tango01  | 29 Feb 2020 10:07 p.m. PST |
"Alone among the military theorists whose works have reached the ranks of the strategic canon, the background and motivation of Sun Tzu—the purported author of The Art of War—remain shrouded in conjecture and doubt.[2] We know that Thucydides was not only the chronicler, but a general in the Peloponnesian War, Julius Caesar the architect of the Gallic War, and Machiavelli an active participant in Florentine diplomatic and martial affairs. Maurice de Saxe waded through the bloody fields of Malplaquet and Fontenoy, while both Jomini and Clausewitz kept their own formative experiences fighting in the Napoleonic Wars firmly in mind as they composed their respective theoretical works. But what motivated Sun Tzu (or its anonymous authors) to compose The Art of War? What were its historical precedents? Despite Clausewitz's noted pessimism over the utility of ancient historical analogies to inform military theory, he found enormous benefit in the use of more contemporaneous illustrations: "Once one accepts the difficulties of using historical examples, one will come to the most obvious conclusion that examples should be drawn from modern military history."[3] Clausewitz clearly drew extensively from his study of Napoleon's thoughts and actions to inform his own theory, and our understanding of On War relies heavily on the awareness of this link. Similarly, if we seek deeper insight into The Art of War, we should first attempt to understand what military examples relevant to its own author(s) might have influenced its composition. In short, we need to first ask ourselves: who was Sun Tzu's Napoleon?…"
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| USAFpilot | 01 Mar 2020 11:37 a.m. PST |
"Who was Sun Tzu's Napoleon?" I think the article shows that you can learn not only from observing a military genius, but also much from observing failed leadership. For me, Sun Tzu teaches full spectrum warfare, from tactics to strategy, from physical to psychological. Sun Tzu takes the romanticism out of warfare and is purely logical. |
| Tango01 | 01 Mar 2020 3:19 p.m. PST |
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