You should never go to war, if you are not forced to do it. A war is just a solution, if you have tried all other alternatives to get peace!
Sun Zi was writing about what we should do if we determine ourselves to go to war! We should try all other alternatives than war, when going to war! That is the best intellectual way of treating it! And intellectual considerations are better than all conceivable operations!
Sun Zi was coming from China. And China knows a lot of about peace, wars and justice! In wars, the best thing is to know yourself and your enemy! There is much philosophy about peace and wars, and many philosophers have thougth about it through many periods of time! The intellectual properties to a good general, organization, managing, control, terrain and weather. Sun Zi said that numerical strength alone does not bring any benefit. Elements that had to do with morality, intellect and environments are even better than physical strength.
Mao Zedong was strongly influenced by Sun Zis thoughts. This is reflected in Maos Little Red Book, and in his books about military strategy and tactics. Mao has described his youth as full of violent quarrels with a strong and dominant father. Growing up is always important, and it affects life further. As a boy, he found an ally in the mother! Her approach with indirect attack appealed to him. He learned a lot of classical literature that later meant a lot!
Mao realized as Sun Zi had done, that no war can be won by using a defensive and static attitude, you should rather be offensive and dynamic! The stategies and the tactics that were used by the Japanese emphasized constant movement. And the four slagons were as followed:
1. When the enemy moves forward, we retreat!
2. When the enemy stops, we bother them!
3. When the enemy tries to avoid battle, we attack!
4. When the enemy retires, we pursue them!
Sun Zi meant that we should never go to war unless we have tried all amicable arrangements. And a plan is nothing in going to war, planning is everything. You should plan constantly! One should always adapt and change the plan in accordance with what is going on in the environments. That means that you should use intellectual and physical forces as good as possible!
The five basic factors that are the basic being of war are moral influence, the weather, the terrain, the leadership and the rules. By moral influence, we are meaning that soldiers and people feel themselves in harmony with its leaders, either in life or in fear of death. By weather, one is meaning the interaction between the forces of nature. It can be a cold or a warm nature. By terrain, one is meaning the distances, and if an area is easy or difficult to move within, By leadership, it is meant the general´s abilities in terms of wisdom, sincerity, compassion, courage and rigor. By the rules, one is meaning organization, control, appointment of officers, organization of transport, and necessary supplies to the army.
In wars, it is best to keep the enemy land intact. Putting it in gravel is a bad option. What is most important in wars, is to attack the strategy to the enemy! Overcoming the enemy without a fight, is the top of skill!
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Sverre Larsen
Kristiansand, Norway
Photoes from CCC (Content Creator Channel), by Ulla Jensen