Sun Tzu, Biography Of A Strategist

Sun Tzu is a millennial character who inspired and continues to inspire great leaders, not only in battle, but also in politics and business. His great work The Art of War has guided strategists of all times, due to the universal validity of its principles and the punctuality of its advice.

The most curious thing about Sun Tzu’s work is the fact that it turns combat into an act of intelligence and not brute force. In fact, one of the great maxims of this work indicates that the best battle  is the one that never takes place. To a large extent it shares the tradition of martial arts, which is also based on that principle.

Sun Tzu is an enigmatic character, about whom little is known. In fact, there are those who question its real existence and think that that name is a pseudonym that different warriors adopted. However, at least for the moment, the existence of this character is historically accepted.

The origins of Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu was born in China, probably 544 BC. He was a contemporary of the famous philosopher Confucius  and lived in a troubled time, characterized by divisions and internal strife. Even so, in his time philosophical thought was highly valued and that is why his great treatise, the one that would give him immortality, is a work for thinkers.

According to what has been established, the strategist was born in Ch’i and came from a family of military aristocracy. Apparently, he learned the war trade from his grandfather. At that time the Chou dynasty reigned, but in China there was a constant struggle between different principalities and there was no centralized unity.

It is believed that Sun Tzu went to live in the south of the country in the year 517. He settled in the state of Wu and there he came under the command of King Hu Lu, as a general. This period in history is known as the “Warring Kingdoms”, during the so-called “Springs and Autumns” of China.

A successful military man

Sun Tzu had his own philosophy in the face of war and soon began to apply it with success. He faced much more powerful armies and won, thanks to his enormous skill in strategy.

This military man showed that victories did not depend on the size of an army, nor on the amount of resources available, but on strategy.

The approaches of this strategist revolve around the idea that the art of war is the art of deception. To be successful you fundamentally need to know yourself and know the enemy, in both cases, in great depth. Finally, it would all come down to knowing what the opponent thinks and how he acts, to take advantage of that in his own favor.

One of the interesting aspects of Sun Tzu’s treatise is the fact that, in one way or another, it is designed for the disadvantaged. On the other hand, he seeks that any combat generates the least number of damages and losses.

As we have already indicated, for this warrior the ideal is to give such handling to situations, so that finally the battle is not necessary.

Sun Tzu’s legacy

The work The Art of War is composed of 13 chapters and it is a book of aphorisms. At first it was kept as a secret text, to which only the great men of power had access. In fact, the genuine version of this treatise was only accidentally discovered in 1972, during an excavation.

It was written on some bamboo boards and was not exactly the same as the version that became popular all over the world. Be that as it may, since Sun Tzu’s ideas became known, great leaders began to apply them, first in China and then in Japan. In 1772 the book was translated into French and only in 1910 into English.

Since this work became known in the West, it had a great reception among different leaders. It is believed that Napoleon consulted it and that Vietnam won the war against the United States thanks to this manual.

Over time, this book not only gained importance among the military, but also among politicians and businessmen. Very little is still known about Sun Tzú. It is believed that he died in the year 496 and no other details about his life are known.