The Art of War – When the battle becomes a work of art

The text below is the excerpt from the book Art of War (ISBN: 9781783107797), written by Sun Tzu and Victoria Charles, published by Parkstone International.

Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

To make a list of all the wars, battles or minor armed conflicts that humanity has ever fought throughout its history, would be go beyond the scope of the possible. For one, we can say for certain that not all conflicts have been recorded or handed down in history and not all accounts of those battles that have been committed to the collective memory of mankind, are above scrutiny. One of the most famous truisms expresses this by saying that “history is written by the victor”, which seems to cast a shadow of doubt over those eras of human history that are less well documented. How many minor conflicts have fallen through the cracks of the stage that is history? How many records have been written by historians who were mired too much in their culture and perspective? For the moment, these questions remain unanswerable. What is left, is to trust sources with a claim to relative objectivity. Thus, no book can ever claim to include a full account of the history of warfare.

What can be done, however, is to select among the most incisive conflicts that are known to us. This is exactly what this book is trying to accomplish. To give an overview of the battles which have shaped civilisation in general or, sometimes, specific cultures. In choosing which conflicts to represent, not only the scope of the conflict was a decisive criterion, but also other aspects, such as the application of new technology, cunning tactical manoeuvres, tales of individual bravery or political background. For this purpose, the writings of various scholars and authors have been chosen to create a reading experience that includes both contemporary and classic perspectives on the various conflicts.

The texts are not meant to give a perfectly detailed account of every battle but are rather accompanying pieces to the artwork, giving a glimpse of the events surrounding the battle or the actual fighting itself. Due to their age, some of these descriptions adopt a point of view that is either outdated by scholarly standards or still rooted in the last century where war was not yet the subject of scrutiny it is today. While it is acknowledged that there is a fundamental problem in relying upon historical accounts or retrospective analyses which exhibit a more or less obvious bias, there is still a benefit to be gleaned from examining those kinds of texts. At the very least they will reveal the perspectives prevalent in the minds of many historiographers or scholars throughout theirs centuries and offer an outlook into an age when war was regarded as either a perfectly valid method of expansion, a battle of wits between cultured men or a tool of natural selection.

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