The Art of War Summary

Chapter 1 — Strategic Assessments

Military action is a matter of life and death. There is the possibility that it may be taken up lightly.
Induce the people to have the same aim as the leadership, so that they will share death and share life, without fear of danger. Align incentives.
If the people are treated with benevolence, faithfulness, and justice, then they will be of one mind and gladly serve.
“Don’t go into another’s territory at an unfavorable time.”
It is important first to know the lay of the land. When you know the distance to be traveled, then you can plan whether to proceed directly or by a circuitous route. When you know the difficulty or ease of travel, then you can determine the advantages of infantry or mounted troops. When you know the dimensions of the area, then you can assess how many troops you need, many or few. When you know the relative safety of the terrain, then you can discern whether to do battle or disperse.
Reliance on intelligence alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness. Fixation on trust results in folly. Dependence on the strength of courage results in violence. Excessive sternness of command results in cruelty. When one has all five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a military leader.
Set up rules that are not to be broken, do not fail to punish any offenders.
If soldiers do not practice day to day, on the front lines they will be fearful and hesitant. If generals do not practice day to day, on the front lines they will not know how to adapt.
Rewards should not be out of proportion, punishments should not be arbitrary.
A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.
Without deception you cannot carry out strategy, without strategy you cannot control the opponent.
Deception is for the purpose of seeking victory over an enemy; to command a group requires truthfulness.
While strong in reality, appear to be weak; while brave in reality, appear to be cowardly
Deceptively conceal your state. You should not let the opponent see what state you are in, for if the enemy sees your condition, he will surely have a response.
When you are really competent and effective, appear to be incompetent and ineffective, so as to cause the enemy to be unprepared.
When strong, appear weak. Brave, appear fearful. Orderly, appear chaotic. Full, appear empty. Wise, appear foolish. Many, appear to be few. Advancing, appear to retreat. Moving quickly, appear to be slow. Taking, appear to leave. In one place, appear to be in another.
Show them a little prospect of gain to lure them, then attack and overcome them.
When they are fulfilled, be prepared against them; when they are strong, avoid them.
“When you see a gap, then advance; when you see fullness, then stop.”
When their storehouses are full and their soldiers are in top form, then you should withdraw in order to watch for an opening when they relax, observing any changes and responding to them.
Use anger to throw them into disarray.
Wait for them to become decadent and lazy.
Appear to be lowly and weak, so as to make them arrogant—then they will not worry about you, and you can attack them as they relax.
Use swiftness to wear them out.
Cause division among them.
Break up their accords, cause division between the leadership and their ministers, and then attack.
If they are stingy, you be generous; if they are harsh, you be lenient. That way their leadership and followers will be suspicious of each other, and you can cause division between them.
Division is a weakness
Attack when they are unprepared, make your move when they do not expect it.
Strike at their gaps, attack when they are lax, don’t let the enemy figure out how to prepare.
When your strategy is deep and far-reaching, you can win before you even fight. When your strategic thinking is shallow and nearsighted, you lose before you do battle.
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war. Defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

Chapter 2 — Doing Battle

First establish your plans, then prepare your equipment.
When you do battle, even if you are winning, if you continue for a long time it will dull your forces and blunt your edge.
“War is like a fire—if you do not put it out, it will burn itself out.”
“Those who like to fight and so exhaust their military inevitably perish.”
I have heard of military operations that were clumsy but swift, but I have never seen one that was skillful and lasted a long time. It is never beneficial to have a military operation continue for a long time.
Some win through speed, even if they are clumsy.
Advantages and disadvantages are interdependent—first know the disadvantages, then you know the advantages.
Those who use the military skillfully do not raise troops twice and do not provide food three times.
Transport supplies to a distant place, and the populace will be impoverished.
Transporting supplies to distant places means that wealth is expended in travel and used up on transportation, so that the common people become poorer day by day.
A wise general strives to feed off the enemy. Each pound of food taken from the enemy is equivalent to twenty pounds you provide by yourself.
It takes twenty pounds of provisions to deliver one pound of provisions to a distant army. If the terrain is rugged, it takes even more than that. That is why an able general will always feed off the enemy.
If people know they will be richly rewarded if they overcome the opponent, then they will gladly go into battle.
If you reward everyone, there will not be enough to go around, so you offer a reward to one in order to encourage everyone.
Captured soldiers should be well treated, to get them to work for you.
If you use the enemy to defeat the enemy, you will be strong wherever you go.
What is best is a quick victory and a speedy return.
It is important to be quick. If you are quick, then you can economize on expenditures and allow the people rest.

Chapter 3 — Planning a Siege

It is best if an enemy nation comes and surrenders of its own accord. To attack and defeat it is inferior to this.
The best policy is to use strategy, influence, and the trend of events to cause the adversary to submit willingly.
Assess your opponents; cause them to lose spirit and direction.
Those who win every battle are not really skillful—those who render others’ armies helpless without fighting are the best of all.
The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities.
Strike while schemes are being laid. When the opponent is just beginning to plan its strategy, it is easy to strike.
“Those who are good at getting rid of trouble are those who take care of it before it arises.”
If you cannot completely thwart the schemes of the enemy, you should work on his alliances, make them fall apart.
When you attack cities and butcher towns, this is the lowest form of attack, because there are many casualties.
One who is good at martial arts overcomes others’ forces without battle, conquers others’ cities without siege, destroys others’ nations without taking a long time.
One who is good at martial arts overcomes others without battle, conquers cities without siege, destroys nations without taking a long time.
Use tactics to overcome opponents by dispiriting them rather than battling with them; take their cities by strategy. Destroy their countries artfully, do not die in protracted warfare.
The best strategists do not fight. One who is good at laying siege does not lay siege with an army. Use strategy to thwart the opponents, cause them to overcome themselves and destroy themselves, rather than taking them by a long and troublesome campaign.
A skillful martialist ruins plans, spoils relations, cuts off supplies, or blocks the way, and hence can overcome people without fighting.
If you do not fight, your soldiers will not be wounded, if you do not lay siege, your strength will not be exhausted, if you do not continue long, your resources will not be used up. This is how you establish yourself completely victorious over the world. Thereby there are none of the ills associated with garrisons and violence, and there are the benefits of a prosperous country and a strong army. This is the good general’s art of strategic siege.
The rule for use of the military is that if you outnumber the opponent ten to one, then surround them; five to one, attack; two to one, divide.
If you are equal, then fight if you are able. If you are fewer, then keep away if you are able. If you are not as good, then flee if you are able.
If you calculate your power to be less than that of the opponent, then strengthen your defense, do not go out and get your edge snapped. Wait until the mood of the enemy gets sluggish, and then go out and attack by surprise.
If the enemy’s soldiers are more than yours, then you should run away from them, thereby making them haughty and using this in your future plans. It does not mean enduring anger and humiliation.
If the smaller side is stubborn, it becomes the captive of the larger side.
The small cannot stand up to the large—this means that if a small country does not assess its power and dares to become the enemy of a large country, no matter how firm its defenses be, it will inevitably become a captive nation.
“If you cannot be strong, and yet cannot be weak, this will result in your defeat.”
It is the very stubbornness of the smaller side that makes it the captive of the larger side.
There are five ways of knowing who will win:
Those who know when to fight and when not to fight are victorious.
Those who discern when to use many or few troops are victorious.
Those whose upper and lower ranks have the same desire are victorious.
Those who face the unprepared with preparation are victorious.
Those whose generals are able and are not constrained by their governments are victorious.
Assess yourselves and your opponents.
Those who can adapt to the situation are victorious.
“Military conquest is a matter of coordination, not of masses.”
There are ways by which a few can overcome many, and there are ways in which many can overcome a few. It is a matter of assessing their use and not misapplying them.
When the generals are all of one mind, the armies coordinate their efforts, and everyone wants to fight, then no one can stand up to such a force.
Be invincible at all times, so as to be prepared for opponents.
“Be prepared, and you will not be defeated.”
When generals have intelligence and courage, they should be entrusted with the responsibility to accomplish their work, and not controlled by civilians.
As a rule, in a military operation you need to change tactics a hundred times at every pace, proceeding when you see you can, falling back when you know there is an impasse.
If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
Compare your government to that of the enemy; compare your military leadership to that of the enemy; compare your logistics to that of your enemy; compare your ground to that of your enemy. Having established these comparisons, you will have a preview of superiorities and inferiorities, weaknesses and strengths; this will enable you to prevail every time in subsequent military operations.
When you know others, then you are able to attack them. When you know yourself, you are able to protect yourself.

Chapter 4 — Formation

Skillful warriors first make themselves invincible then watch for vulnerability in opponents.
Erase your tracks and hide your form, making yourself inscrutable to opponents. When you see that an opponent can be taken advantage of, then you emerge to attack.
If opponents have no formation to find out, no gap or slack to take advantage of, how can you overcome them even if you are well equipped?
When you have assessed the opponent and seen the opponent’s formation, then you can tell who will win. If the opponent is inscrutable and formless, then you cannot presume victory.
Invincibility is a matter of defense, vulnerability is a matter of attack.
When opponents attack you, then they are vulnerable.
When you know you do not yet have the means to conquer, guard your energy and wait. When you know that an opponent is vulnerable, attack the heart and take it.
Defense is for times of insufficiency, attack is for times of surplus.
We will not do battle unless we are certain of complete victory, we will not fight unless we are sure it is safe. Some people think insufficiency means weakness and surplus means strength, but this impression is wrong.
Those skilled in defense hide in the deepest depths of the earth, those skilled in attack maneuver in the highest heights of the sky. Therefore they can preserve themselves and achieve complete victory.
Attack is for when you see an advantage to aim for. On the attack you should be extremely swift, taking advantage of unexpectedness, wary of letting opponents find you out and prepare against you.
What everyone knows is what has already happened or become obvious. What the aware individual knows is what has not yet taken shape, what has not yet occurred. Everyone says victory in battle is good, but if you see the subtle and notice the hidden so as to seize victory where there is no form, this is really good.
Everyone can easily see armed conflict—this takes no skill. Knowledge that does not go beyond what the generality knows is not really good.
It does not take much strength to lift a hair, it does not take sharp eyes to see the sun and moon, it does not take sharp ears to hear a thunderclap. What everyone knows is not called wisdom, victory over others by forced battle is not considered good. A military leader of wisdom and ability lays deep plans for what other people do not figure on.
What everyone knows is not called wisdom, victory over others by forced battle is not considered good.
A military leader of wisdom and ability lays deep plans for what other people do not figure on.
Find out the subtle points over which it is easy to prevail, attack what can be overcome, do not attack what cannot be overcome.
Their victories are not flukes because they position themselves where they will surely win, prevailing over those who have already lost.
Great wisdom is not obvious, great merit is not advertised. When you see the subtle, it is easy to win.
When trouble is solved before it forms, who calls that clever? When there is victory without battle, who talks about bravery?
So it is that good warriors take their stand on ground where they cannot lose, and do not overlook conditions that make an opponent prone to defeat.
A victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.
First determine a winning strategy, and only then send forth the troops. If you do not plan first, hoping to rely on your strength, your victory is uncertain.

Chapter 5 — Force

Skillful warriors allow the force of momentum to seize victory for them without exerting their strength.
Governing a large number as though governing a small number is a matter of division into groups.
Good warriors make others come to them, and do not go to others.
When you induce opponents to come to you, then their force is always empty; as long as you do not go to them, your force is always full.
When the speed of rushing water reaches the point where it can move boulders, this is the force of momentum. When the speed of a hawk is such that it can strike and kill, this is precision. So it is with skillful warriors—their force is swift, their precision is close.
Disorder arises from order, cowardice arises from courage, weakness arises from strength.
Good warriors seek effectiveness in battle from the force of momentum, not from individual people. Therefore they are able to choose people and let the force of momentum do its work.
It is easy to get people to act by means of the force of momentum, whereas it is hard to demand power in individual people. The able have to choose the right people and also let the force of momentum do its work.
When people are skillfully led into battle, the momentum is like that of round rocks rolling down a high mountain—this is force.
Roll rocks down a ten-thousand-foot mountain, and they cannot be stopped—this is because of the mountain, not the rocks. Get people to fight with the courage to win every time, and the strong and the weak unite—this is because of the momentum, not the individuals.

Chapter 6 — Emptiness and Fullness

Good warriors cause others to come to them, and do not go to others.
Cause opponents to come to you. You should conserve your strength and wait for them, not going to opponents for fear of wearing yourself out.
What causes opponents to come of their own accord is the prospect of gain. What discourages opponents from coming is the prospect of harm.
Lure them with something to gain, and opponents will be tired while you are at ease.
Cause them trouble with some affair, cut off their supply routes to starve them, attack what they like and appear where they will go, cause opponents to have to go to the rescue.
Appear where they cannot go, head for where they least expect you.
To unfailingly take what you attack, attack where there is no defense. For unfailingly secure defense, defend where there is no attack.
It is easy to take over from those who have not thought ahead.
Attack their gaps.
Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.
When you induce others to construct a formation while you yourself are formless, then you are concentrated while the opponent is divided.
When you are concentrated into one while the opponent is divided into ten, you are attacking at a concentration of ten to one, so you outnumber the opponent.
If you can strike few with many, you will thus minimize the number of those with whom you do battle.
While being deeply entrenched and highly barricaded, not allowing any information about yourself to become known, go out and in formlessly, attacking and taking unfathomably.
The more defenses you induce your enemy to adopt, the more impoverished your enemy will be.
Assess them to find out their plans, both the successful ones and the failures. Incite them to action in order to find out the patterns of their movement and rest.
Stir opponents up, making them respond to you; then you can observe their forms of behavior, and whether they are orderly or confused.
Victory in war is apparent to all, but the science of ensuring victory is a mysterious secret, generally unknown.

Chapter 7 — Armed Struggle

To fight directly over advantages is the hardest thing in the world.
Make long distances near.
Make problems into advantages.
Fool opponents into taking it easy, then make haste.
The first to move is the guest, the last to move is the host. The guest has it hard, the host has it easy.
Battle depends on energy. The rule for military operations is that if you can stir up the soldiers of all ranks with a common anger, then no one can stand up to them.
When opponents first come and their energy is keen, break this down by not fighting with them for the time being. Watch for when they slump into boredom, then strike, and their keen energy can be taken away.
Once your mind is settled, you should just tune and order it, making it calm and stable, undisturbed by events, not deluded by prospects of gain. Watch for disorder and clamor among the enemy ranks, then attack.
When opponents are on high ground you shouldn’t attack upward, and when they are charging downward you shouldn’t oppose them.
A surrounded army must be given a way out.
Surround them on three sides, leaving one side open, to show them a way to life.
Do not press a desperate enemy.
An exhausted animal will still fight, as a matter of natural law.

Chapter 8 — Adaptations

Adaptation means not clinging to fixed methods, but changing appropriately according to events, acting as is suitable.
The considerations of the intelligent always include both benefit and harm.
Benefit and harm are interdependent.
Don’t count on opponents not coming, rely on having ways of dealing with them.
Don’t count on opponents not attacking, rely on having what cannot be attacked.

Chapter 9 — Maneuvering Armies

“Fight going down, not climbing up.”
Take care of physical health and stay where there are plenty of resources. When there is no sickness in the army, it is said to be invincible.
Advantage in a military operation is getting help from the land.
Those whose words are humble while they increase war preparations are going to advance. Those whose words are strong and who advance aggressively are going to retreat.
When they see an advantage but do not advance on it, they are weary.
When there are murmurings, lapses in duties, and extended conversations, the loyalty of the group has been lost.
If soldiers are punished before a personal attachment to the leadership is formed, they will not submit, and if they do not submit they are hard to employ.

Chapter 10 — Terrain

The form of the land is the basis on which the military is aided and victory is established, so it must be measured.
If you employ soldiers without sorting out the skilled and unskilled, the brave and the timid, you are bringing defeat on yourself.
These six are ways to defeat. Understanding this is the ultimate responsibility of the generals; they must be examined.
First is not assessing numbers
Second is lack of a clear system of punishments and rewards
Third is failure in training
Fourth is irrational overexcitement
Fifth is ineffectiveness of law and order
Sixth is failure to choose the strong and resolute.
Once you know the opponent’s conditions and the advantages of the terrain, you can win in battle. If you know neither, you will lose in battle.
When the laws of war indicate certain victory, it appropriate to do battle, even if the government says there is to be no battle. If the laws of war do not indicate victory, it is appropriate not to do battle, even if the government orders war.
Look upon your soldiers as you do infants, and they willingly go into deep valleys with you; look upon your soldiers as beloved children, and they willingly die with you. If you treat them well, you will get their utmost power.
If you are so nice to them that you cannot employ them, so kind to them that you cannot command them, so casual with them that you cannot establish order, they are like spoiled children, useless.
Rewards should not be used alone, punishments should not be relied on in isolation. Otherwise people will become accustomed to either enjoying or resenting everything. This is harmful and renders them useless.
If you know yourself but not the other, or if you know the other but not yourself, you cannot be sure of victory. Even if you know both yourself and your opponent and know you can fight, still you cannot overlook the question of the advantages of the terrain.
Those who know martial arts do not wander when they move, and do not become exhausted when they rise up. It is said that when you know yourself and others, victory is not in danger; when you know sky and earth, victory is inexhaustible.
When you know what is to others’ advantage and what is to your advantage, you are not in danger.

Chapter 11 — Nine Grounds

When a large, well-organized opponent is about to come to you, how do you deal with it? First take away what they like, and then they will listen to you.
Occupy a position of advantage, and cut off their supply routes by special strike forces and they will do as you plan.
The essential factor is speed, taking advantage of others’ failure to catch up, going by routes they do not expect, attacking where they are not on guard.
Glean from rich fields, and the armies will have enough to eat. Take care of your health and avoid stress, consolidate your energy and build up your strength. Maneuver your troops and assess strategies so as to be unfathomable.
When people are desperate, they will fight to the death.
The business of the general is quiet and secret, fair and orderly.
If you are quiet and inconspicuous, others will not be able to figure you out. If you are accurate and orderly, others will not be able to disturb you.
So the psychology of soldiers is to resist when surrounded, fight when it cannot be avoided, and obey in extremes.
Not until soldiers are surrounded do they each have the determination to resist the enemy and sustain victory. When they are desperate, they put up a united defense.
When they are fallen into dire straits, they obey completely.
Those who do not know the plans of competitors cannot prepare alliances. Those who do not know the lay of the land cannot maneuver their forces.
If you are able to find out opponents’ plans, take advantage of the ground, and maneuver opponents so that they are helpless, then even a large country cannot assemble enough people to stop you.
Employ the entire armed forces like employing a single person. Employ them with actual tasks. Motivate them with benefits, do not tell them about harm.
Human psychology is to go for perceived benefits and try to avoid prospective harm.
Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.
When opponents present openings, you should penetrate them immediately. Get to what they want first, subtly anticipate them.

Chapter 12 — Fire Attack

Fire is used to throw enemies into confusion so that you can attack them. It is not simply to destroy enemies with fire.
When you hear fire has erupted, you should then attack; once the fire has been brought under control and the people have settled down, it is no use to attack. You should respond quickly.
Do not mobilize when there is no advantage, do not act when there is nothing to gain, do not fight when there is no danger.
Armaments are instruments of ill omen, war is a dangerous affair. It is imperative to prevent disastrous defeat, so it will not do to mobilize an army for petty reasons—arms are only to be used when there is no choice but to do so.
A government should not mobilize an army out of anger, military leaders should not provoke war out of wrath.
Act when it is beneficial, desist if it is not. Anger can revert to joy, wrath can revert to delight, but a nation destroyed cannot be restored to existence, and the dead cannot be restored to life.
Do not use arms because of your own emotions. If you are inconsistent in your feelings, you will lose dignity and trust.

Chapter 13 — On the Use of Spies

When enemy agents come to spy on you, bribe them generously to make them spy for you instead.
Whenever you want to attack an army, besiege a city, or kill a person, first you must know the identities of their defending generals, their associates, their visitors, their gatekeepers, and their chamberlains, so have your spies find out.
Whenever you are going to attack and fight, first you have to know the talents of the people employed by the opponent, so you can deal with them accordingly.