''The Art of War'' is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...

(roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist

Sun Tzu Sun Tzu (; zh, t=孫子, s=孙子, first= t, p=Sūnzǐ) may have been a Chinese General, military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC). Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the au ...

("Master Sun"), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills or

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

related to warfare and how it applies to

military strategy Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired Strategic goal (military), strategic goals. Derived from the Greek language, Greek word ''strategos'', the term strategy, when first used during the 18th ...

and

tactics Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics In chess, a tac ...

. For almost 1,500 years, it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the

Seven Military Classics The Seven Military Classics () were seven important military texts of ancient China, which also included Sun-tzu's ''The Art of War''. The texts were canonized under this name during the 11th century AD, and from the time of the Song dynasty, w ...

Emperor Shenzong of Song Emperor Shenzong of Song (25 May 1048 – 1 April 1085), personal name Zhao Xu, was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after he acceded to the throne. He ...

in 1080. ''The Art of War'' remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare and has influenced both East Asian and Western military theory and thinking. The book contains a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century BC Chinese military, from weapons, environmental conditions, and strategy to rank and discipline. Sun also stressed the importance of intelligence operatives and espionage to the war effort. Considered one of history's finest military tacticians and analysts, his teachings and strategies formed the basis of advanced military training throughout the world. The book was translated into French and published in 1772 by the French priest

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot Jean Joseph Marie Amiot (; February 8, 1718October 8, 1793) was a French Jesuit priest who worked in Qing China, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. Born in Toulon, Amiot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at the age of 19. Af ...

; it was re-published in 1782. A partial translation into English was attempted by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905 under the title ''The Book of War''. The first annotated English translation was completed and published by Lionel Giles in 1910.Giles, Lionel ''The Art of War by Sun Tzu – Special Edition''. Special Edition Books. 2007. p. 62. Military and political leaders such as the Chinese communist revolutionary

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

, Japanese

Takeda Shingen was daimyō, daimyo of Kai Province during the Sengoku period of Japan. Known as "the Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyo of the late Sengoku period, and credited with exceptional military prestige. Shingen was based in a p ...

, and Vietnamese general

Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp ( vi-hantu, , ; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general, communist revolutionary and politician. Highly regarded as a military strategist, Giáp led Vietnamese communist forces to victories in wars agains ...

are cited along with American military generals

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. as having drawn inspiration from the book.

History

Text and commentaries

''The Art of War'' is traditionally attributed to an ancient Chinese military general known as

(

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ), meaning 'Master Sun'. Sun Tzu is said to have lived in the 6th century BC, but the earliest parts of ''The Art of War'' probably date to at least 100 years later.

Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

's ''

Shiji The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st cen ...

'', the first of China's ''

Twenty-Four Histories The ''Twenty-Four Histories'', also known as the ''Orthodox Histories'' (), are a collection of official histories detailing the dynasties of China, from the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors in the 4th millennium BC to the Ming ...

'', records an early Chinese tradition that a text on military matters was written by one Sun Wu () from the

state of Qi Qi, or Ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization, was a ancient Chinese state, regional state of the Zhou dynasty in History of China#Ancient China, ancient China, whose rulers held Zhou dynasty nobility, titles of ''Hou'' (), then ''Gong (title), Go ...

, and that this text had been read and studied by

King Helü of Wu King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by f ...

(). This text was traditionally identified with the received ''Master Sun's Art of War''. The conventional view was that Sun Wu was a military theorist from the end of the

(776–471 BC) who fled Qi to the southeastern

state of Wu Wu () was a state during the Western Zhou dynasty and the Spring and Autumn period, outside the Zhou cultural sphere. It was also known as Gouwu () or Gongwu () from the pronunciation of the local language. Wu was located at the mouth of th ...

, where he is said to have impressed the king with his ability to quickly train officials, including court women, in military discipline—and to have made Wu's armies powerful enough to challenge the rival

state of Chu Chu (, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was an Ancient Chinese states, ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted ...

to Wu's west. This view is still widely held in China. The strategist and warlord

Cao Cao Cao Cao (; ; ; 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese statesman, warlord, and poet who rose to power during the end of the Han dynasty (), ultimately taking effective control of the Han central government. He laid the foundation f ...

in the early 3rd century AD authored the earliest known commentary to the ''Art of War''. Cao's preface makes clear that he edited the text and removed certain passages, but the extent of his changes were unclear historically. ''The Art of War'' appears throughout the bibliographical catalogs of the Chinese dynastic histories, but listings of its divisions and size varied widely.

Authorship

Beginning around the 12th century, Sun Tzu's historical existence began to be questioned by Chinese scholars, primarily on the grounds that he is not mentioned in the historical classic ''

Zuo Zhuan The ''Zuo Zhuan'' ( zh, t=左傳, w=Tso Chuan; ), often translated as ''The Zuo Tradition'' or as ''The Commentary of Zuo'', is an ancient Chinese narrative history traditionally regarded as a commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle the '' ...

'', which mentions most of the notable figures from the

. The name "Sun Wu" () does not appear in any text prior to the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', and has been suspected to be a made-up descriptive cognomen meaning "the fugitive warrior", glossing the surname "Sun" as the related term "fugitive" ( ), while "Wu" ( ) is (1) the ancient Chinese virtue of "martial, valiant" and (2) a

Jianghuai Jianghuai (; pinyin: Jiānghuái) is a geographical area in China referring to the plain between the area north of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and near the lower reaches of the Huai River Basin, especially in northern Jiangsu, northe ...

dialectal synonym of "

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

", which corresponds to Sunzi's role as the hero's

doppelgänger A doppelgänger ( ), sometimes spelled doppelgaenger or doppelganger, is a ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its own fleshly counterpart. In fiction and mythology, a doppelgänger is often portrayed as a ghostly or p ...

in the story of

Wu Zixu :''Note: names are in simplified characters followed by traditional and Pinyin transliteration.'' Wu Yun (died 484 BC), better known by his courtesy name Zixu, was a Chinese military general and politician of the Wu (state), Wu kingdom in the Spr ...

. In the early 20th century, the Chinese writer and reformer

Liang Qichao Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超; Wade–Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu''; ) (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political activist, jour ...

theorized that the text was actually written in the 4th century BC by Sun Tzu's purported descendant

Sun Bin Sun Bin (died 316 BC) was a Chinese general, military strategist, and writer who lived during the Warring States period of Chinese history. A supposed descendant of Sun Tzu, Sun was tutored in military strategy by the hermit Guiguzi. He wa ...

, as a number of historical sources mention a military treatise he wrote. Unlike Sun Wu, Sun Bin appears to have been an actual person who was a genuine authority on military matters, and may have been the inspiration for the creation of the historical figure "Sun Tzu" through a form of

euhemerism In the fields of philosophy and mythography, euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that histo ...

. In 1972, the

Yinqueshan Han slips The Yinqueshan Han Slips () are ancient Chinese writing tablets from the Western Han dynasty, made of bamboo strips and discovered in 1972. The tablets contain many writings that were not previously known or shed new light on the ancient versio ...

were discovered in two

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

(206 BC – 220 AD) tombs near the city of

Linyi Linyi ( zh, s=临沂 , t=臨沂 , p=Línyí) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province, China. As of 2011, Linyi is the largest prefecture-level city in Shandong, both by area and population, Linyi borders Rizhao to the eas ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. Among the many

bamboo slip Bamboo and wooden strips ( zh, s=简牍, t=簡牘, first=t, p=jiǎndú) are long, narrow strips of wood or bamboo, each typically holding a single column of several dozen brush-written characters. They were the main media for writing documents ...

writings contained in the tombs, which had been sealed between 134 and 118 BC, were two separate texts: one attributed to "Sun Tzu", corresponding to the received text, and another attributed to Sun Bin, which explains and expands upon the earlier ''The Art of War'' by Sunzi. The Sun Bin text's material overlaps with much of the "Sun Tzu" text, and the two may be "a single, continuously developing intellectual tradition united under the Sun name". This discovery showed that much of the historical confusion was due to the fact that there were two texts that could have been referred to as "Master Sun's Art of War", not one. The content of the earlier text is about one-third of the chapters of the modern ''The Art of War'', and their text matches very closely. It is now generally accepted that the earlier ''The Art of War'' was completed sometime between 500 and 430 BC.

Chapters

''The Art of War'' is divided into 13 chapters (or ); the collection is referred to as being one ("whole" or alternatively "chronicle"). }) , First Calculations , style="text-align:left;" , Explores the five fundamental factors (the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management) and seven elements (which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the way or moral law, which side's general is more capable, which side has superior in right time and right place, which side's laws and regulations can be enforced more strictly, which side has more resources, better equipment and stronger army, which side's officers and men are more well-trained and more capable of fighting, which side's rewards and punishments are more fair and clear) that determine the outcomes of military engagements. By thinking, assessing and comparing these points, a commander can calculate his chances of victory. Habitual deviation from these calculations will ensure failure via improper action. The text stresses that war is a very grave matter for the state and must not be commenced without due consideration. , - , II , Waging War , The Challenge , Waging War , Waging War
() , Initiating Battle , style="text-align:left;" , Explains how to understand the economy of warfare and how success requires winning decisive engagements quickly. This section advises that successful military campaigns require limiting the cost of competition and conflict. , - , III , Attack by Stratagem , The Plan of Attack , Planning Offensives , Strategic Attack
() , Planning an Attack , style="text-align:left;" , Defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and discusses the five factors that are needed to succeed in any war. In order of importance, these critical factors are: Attack, Strategy, Alliances, Army and Cities. , - , IV , Tactical Dispositions , Positioning , Military Disposition , Disposition of the Army
() , Forms to Perceive , style="text-align:left;" , Explains the importance of defending existing positions until a commander is capable of advancing from those positions in safety. It teaches commanders the importance of recognizing strategic opportunities, and teaches not to create opportunities for the enemy. , - , V , Use of Energy , Directing , Strategic Military Power , Forces
() , The Disposition of Power , style="text-align:left;" , Explains the use of creativity and timing in building an army's momentum. , - , VI , Weak Points and Strong , Illusion and Reality , Vacuity and Substance , Weaknesses and Strengths
() , Weak and Strong , style="text-align:left;" , Explains how an army's opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of the enemy and how to respond to changes in the fluid battlefield over a given area. , - , VII , Maneuvering an Army , Engaging The Force , Military Combat , Military Maneuvers
() , Contending Armies , style="text-align:left;" , Explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations when they are forced upon the commander. , - , VIII , Variation of Tactics , The Nine Variations , Nine Changes , Variations and Adaptability
() , Nine Contingencies , style="text-align:left;" , Focuses on the need for flexibility in an army's responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully. , - , IX , The Army on the March , Moving The Force , Maneuvering the Army , Movement and Development of Troops
() , Fielding the Army , style="text-align:left;" , Describes the different situations in which an army finds itself as it moves through new enemy territories, and how to respond to these situations. Much of this section focuses on evaluating the intentions of others. , - , X , Classification of Terrain , Situational Positioning , Configurations of Terrain , Terrain
() , Conformations of the Lands , style="text-align:left;" , Looks at the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers and barriers) and the six types of ground positions that arise from them. Each of these six field positions offers certain advantages and disadvantages. , - , XI , The Nine Situations , The Nine Situations , Nine Terrains , The Nine Battlegrounds
() , Nine Kinds of Ground , style="text-align:left;" , Describes the nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, from scattering to deadly, and the specific focus that a commander will need in order to successfully navigate them. , - , XII , Attack by Fire , The Fiery Attack , Incendiary Attacks , Attacking with Fire
() , Attacks with Fire , style="text-align:left;" , Explains the general use of weapons and the specific use of the environment as a weapon. This section examines the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attack and the appropriate responses to such attacks. , - , XIII , Use of Spies , The Use of Intelligence , Employing Spies , Intelligence and Espionage
() , Using Spies , style="text-align:left;" , Focuses on the importance of developing good information sources, and specifies the five types of intelligence sources and how to best manage each of them.

Cultural influence

Military and intelligence applications

Across

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, ''The Art of War'' was part of the syllabus for potential candidates of military service examinations. During the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

(), the Japanese

(1521–1573) is said to have become almost invincible in all battles without relying on

gun A gun is a device that Propulsion, propels a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns or water cannon, cannons), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun). So ...

s, because he studied ''The Art of War''. ''The Illustrated Art of War''. 2005. Oxford University Press. pp. 17, 141–43. The book even gave him the inspiration for his famous battle standard (Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain), meaning fast as the wind, silent as a forest, ferocious as fire and immovable as a mountain. The translator Samuel B. Griffith offers a chapter on "Sun Tzu and Mao Tse-Tung" where ''The Art of War'' is cited as influencing Mao's '' On Guerrilla Warfare'', '' On the Protracted War'' and ''Strategic Problems of China's Revolutionary War'', and includes Mao's quote: "We must not belittle the saying in the book of Sun Wu Tzu, the great military expert of ancient China, 'Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without disaster.'" During the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, some

Viet Cong The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...

officers extensively studied ''The Art of War'' and reportedly could recite entire passages from memory. General

successfully implemented tactics described in ''The Art of War'' during the

Battle of Dien Bien Phu The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the forces of the French Union and Viet Minh. The French began an operation to in ...

ending major French involvement in Indochina and leading to the accords which partitioned Vietnam into North and South. General Giáp, later the main PVA military commander in the Vietnam War, was an avid student and practitioner of Sun Tzu's ideas.McCready, Douglas. Learning from Sun Tzu, ''Military Review'', May–June 2003.

Outside East Asia

The United States' defeat in the Vietnam War, more than any other event, brought Sun Tzu to the attention of leaders of U.S. military theory. The

Department of the Army The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the United States Department of Defense. The DA is the federal government agency within which the United States Army (U.S.) is organized. It is led ...

in the United States, through its

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

, lists ''The Art of War'' as one example of a book that may be kept at a military unit's library. ''The Art of War'' is listed on the

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

Professional Reading Program (formerly known as the Commandant's Reading List). It is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel. ''The Art of War'' is also used as instructional material at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

(commonly known as West Point), in the course Military Strategy (470). It is also recommended reading for Officer cadets at the

Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town o ...

. Some notable military leaders have stated the following about Sun Tzu and ''The Art of War'': According to some authors, the strategy of

deception Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Tort of ...

from ''The Art of War'' was studied and widely used by the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

: "I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness".

Yevgenia Albats Yevgenia Markovna Albats (, born 5 September 1958Editorial dossier
,

and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. ''The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia – Past, Present, and Future.'' 1994. , chapter ''Who was behind perestroika?''

Application outside the military

Some of the book's admirers claim that it has a variety of applications in a myriad of competitive non-military endeavors across the modern world including espionage, culture, politics, business, and sports. Some business books have claimed to see metaphorical parallels from The Art of War to office politics and corporate business strategy. Some Japanese companies make the book required reading for their key executives. Entrepreneurs and corporate executives have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations. The book has also been applied to the field of education. ''The Art of War'' has been the subject of legal books and legal articles on the trial process, including negotiation tactics and trial strategy. The book ''

The 48 Laws of Power ''The 48 Laws of Power'' (1999) is a self-help book by American author Robert Greene. The book is a ''New York Times'' bestseller, selling over 1.2 million copies in the United States. Background Greene initially formulated some of the ideas in ...

'' by Robert Greene has many quotations from ''The Art of War''. ''The Art of War'' has also been applied in sports.

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

coach

Bill Belichick William Stephen Belichick ( ; born April 16, 1952) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Widely regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, he holds numerous coaching records, inc ...

, record holder of the most

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

wins in history, has stated on multiple occasions his admiration for ''The Art of War''.

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach

Luiz Felipe Scolari Luiz Felipe Scolari (; born 9 November 1948), also known as Felipão ("Big Phil"), is a Brazilian football manager and former player who currently serves as the technical director of Grêmio. Considered to be one of the greatest and most su ...

actively used ''The Art of War'' for Brazil's successful

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

campaign. During the tournament Scolari put passages of ''The Art of War'' underneath his players' doors at night. ''Playing To Win'' by David Sirlin analyses applications of the ideas from ''The Art of War'' in modern esports. ''The Art of War'' was released in 2014 as an

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

companion alongside the Art of War DLC for

Europa Universalis IV ''Europa Universalis IV'' is a 2013 grand strategy video game in the ''Europa Universalis'' series, developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to '' Europa Universalis III'' (2007). The game was r ...

, a PC strategy game by Paradox Development Studios, with a foreword by Thomas Johansson.

Film and television

''The Art of War'' and Sun Tzu have been referenced and quoted in many movies and television shows, including in the 1987 movie ''

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

'', in which

Gordon Gekko Gordon Gekko is a composite character in the 1987 film '' Wall Street'' and its 2010 sequel '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'', both directed by Oliver Stone. Gekko was portrayed in both films by actor Michael Douglas, who won the Academy A ...

(

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the ...

) frequently references it. The 20th ''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

'' film, '' Die Another Day'' (2002) also references ''The Art of War'' as the spiritual guide shared by Colonel Moon and his father. In ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', season 3, episode 8 ("He Is Risen"), Dr. Melfi suggests to

Tony Soprano Anthony John Soprano, portrayed by James Gandolfini, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO crime drama television series ''The Sopranos''. He is a member of the American Mafia, Italian-American Mafia and, later in the series, ...

that he read the book. In the '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' first-season episode "The Last Outpost", first officer

William Riker William Thomas "Will" Riker is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' universe appearing primarily as a main character in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation,'' portrayed by Jonathan Frakes. Throughout the series and its accompanying films, ...

quotes ''The Art of War'': "Fear is the true enemy, the only enemy". Captain Picard expressed pleasure that Sun Tzu was still taught at

Starfleet Academy Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for condu ...

. Later in the episode, a survivor from a long-dead nonhuman empire noted common aspects between his own people's wisdom and ''The Art of War'' with regard to knowing when and when not to fight. ''

The Art of War ''The Art of War'' is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is compos ...

'' is a 2000 action spy film directed by Christian Duguay and starring

Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. In a film career spanning more than thirty years, Snipes has appeared in a variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic feature films, and comedies, th ...

Michael Biehn Michael Biehn ( or ; born July 31, 1956) is an American actor, primarily known for his roles in science fiction films directed by James Cameron; as Sgt. Kyle Reese in ''The Terminator'' (1984), Cpl. Dwayne Hicks in ''Aliens (film), Aliens'' (1 ...

Anne Archer Anne Archer (born August 24, 1947) is an American actress. Archer was named Miss Golden Globe in 1971, and in the year following, appeared in her feature-film debut '' The Honkers'' (1972). She had supporting roles in '' Cancel My Reservation'' ...

and

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...

Notable translations

* * Part of the

UNESCO Collection of Representative Works The UNESCO Collection of Representative Works (or UNESCO Catalogue of Representative Works) was a UNESCO translation project that was active for about 57 years, from 1948 to about 2005. The project's purpose was to translate masterpieces of world ...

. * * * *

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * *

External links

*
''The Art of War''
Chinese-English bilingual edition,

Chinese Text Project The Chinese Text Project (CTP; ) is a digital library project that assembles collections of early Chinese texts. The name of the project in Chinese literally means "The Chinese Philosophical Book Digitization Project", showing its focus on books ...

* translated by Lionel Giles (1910) * translated (with Chinese text) by Lionel Giles (1910) * translated by E.F. Calthrop (1908) * (English and Chinese original available)
Sun Tzu's ''Art of War''
at Sonshi

at the Institute for National Strategic Studies of

National Defense University National Defence (or Defense) University (or College) may refer to: :''Alphabetical by country'' University * Marshal Fahim National Defense University, Afghanistan * National Defense University (Azerbaijan) * People's Liberation Army National Defe ...

11 The Nine Situations , The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Animated)

''The Art of War illustrated version''
, on Theoriq.com
''The Art of War on Modern World, by Edward Rico M. Tj''
on r2plan.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Art Of War, The Sun Tzu 5th-century BC books Military history of East Asia Military strategy books Seven Military Classics Warrior code Zhou dynasty texts Chinese Classical Studies