The Art of War - Sun Tzu

[Liberator]

Defense and Foreign Affairs Daily
Sep 21, 2004

Essential reading: A fresh look at Sun Tzu by, his descendants

Sun Tzu’s Art of War: The Modern Chinese Interpretation. By Gen. Tao Hanzhang.

Translated by Yian Shibing. New York, 2000: Main Street, a division of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. ISBN:1-4027-1291-X.176pp, hardcover.

Review by Dr Assad Homayoun, Senior Fellow, International Strategic Studies Association.

http://azadeganiran.org/afreshlookatsuntzu.htm



Many translations and commentaries have been written and published about the Chinese Strategic philosopher Sun Tzu’s book, The Art of War. Among them, the translation and interpretation by Samuel B. Griffith, with a foreword by B. H. Liddell Hart; and the translations and commentaries by Ralph D. Sawyer and the 19th Century volume by Lionel Giles are important.

War and politics are inseparable and complement each other. War has been always instrument of policy and has unfailingly been used throughout history for the attainment of political purpose. As Mao Zedong, who much benefited from the teachings of Sun Tzu, says, politics is war without bloodshed and war is politics with bloodshed. Many books have been written of War and politics, including the great manuals:

· The Artashastra, of Kautalya, the 4th Century BCE treatise from India, on art and science polity, ruling and war;

· A Mirror for the Ruler (Ghabus-Namah), by Amir Kaikawos Woshmgir, of Persia; 11th Century;

· On the Art of Ruling (Siyasat-Namah), by Persian statesman Nizam al-Mulk, the Grand Vizier of Seljuq, a Sultan of the 11th Century who was assassinated by Ismailites;

· Fatwa-i-Jahandari (Guidebook for the King) by Indian historian Zia Barrani; 14th Century;

· The Prince, as well as The Art of War, and The Discourses, by Niccolò Machiavelli, the 15th Century Florentine; and

· On War, by the 19th Century German Strategist, Carl Von Clausewitz, who unified the philosophy of politics with the philosophy of war; as well as the great works of Liddell Hart, Mahan, and others

As Machiavelli’s The Prince is the “Grammar for Powerâ€