THE SHEATHED SWORD (OFFENSIVE STRATEGY)

Focus is on knowledge of self and opposition, and the accomplishment of objectives by informed pre-positioning so as to minimize the need to engage in costly conflict.

Importance Of Knowledge, Wisdom, And Understanding

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

Patience, Positioning, And Timing

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

"Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities,..."

From Griffith's commentary on Sun Tzu On War:

"Never to be undertaken thoughtlessly or recklessly, war was to be preceded by measures designed to make it easy to win."

"Thus without battle his (the opposition) army was conquered, his cities taken and his state overthrown. Only when the enemy could not be overcome by these means was there recourse to armed force, which was to be applied so that victory was gained:

(a) in the shortest possible time;
(b) at the least possible cost in lives and effort;
(c) with infliction on the enemy of the fewest possible casualties."

Essentials For Success

"...we may know that there are five essentials for victory:

He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign."

Always Have An "Edge"

"Though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force."

Focused Application Of Knowledge And Experience

From Griffith's Preface:

"Sun Tzu was well aware that combat involves a great deal more than the collision of armed men. 'Numbers alone', he said, 'confer no advantage.' He considered the moral, intellectual, and circumstantial elements of war to be more important than the physical, and cautioned kings and commanders not to place reliance on sheer military power."

Opportunistic Flexibility

"Humanity and justice are the principles on which to govern a state, but not an army; opportunism and flexibility, on the other hand, are military rather than civic virtues."

Go to Chapter 4.

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