Sun Tzu's book covers most basic military principles...everybody who wants to be a good general got to know them by hearts..either from learning Sun Tzu (old generals in china) or u learn from Clausiwich, or learn in military school....

today's commanders need to know more than commanders years ago cuz modern wars are much more complicated..involved in a lot of high tech stuff..
it seems western commanders are better educated than many PLA commanders on the knowledge of information warfare..
but it is changing.more and more PLA commanders are highly educated ,not just in missile troops...

believe it, tactics and strategy is the most important parts of a battle

apart fromt the chinese example, germany was also a good example

germany's army rely on cunning strategy, proven tactics and good training, they werent as well equiped as the western nations during the beginning of the war, and they did nto have such a huge logistic capability

but they had brillant tactics, stategies such as blitzkrieg and flanking.

what proves an army is really not how great its equipment is or how capable their planes can own bunkers, thats just the equipments doing most of the work. what really owns is if ur economically weak yet u defeat thousands with a low loss


anyways, most strategists and military personell should know what i am talking about

Generals don't need to be good combat soldiers, thats what Sergeant Majors are for.

Originally Posted by Sexybeast

Sun Tzu's book covers most basic military principles...everybody who wants to be a good general got to know them by hearts..either from learning Sun Tzu (old generals in china) or u learn from Clausiwich, or learn in military school....

I hate to bust you guys collective bubbles but.....Yeah I will anyway. The Art of War by Sun Tsu was placed on the Commandants Required Reading List by General Al Grey in 1986. It was and still is required reading for all US Marines Corporal and above.

Prior to that it was studied extensivly at the USMA and the USNA as well as staff colleges and SNCO courses. Old news. At least for the USMC.

And it's been an unofficial read for successful people the world over.
Even I have read it twice.

yes i ahve read it once ages ago, it sure does have a effect in everyday life, Sun Tze is philosophy about war, but also the principle can be applied at work place etc......... as the goal of philosophy is try to establish a theory that applies forever, unlike science where there is not definate yes or no, and a scienctific theory is correct only at "certain times". Sun Tze proofs to be very successful as its theories have not been disproved even today.

There's nothing to be "disproved." It works. It works like when you walk, you put one foot in front of the other. It also is the big picture of things. Just because you follow it doesn't mean there won't be any set backs.

it is more like how u understand it..

a fool can read Sun Tze's work too but he won't understand its deep meaning...

a smart guy will learn more from that thousands of words

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

There's nothing to be "disproved." It works. It works like when you walk, you put one foot in front of the other. It also is the big picture of things. Just because you follow it doesn't mean there won't be any set backs.

yes, because it cannot been disproved, its a master piece of philosophy about war.

The thing about the Art of War is that no principle in that book is complex. Everything is simple and straight forward. And that's the beauty of it.