Attack by Stratagem

The supreme art of war, Sun Tzu says, is to take the enemy's territory intact — not to destroy it. Better to capture a regiment whole than to destroy it. The highest achievement is not winning every battle through fighting; it is breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting at all. A hierarchy follows: the best strategy disrupts the enemy's plans before he can act on them. Next best is to prevent his forces from uniting. After that, attack his army in the field. The last and worst resort is to besiege his fortified cities.

The chapter's middle section describes what siege warfare costs: months of preparation, equipment built at ruinous expense, men thrown at walls like ants, a third of them dead. A commander who cannot control his frustration will destroy his army in siege after siege and never win. The skillful leader defeats the enemy without fighting, captures cities without besieging them, overthrows kingdoms without protracted campaigns. He contests for supremacy with his forces intact; without losing a single soldier, his victory is complete. This is the method of strategic attack.

The chapter closes with two passages that have defined the book's reception for twenty-five centuries. The first gives the five keys to victory: knowing when to fight and when to hold back; knowing how to deploy large and small forces; unified organizational purpose; preparation against an unprepared enemy; military competence free from political micromanagement. Victory comes from understanding these five principles. Then the formula: know your enemy and know yourself, and you will win a hundred battles. Know yourself but not the enemy, and for every victory you will also suffer a defeat. Know neither, and you will lose every battle.