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by Samuel B. Griffith.]] The Art of War ( Military Treatise written during the 6th Century BC by Sun Tzu . Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of Warfare , it has long been praised as the definitive work on Military Strategies And Tactics of its time. It is one of the most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on both military planning and beyond. First translated into a European language two hundred years ago by Father Amiot , a French Missionary , ''The Art of War'' has been credited with influencing Napoléon , the German General Staff , and even the planning of Operation Desert Storm . Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong , Vo Nguyen Giap and General McArthur have claimed to have drawn inspiration from the work. The book by Sun Tzu may be called another timeless classic. It has been passed on from generation to generation. The Art Of War has been the source of inspiration to the militia of many civilizations in the past and today is religiously referred to by politicians and strategists the world over. History Based on the content, the book was finished between Zhuan Zhu 's assassination of King Liao Of Wu (515 BC) and Wu Zixu 's recommendation to King He Lu Of Wu (512 BC). It was believed by some that the long-lost Sun Bin Bing Fa, or ''' Sun Bin 's The Art of War''' cited in the Book Of Han , was actually Sun Tzu's The Art of War, but in April of 1972, archaeologists discovered a tomb in Linyi County, Shandong Province, that contained several fragments of important scrolls buried during the Han Dynasty. Among the scrolls were a copy of the Sun Bin Bing Fa and a copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, thus cleared the doubt. The 13 chapters ''Chapter titles from Lionel Giles' 1910 translation''
Annotations Before the bamboo scroll version was discovered by archaeologists in April 1972, the most cited version of The Art of War was the Annotation Of Sun Tzu's Strategies by Cao Cao , the founder of Cao Wei Kingdom. In the preface, he wrote that previous annotations were not focused on the essential ideas. Other annotations cited in official history books include Shen You (176-204)'s '''Sun Tzu's Military Strategy''', Jia Xu 's '''Copy of Sun Tzu's Military Strategy''', Cao Cao and Wang Ling (a nephew of Wang Yun )'s '''Sun Tzu's Military Strategy'''. The Book Of Sui documented seven books named after Sun Tzu. An annotation by Du Mu also includes Cao Cao ' annotation. Li Jing 's The Art of War is said to be a revision of Sun Tzu's strategies. Annotations by Cao Cao , Du Mu and Li Quan were translated into Tangut Language before 1040 AD. After the Movable Type Printer was invented, The Art of War (with Cao Cao's annotations) was published as a military text book, known as Seven Military Classics with six other strategy books. A book named '''Ten Schools of The Art of War Annotations''' was published before 1161 AD. As a required reading military textbook since the Song Dynasty , Seven Military Classics (武经七书) has many annotations. More than 30 differently annotated versions of this book exist today. Vernacular Chinese became increasingly popular in the late 1920s. Annotations in Vernacular Chinese began to appear after this time. Some of these works were translated from other languages, such as Japanese. Quotations Verses from the book occur in modern daily Chinese Idiom s and phrases, such as the last verse of Chapter 3: :故曰：知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必敗 So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. This has been more tersely interpreted and condensed into the modern proverb: :知己知彼, 百戰百勝 If you know both yourself and your enemy, you will come out of one hundred battles with one hundred victories. Similar verses have also been borrowed -- in a manner construing skillfulness as victory "without fighting" -- for example: :百戰百勝，非善之善也﹔不戰而屈人之兵，善之善者也 One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Seizing the enemy without fighting is the most skillful. Military applications In many East Asia n countries, ''The Art of War'' was part of the syllabus for potential candidates of Military Service Examination s. Various translations are available and were used by some Europe an military institutions, for instance, in Germany before World War I . In the United States Marine Corps , it is reportedly required reading for intelligence personnel and recommended for all Marines. During Sengoku Jidai in Japan , a Samurai named Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) is said to have become almost invincible in all battles without relying on Gun s, because he studied ''The Art of War''. The book even gave him the inspiration for his famous battle standard " Furinkazan " (Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain), meaning fast as wind, silent as forest, ferocious as fire and immovable as mountain. Some say that had Shingen not died from illness, he would have become the Shogun of Japan. During the Vietnam War , many Vietcong officers studied ''The Art of War'', and reportedly could recite entire passages. Applicability outside the military Since at least the 1980's, ''The Art of War'' has been applied to fields well outside the military one. Much of the text is about how to fight wars without actually having to do battle: it gives tips on how to outsmart one's opponent so that physical battle is not necessary. As such, it has found application as a training guide for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat. Most notably the book has gained popularity in corporate life; there have been a variety of business books written that apply its lessons to "office politics" and corporate strategy. Many Japan ese companies make the book required reading for their key Executives . The book is also popular among Western Business Management , who have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations. It has also crept its way into sport: Australia n Cricket coach John Buchanan handed out excerpts from the book to his players before a match against England in 2001 , and the book is allegedly a favorite of University Of South Carolina football head coach Steve Spurrier . It has found use in Political Campaigning as well; Republican election strategist Lee Atwater claimed he travelled everywhere with the book. {Link without Title} Some have also interpreted ''The Art of War'' as providing methods for developing social strategies, such as developing social relationships, maintaining romantic relationships, and seduction. The book stresses subtlety and always making it appear like one is trying to achieve something other than one's actual intention. The use of individual quotations from the book has been criticized by many scholars of Chinese History as using ''The Art of War'' as a source of Fortune Cookie -like proverbs and not seeing the general coherence of the text. Related material Sun Tzu is attributed with having a grandson Sun Bin who wrote another Treatise on military strategy often called "The Lost Art of War" or "The Art of Warfare". Sun Bin or Sun Pin as he is sometimes called is also known as Sun Tzu II. The following are some published texts in this area:
Depiction in media Film
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Games
Translations of the 1994 Ralph D. Sawyer translation, printed in 2003]]
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