Sun Tzu's The Art of War (Essay Sample)

Sun Tzu's The Art of War
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Sun Tzu's The Art of War
Modern wars are fronted through culture, religion, technology as well as socio-economic and political reasons which spur countries or regions against each other (Handel, 1989). The concept of the 4th Generation Warfare attributes conflicts to human nature, which can better be approached through the discussion of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, second chapter. In "Waging War”, Tzu discusses the importance of different environmental strategies and contemporary values that are applicable even to modern battle. "Waging War" is centered on wealth management and the objectivity of securing victory without incurring a lot of expenses on a battlefield. The writer gives axioms that best help in the management and use of assets to acquire victory in a combat zone, using the enemy’s wealth and becoming stronger.
Tzu approached the concept of war which corresponds to the effective strategies applied by the warriors. In chapter two, the usefulness of management of resources and the objectives of going to war are discussed and elaborated, using the axioms (Tzu, 1963). These words of wisdom are still relevant to the current warfare management, especially for the modern high level of criminal and terrorism war era. Moreover, China’s rapid economic growth is partly attributed to their successful management of conflict and military, which makes these axioms applicable in the modern conflict.
Intelligence gathering, as postulated in the chapter, is the key to victory in the battleground. According to Tzu, it is vital in the asymmetrical combat, especially the modern day terrorism. It reduces the hardships in the fight, as information gathered helps in the management of effective war objectives, resources, and victory. Therefore, intelligence gathering and management facilitates conceptualization and achievement of the war goals. Achieving victory, with calculated speed and not haste, as well as effective resource management is paramount to the modern warfare. Most wars take decades due to poor intelligence conceptualization and lack of strategy to achieve the long-term objectives of the war itself. Tzu’s 5th axiom highlights the importance of acting in speed and intelligently to complete the fight’s objectives. He wrote, "Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays" (Tzu, 1963). He further proposed the use of secret agents as a method of accessing the adversary’s territory. Furthermore, Tzu believed in the use of intelligence as a mode of winning war without fighting.
In the modern world, conflicts often take years culminating into prolonged suffering and poverty. In this regard, Tzu wrote, "There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare." Therefore, even in the modern day conflict management, no country stands to gain in a prolonged war, as most of the resources would be spent on the recurrent expenditure, instea