The Art of War is one of the oldest and most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on Eastern military planning , business tactics, and beyond. First translated into a European language in 1782 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, and had possibly influenced Napoleon, and even the planning of Operation Desert Storm. Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong, Vo Nguyen Giap, and General Douglas MacArthur have claimed to have drawn inspiration from the work.

The Art of War has also been applied, with much success, to business and managerial strategies.

History

Based on the content, the book was finished between Zhuan Zhu's assassination of King Liao of Wu (515 BC) and Wu Zixu's recommendation to King Helü of Wu (512 BC) in China.

It was believed by some that the long-lost Sun Bin Bing Fa, or Sun Bin's The Art of War cited in the Book of Han, was actually Sun Tzu's The Art of War, but in April 1972, archaeologists discovered a tomb in Linyi County, Shandong Province, that contained several fragments of important scrolls buried during the Han Dynasty. Among the scrolls were a copy of the Sun Bin Bing Fa and a copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, thus removing any doubt.

The 13 chapters

Chapter titles from Lionel Giles' 1910 translation

I. Laying Plans
II. Waging War
III. Attack by Stratagem
IV. Tactical Dispositions
V. Energy
VI. Weak Points and Strong
VII. Maneuvering
VIII. Variation in Tactics
IX. The Army On The March
X. Terrain
XI. The Nine Situations
XII. The Attack By Fire
XIII. The Use of Spies

Chapter titles from CHOW-HOU WEE's 2003 translation

I. Detail Assessment and Planning (Chinese: 始計)
II. Waging War (Chinese: 作戰)
III. Strategic Attack (Chinese: 謀攻)
IV. Disposition of the Army (Chinese: 軍行)
V. Forces (Chinese: 兵勢)
VI. Weaknesses and Strengths (Chinese: 虛實)
VII. Military Manoeuvres (Chinese: 軍爭)
VIII. Variations and Adaptability (Chinese: 九變)
IX. Movement and Development of Troops (Chinese: 行軍)
X. Terrain (Chinese: 地形)
XI. The Nine Battlegrounds (Chinese: 九地)
XII. Attacking with Fire (Chinese: 火攻)
XIII. Intelligence and Espionage (Chinese: 用間)

	Annotations

Before the bamboo scroll version was discovered by archaeologists in April 1972, the most cited version of The Art of War was the Annotation of Sun Tzu's Strategies by Cao Cao, the founder of Cao Wei Kingdom.

In the preface, he wrote that previous annotations were not focused on the essential ideas. Other annotations cited in official history books include Shen You (176-204)'s Sun Tzu's Military Strategy, Jia Xu's Copy of Sun Tzu's Military Strategy, Cao Cao and Wang Ling (a nephew of Wang Yun)'s Sun Tzu's Military Strategy.

The Book of Sui documented seven books named after Sun Tzu. An annotation by Du Mu also includes Cao Cao's annotation. Li Jing's The Art of War is said to be a revision of Sun Tzu's strategies. Annotations by Cao Cao, Du Mu and Li Quan were translated into Tangut language before 1040 AD.

After the movable type printer was invented, The Art of War (with Cao Cao's annotations) was published as a military text book, known as Seven Military Classics with six other strategy books. A book named Ten Schools of The Art of War Annotations was published before 1161 AD.

As a required reading military textbook since the Song Dynasty, Seven Military Classics (武經七書) has many annotations. More than 30 differently annotated versions of this book exist today.

Vernacular Chinese became increasingly popular in the late 1920s. Annotations in Vernacular Chinese began to appear after this time. Some of these works were translated from other languages, such as Japanese.

Military applications

In many East Asian countries, The Art of War was part of the syllabus for potential candidates of military service examinations. Various translations are available.

During the Sengoku era in Japan, a Samurai named Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) is said to have become almost invincible in all battles without relying on guns, because he studied The Art of War. The book even gave him the inspiration for his famous battle standard "Furinkazan" (Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain), meaning fast as wind, silent as forest, ferocious as fire and immovable as mountain. Some say that had Shingen not died from illness, he would have become the Shogun of Japan.

During the Vietnam War, some Vietcong officers studied The Art of War , and reportedly could recite entire passages from memory.

Applicability outside the military

Since at least the 1980s, The Art of War has been applied to fields well outside the military. Much of the text is about how to fight wars without actually having to do battle: it gives tips on how to outsmart one's opponent so that physical battle is not necessary. As such, it has found application as a training guide for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat.

Most notably the book has gained popularity in corporate life; there have been a variety of business books written that apply its lessons to "office politics" and corporate strategy. Many Japanese companies make the book required reading for their key executives. The book is also popular among Western business management, who have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations.

It has also crept its way into sport: Australian cricket coach John Buchanan handed out excerpts from the book to his players before a match against England in 2001, and the book is allegedly a favorite of University of South Carolina football head coach Steve Spurrier.

Former Brazilian football coach, and current coach of the Portuguese national football team Luiz Felipe Scolari uses the book to plot his football strategy. In the 2002 FIFA World Cup he gave each of his players copies of the book. In the recent 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany he used the book to plan his team's win against England.

It has found use in political campaigning as well; Republican election strategist Lee Atwater claimed he travelled everywhere with the book.

Some have also interpreted The Art of War as providing methods for developing social strategies, such as developing social relationships, maintaining romantic relationships, and seduction. The book stresses subtlety and always making it appear like one is trying to achieve something other than one's actual intention.

The use of individual quotations from the book as a source of fortune cookie-like proverbs and not seeing the general coherence of the text has been criticized by many scholars of Chinese history.

Related material

Sun Tzu is attributed with having a grandson Sun Bin who wrote another treatise on military strategy often called "The Lost Art of War" or "The Art of Warfare". Sun Bin or Sun Pin as he is sometimes called is also known as Sun Tzu II. The following are some published texts in this area:

Sun Tzu II translated by Thomas Cleary (1996). The Lost Art of War. Harper Collins Publisher (Under HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 0-06-251361-3.This book by Thomas Cleary is a translation of the sequel to Sun Tzu's classic strategic manual.

Sun Pin translated by Ralph D. Sawyer (1995). Military Methods of the Art of War. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-7607-0650-6.This book by Ralph Sawyer is a translation of work written by the purported great-grandson of Sun Tzu in the 4th Century.

Depiction in media

Film

In the 1987 film Wall Street, the main antagonist, Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas), says: "I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought." His protegé, Bud (played by Charlie Sheen), comes back after reading the text and says: "All warfare is based on deception. If your enemy is superior, evade him. If angry, irritate him. If equally matched, fight and if not: split and re-evaluate," to which Gekko smiles in approval.

In the 1996 film The Rock, prisoner John Mason (played by Sean Connery), is seen near the beginning of the film in his cell with a collections of books containing, amongst others, a copy of the Art of War.

The 2000 Wesley Snipes film The Art of War was named after the book. Snipes is also seen (as a different character) reading the book in his 1992 movie Passenger 57.

Gustav Graves of the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day quotes The Art of War on more than one occasion. Also, the character Miranda Frost is killed by a knife skewered through The Art of War.

In the movie Bandits, Bruce Willis can be seen reading The Art of War.

Television

The book was quoted in Prison Break by an FBI agent Alexander Mahone who is pursuing the group who escaped from Fox River State Penitentiary. He quotes Sun Tzu while he is being interviewed by TV-reporters regarding his progress to catch the fugitives.

The text is mentioned in the Star Trek: TNG episode "The Last Outpost" as still being required reading at Starfleet Academy.

In The Sopranos, Tony Soprano takes the advice of his therapist and reads The Art of War to aid him in managing his expanding empire of organized crime. Tony's associate in crime, Paulie Walnuts, often listens to an audiobook of The Art of War while driving, and in one instance quotes from it to his comrades but is mocked by Silvio Dante for pronouncing the "T" in Sun Tzu's name.

In the Family Guy episode "A Hero Sits Next Door", Stewie Griffin appears reading Machiavelli's The Prince; he then throws down his book and says: "Machiavelli! You've told me nothing I don't already know. Ah—Sun Tzu's The Art of War!" before Lois takes it away.

In the Futurama "Love's Labours Lost in Space", 25-Star General Zapp Brannigan comments on his adversary's tactics with the words: "A well-calculated move straight out of Sun Tzu's classic text The Art of War, or my own masterwork, Zapp Brannigan's Big Book of War."

In the Smallville episode "c:Smallville:Fanatic", Lionel Luthor questions Lex's tactics over the course of several scenes, and at one point suggests that Lex polish up his reading. A copy of The Art of War is seen. Lionel quotes a line from the book which states, "Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons..." and Lex finishes the line, "...and they will stand by you even unto death." Lex retorts that he read the book three times before he finished high school, then jokes that he would've preferred a bicycle as a 14th birthday gift.

Television ads for the 2005-2006 season of the National Hockey League frequently quote The Art of War.

One of return bumpers of The Powerpuff Girls on Cartoon Network reveals this book is one of properties of Bubbles.

In a season 3 episode of Gilmore Girls (That'll Do, Pig), Rory is talking to Francie in the bathroom. Rory: "I've read the Art of War."

In The Simpsons, Bart is forced to sign up for self-defense classes, his instructor urges him to read the Art of War, Bart firmly refuses to read the book and skips his class.

Games

Broderbund software published two games based on Sun Tzu's "Art of War". The first entitled "The Ancient Art of War" and the second "The Ancient Art of War At Sea". They were strategy, geography, and adventure simulation games. They ran on a number of computer platforms including Apple II, Macintosh, and DOS. The first game was written by Ronald G. Helms.

In the 2000 PC game Shogun: Total War, text from The Art of War is quoted often during gameplay and its strategies recommended by the computer to the human players.

On the back cover of Ikaruga the quote from The Art of War, "Amid the turmoil of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all..." appears.

In the fictional BattleTech universe, The Art of War is mentioned several times throughout the novels, and the Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation, Sun Tzu Liao, is named for the author.

It also makes a few brief appearances in "Deus Ex", in which the player is able to read a few chapters.

In Sid Meier's "Civilization" computer game series, "Sun Tsu's Art of War" or "Military Academy" is one of the fictional World Wonders that can be created, giving the owner several temporary military advantages.

In Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the completion of the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm is announced with a quotation from The Art of War. "If I determine the enemy's disposition of forces while I have no perceptible form, I can concentrate my forces while the enemy is fragmented. The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless: if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it nor the wise make plans against it."

There are many quotes from The Art of War that appear in the computer game Rome: Total War

Empress Lei-Qo of Battalion Wars uses proverbs from The Art Of War with wild abandon, changing the gender whenever she refers to herself.

A book in The Elder Scrolls video game RPG series is "The Art of War Magic", written by Imperial Battlemage Zurin Arctus. The quotes in the book are derived heavily from Sun Tzu's original writing.

The game Anarchy Online by Funcom features a small military outpost named War Academy which contains a NPC Sun Tzu who recites several famous passages from the Art of War

Music

In a collaboration between self-proclaimed Irish hip-hoppers House of Pain and Helmet on the soundtrack for the 1993 film Judgement Night, Everlast's lyrics include the lines "Cause I'm gifted/I read Sun Tzu/I bought a gun too/So you'll never come to".
Bone Thugz N Harmony made an album titled "The Art of War".
In the 2Pac song Hell 4 a Hustler, 2Pac's lyrics include the lines "Try to politic, before I smoke em, like Sun Tzu/ Niggaz do unto these snitches, before it's done to you"
30 Seconds to Mars' song "The Struggle" of their debut album has lyrics taken from "The Art of War".
In the Nas song Nazareth Savage, Nas' lyrics include the lines "I ain't have to read The Art of War to slay men"
Talib Kweli refers to the book in a few songs from his album Quality saying " I practice the Art of War for you like Sun Tzu" and album Right About Now by the line "This the Art of War, dont make Sun Tzu it"