History-Makers: Sun Tzu & the Art of War

TBH I prefer "Moon Aquarium" but Sun Tzu is pretty cool too.

SOURCES & Further Reading:
“The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, translated and with introduction by Lionel Giles (1910)
"Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu, translated by Stephen Addiss & Stanley Lombardo (1993)
“Sun Tzu’s Art of War” & “Sun Tzu Through Time” from “Masters of War: History's Greatest Strategic Thinkers” by Andrew R. Wilson, Ph.D.
“China: A History” by John Keay
“Sun-zi and the Art of War: The Rhetoric of Parsimony” by Steven C. Combs, Quarterly Journal of Speech, Vol.86, No 3, August 2000
“The Art of War” by Mark Cartwright and “Sun Tzu” by Joshua J Mark from World History Encyclopedia

MUSIC:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
"Threshold" by Austin Wintory, from Journey OST. Courtesy of @awintory

Our content is intended for teenage audiences and up.

[capariansol]

I forget where, but the greatest review of the Art of War I've seen was "People make fun of Sun Tzu for saying what should be obvious, but you have to realize that he's writing a war manual for a ruling class that has never seen mud".

[brightgnome]

Sun Tzu once said: "I never fucking said that."

[tntguardian]

"Remember: switching to your secondary is faster than reloading" - Sun Tzu, Art of War

[lagggoat]

"Dont show your strategies in a Youtube Video - you fool, you absolute Idiot" - Sun Tzu
(He will always be connected to Technoblade for me, couldnt help myself)

[tatianatub]

"all warfare is based"

-Sun Tzu. the art of war

[sylph]

The Art of War was had such an effect that now everything in the book seems obvious. At the time advice like "don't pick a fight if you think you will lose" was actually useful

[matthewpicchu]

“You may think that the book you just read is about war, but really it’s for MBAs and executives, as a guide to create the most toxic work environment imaginable.”
- Sun Tzu

[Avent]

"Why people keep making a quote for me"

- Sun Tzu

[ItsASleepySheepy]

"And that's why whenever a bunch of animals are together, it's called a Zoo!"

[RomLoneWolf]

The other historical context that one should consider with the Art of War was that Sun Tzu (or whoever wrote it) intended it not only as instructions to new generals, but also to monarchs who HIRED generals to lead their armies, with guidelines such as "don't hamper your military commanders if they're doing something right" or "consider how vital logistics are", clearly intended to rulers who might not understand the complexities of extended warfare from the comfort of their palaces. As such, the book can be read with a serious "As Per my last E-mail" vibe.

[_fedmar_]

"IF FIGHTING IS SURE TO RESULT IN VICTORY, THEN YOU MUST FIGHT!"
-Sun Tzu said that.

[jokodihaynes]

"Treat your men like your beloved sons and they will follow you into the deepest valley "-Sun Tzu the art of war

[reverseshotgun]

"There are not more than five cardinal tastes (sour, acrid, salt, sweet, bitter), yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted." - Sun Tzu, "The Art of War" (This is an actual quote from Chapter 5.)

[mathwiz]

“Don’t put all of your secrets into a YouTube video, you fool” - Sun Tzu, Art of War

[FanOfMostEverything]

"Cherry-picking quotes is the enemy of wisdom."
Truly, Blue was one of the greatest philosophers of the early 21st century.

[danguillou]

Been a fan of this book since my teens.
If someone wants to buy it, make sure you get a version that includes annotations by later chinese military strategists (which also might be forged or fictional btw). Context, commentary, explanations and funny little anecdotes. Like the one about a commander of a besieged city who sealed up a jar of piss, made up to look like fancy wine, and sent it to the opposing commander as a gift: in order to provoke him into an insanely costly all-out attack. "General so-and-so became enraged and ordered his troops to swarm up the walls like ants." Followed by further comment: "The calamity of these assaults is such that even if they succeed a commander might lose nine tenths of his troops."

I also feel that despite how much the book endorses cold ruthlessness and deceit, it has undercurrents of humanity. The author is telling you that if suck at this stuff, your soldiers will die, your country will be empoverished, your people will starve, and possibly you will be conquered and subjugated by hostile neighbors. I'm a Swede. The worst king we ever had (Charles XII) was a brilliant battlefield tactician and a personal badass, who followed every victory with another campaign, another war. When he finally died, our country was sucked dry, partly depopulated, broke and indebted up to our ears, and we had a bunch of neighbors that hated our guts, including Russia. That moron could have used a little Sun Tzu in his reading diet.

Thanks for another great episode,
Cheers!

[TheBerchie]

"When you see the enemy, you will know where the enemy is." -Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

[Rhekke]

I always liked the interpretation that the author(s?) of the Art of War were writing for the most boneheaded nobles who slept through military school on the strength of their family names and could not stay focused on anything longer than the meme explanation of basic strategy.

[Valeryp]

"I never said half the crap people said I did" - Sun Einstein

[kateb]

Sun Tzu, the guy everyone cites and nobody knows if the citations are real because (almost) nobody who cites him read his book.