this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2026
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I feel like this when hearing about "art of war"
"Have some sort of strategy"
"If at all possible have a larger army than the enemy"
"If step two is not possible, see step one"
This is basically the whole book.
Hmm. There was also:
There is one point in it I found actually useful even today in everyday life. It was something like: When you have surrounded or entrapped your enemy always leave them a way out for retreat so they won't fight as hard as if their only other option is defeat/death.
A good lesson for people that seek to assert absolute authoritarianism over folks. Corner folks too hard and given no viable alternative, desperation drives unexpected outcomes.
Woah, that hits hard. I guess I'll have to read the book now...
TBF it’s technically a Daoist philosophical treatise, rather than a how-to on war. To really understand it you have to look at it from that perspective.
That's because it was written at a time when nobles were considered the only natural choice of leadership class, so you've got military forces being lead by people with zero practical military knowledge. It's literally meant to be babies first strategy and logistics guide. Sun Tzu is intentionally dumbing shit down for his audience.
I think this is the most important factor, but at the same time anyone responsible for complex tasks should be well familiar with the value of a simple list of the task's fundamentals. It's not that they don't know these principles, but that reminders can break tunnel vision or prevent simple mistakes born of complacency.
Maybe it was more a manual a general could hand to the rich dumbass in charge who was about to bet everyone killed and say "please review the wisdom of the great sage before making your battle plan."
if combat is required it is best to be victorious