Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals . Derived from the Greek word strategos , the term strategy, when first used during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general ", or "the art of arrangement" of troops. and deals with the planning and conduct of campaigns, the movement and disposition of forces, and the deception of the enemy.
77-591: Sun Bin (died 316 BC) was a Chinese general, military strategist , and writer who lived during the Warring States period of Chinese history . A supposed descendant of Sun Tzu , Sun was tutored in military strategy by the hermit Guiguzi . He was accused of treason by Pang Juan while serving in the Wei state and was sentenced to face-tattooing (criminal branding) and had his kneecaps removed , permanently crippling him. Sun later escaped from Wei and rose to prominence in
154-646: A "strategy of exhaustion" (see attrition warfare ) to hold off his opponents and conserve his Prussian forces. Assailed from all sides by France, Austria, Russia and Sweden, Frederick exploited his central position, which enabled him to move his army along interior lines and concentrate against one opponent at a time. Unable to achieve victory, he was able to stave off defeat until a diplomatic solution emerged. Frederick's "victory" led to great significance being placed on " geometric strategy " which emphasized lines of manoeuvre, awareness of terrain and possession of critical strong-points. The French Revolutionary Wars and
231-400: A battle site. Initially, the lack of force concentration helped with foraging for food and sought to confuse the enemy as to his real location and intentions. The "indirect" approach into battle also allowed Napoleon to disrupt the linear formations used by the allied armies. As the battle progressed, the enemy committed their reserves to stabilize the situation, Napoleon would suddenly release
308-563: A besieged city, spreading disease and death, such as the Black Plague. If a particular town or city displeased the Mongolian Khan, everyone in the city would be killed to set an example for all other cities. This was early psychological warfare . To refer to the nine strategic principles outlined above, the Mongol strategy was directed toward an objective (that schwerpunkt (main focus) being
385-488: A classic example of the conception and execution of military strategy. In addition to exploiting railroads and highways for manoeuvre, Moltke also exploited the telegraph for control of large armies. He recognised the need to delegate control to subordinate commanders and to issue directives rather than specific orders. Moltke is most remembered as a strategist for his belief in the need for flexibility and that no plan, however well prepared, can be guaranteed to survive beyond
462-448: A general statement—e.g., "We're going to do this by a naval invasion of the North of country X", "We're going to blockade the ports of country Y", to a more specific "C Platoon will attack while D platoon provides fire cover". In its purest form, strategy dealt solely with military issues. In earlier societies, a king or political leader was often the same person as the military leader. If not,
539-542: A great extent the American Civil War , saw Napoleonic tactics of "offense at all costs" pitted against the defensive power of the trench , machine gun and barbed wire . As a reaction to its World War I experience, France attempted to use its Maginot Line to apply the principles of mass and economy of force, in that troops could be concentrated in the north for an offensive there while the Line acted as force multiplier in
616-494: A horse racing competition. Sun Bin suggested a strategy to Tian Ji to utilize his horses to best advantage, and Tian won two out of three rounds in the race. The king was impressed with Tian's victory. Tian admitted that he won with the help of Sun Bin, and recommended Sun's talents to the king. King Wei wanted to appoint Sun Bin as the commander of the Qi armies. Sun declined, as his handicap prevented him from riding horseback, and would have
693-560: A mad dash in an attempt to rescue Daliang. Pang Juan's troops were exhausted as they crossed the Yellow River and were ambushed and destroyed at Guiling by Sun's numerically superior army. Pang Juan managed to escape alone to Wei. This battle gives rise to a well-known proverb and phrase, "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao" (圍魏救趙), which is also included as one of the Thirty-Six Strategies compiled by Wáng Jìngzé. This article about
770-495: A means to an end, but it is not an end in itself. There are numerous examples in history where victory on the battlefield has not translated into goals such as long term peace, security or tranquillity. Many military strategists have attempted to encapsulate a successful strategy in a set of principles. Sun Tzu defined 13 principles in his The Art of War while Napoleon listed 115 maxims. American Civil War General Nathan Bedford Forrest had only one: to "[get] there first with
847-547: A military general, making his name after scoring victories in a few battles. Sun Bin, who was still studying with their teacher then, was invited to enter the service of Wei and he became Pang's colleague. However, Pang was secretly jealous of Sun, because he perceived that Sun Bin was more talented, and had learnt more about military strategy from their teacher than he. Pang Juan framed Sun Bin for treason and reported him to King Hui of Wei , who ordered Sun Bin to be executed. Pang pretended to plead for mercy on Sun's behalf, and
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#1732858906086924-588: A negative effect on the morale of soldiers. Sun was then appointed chief military advisor instead and served as Tian Ji's deputy. In 354 BC, Wei state attacked the Zhao state , with Pang Juan leading the Wei army. They besieged the Zhao capital city of Handan . Zhao requested help from Qi, and the king of Qi commissioned Sun Bin and Tian Ji to lead an army to help Zhao. Sun Bin proposed the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" and
1001-443: A pigsty. Sun appeared to enjoy himself there and even consumed animal faeces , calling them delicious. Pang believed that Sun was truly mad and lowered his guard. Sun later escaped from the Wei state with the help of diplomats from the Qi state . In the Qi state , Sun Bin became a retainer (guest) in the residence of Tian Ji , a military general. Once, King Wei of Qi invited Tian Ji to
1078-549: A political act, and thus maintained that the purpose of all strategy was to achieve the political goal that the state was seeking to accomplish. As such, Clausewitz famously argued that war was the "continuation of politics by other means", and as such, suggested that the amount of force used by a warring state would and should be proportional to whatever political aim that the state sought to achieve via war. Clausewitz further dismissed "geometry" as an insignificant factor in strategy, believing instead that ideally all wars should follow
1155-509: A precursor to trench warfare were the Lines of Torres Vedras during the Peninsular War . French Armies lived off the land and when they were confronted by a line of fortifications which they could not out flank, they were unable to continue the advance and were forced to retreat once they had consumed all the provisions of the region in front of the lines. The Peninsular campaign was notable for
1232-530: A town. There was still room for triumphs for the strategy of manoeuvre such as Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864, but these depended upon an enemy's unwillingness to entrench. Towards the end of the war, especially in defense of static targets as in the battles of Cold Harbor and Vicksburg , trench networks foreshadowed World War I. Many of the lessons of the American Civil War were forgotten, when in wars like
1309-410: A tree, so he lit a torch for a closer look. Using the torch as the target, the Qi troops lying in ambush attacked. Pang committed suicide after being hit by many enemy arrows. Sun Bin retired from service because of political entanglement in the court and led a reclusive life as a hermit in the later part of his life. Sun Bin's Art of War ( 孫臏兵法 ) is a military treatise authored by Sun Bin. The book
1386-544: A victory for the Greeks against Persia, which exemplified that military strategy was extremely beneficial to defeating a numerous enemy. Early strategies included the strategy of annihilation, exhaustion, attrition warfare , scorched earth action, blockade , guerrilla campaign, deception and feint . Ingenuity and adeptness were limited only by imagination, accord, and technology. Strategists continually exploited ever-advancing technology. The word "strategy" itself derives from
1463-508: A whole new field of study into military strategy. In particular, his opponents were keen to develop a body of knowledge in this area to allow them to counteract a masterful individual with a highly competent group of officers, a General Staff. The two most significant students of his work were Carl von Clausewitz , a Prussian with a background in philosophy , and Antoine-Henri Jomini , who had been one of Napoleon's staff officers. One notable exception to Napoleon's strategy of annihilation and
1540-604: Is portrayed in the 2011 film The Warring States . Sun Bin is one of the 32 historical figures who appear as special characters in the video game Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI by Koei . Military strategy The father of Western modern strategic studies , Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831), defined military strategy as "the employment of battles to gain the end of war." B. H. Liddell Hart 's definition put less emphasis on battles, defining strategy as "the art of distributing and applying military means to fulfill
1617-403: Is the art of organizing forces on or near the battlefield to secure objectives as part of the broader military strategy. Military strategy is the planning and execution of the contest between groups of armed adversaries. It is a subdiscipline of warfare and of foreign policy , and a principal tool to secure national interests . Its perspective is larger than military tactics , which involve
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#17328589060861694-698: The Austro-Prussian War or the Franco-Prussian War , manoeuvre won the day. In the period preceding World War I, two of the most influential strategists were the Prussian generals, Helmuth von Moltke and Alfred von Schlieffen . Under Moltke the Prussian army achieved victory in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), the latter campaign being widely regarded as
1771-567: The Greek "στρατηγία" ( strategia ), "office of general, command, generalship", in turn from "στρατηγός" ( strategos ), "leader or commander of an army, general", a compound of "στρατός" ( stratos ), "army, host" + "ἀγός" ( agos ), "leader, chief", in turn from "ἄγω" ( ago ), "to lead". No evidence exists of it being used in a modern sense in Ancient Greek, but we find it in Byzantine documents from
1848-881: The Napoleonic Wars that followed revolutionized military strategy. The impact of this period was still to be felt in the American Civil War and the early phases of World War I . With the advent of cheap small arms and the rise of the drafted citizen soldier, armies grew rapidly in size to become massed formations. This necessitated dividing the army first into divisions and later into corps . Along with divisions came divisional artillery ; light-weight, mobile cannon with great range and firepower. The rigid formations of pikemen and musketeers firing massed volleys gave way to light infantry fighting in skirmish lines. Napoleon I of France took advantage of these developments to pursue an effective "battle of annihilation". Napoleon invariably sought to achieve decision in battle, with
1925-488: The Qi state , serving as a military strategist and commander. He led Qi to victory against the Wei state at the Battle of Guiling and the Battle of Maling , killing Pang Juan in the battle and avenging himself in the process. Sun authored the military treatise Sun Bin's Art of War , which was rediscovered in a 1972 archaeological excavation after being lost for almost 2000 years. An alleged descendant of Sun Tzu , Sun Bin
2002-408: The flanking formation to attack the enemy. His opponents, being suddenly confronted with a new threat and with little reserves, had no choice but to weaken the area closest to the flanking formation and draw up a battle line at a right angle in an attempt to stop this new threat. Once this had occurred, Napoleon would mass his reserves at the hinge of that right angle and launch a heavy attack to break
2079-794: The 6th century onwards, and most notably in the work attributed to Emperor Leo VI the Wise of Byzantium . As a counterpoint to European developments in the strategic art, the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan provides a useful example. Genghis' successes, and those of his successors, were based on manoeuvre and terror. The main focus of Genghis' strategic assault was the psychology of the opposing population. By steady and meticulous implementation of this strategy, Genghis and his descendants were able to conquer most of Eurasia . The building blocks of Genghis' army and his strategy were his tribal levies of mounted archers , scorched earth -style methods, and, equally essential,
2156-451: The British, because it cost far less to aid Spanish insurgents than it did to equip and pay regular British army units to engage the same number of French troops. As the British army could be correspondingly smaller it was able to supply its troops by sea and land without having to live off the land as was the norm at the time. Further, because they did not have to forage they did not antagonise
2233-477: The Germans would go on to the offensive in the east. Influenced by Hannibal's success at the Battle of Cannae , Schlieffen planned for a single great battle of encirclement, thereby annihilating his enemy. Another German strategist of the period was Hans Delbrück who expanded on Clausewitz's concept of "limited warfare" to produce a theory on the "strategy of exhaustion". His theory defied popular military thinking of
2310-454: The Greek forces were outnumbered stood as a good military strategy. The Greek allied forces ultimately lost the battle, but the training, use of armor, and location allowed them to defeat many Persian troops before losing. In the end, the Greek alliance lost the battle but not the war as a result of that strategy which continued on to the battle of Plataea. The Battle of Plataea in 479 BC resulted in
2387-536: The Napoleonic concept of victory through a decisive battle of annihilation and destruction of the opposing force, at any cost. However, he also recognized that his ideal of how war should be fought was not always practical in reality and that limited warfare could influence policy by wearing down the opposition through a " strategy of attrition ". In contrast to Clausewitz, Antoine-Henri Jomini (1779-1869) dealt mainly with operational strategy, planning and intelligence ,
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2464-415: The Qi army again to counter the Wei forces. Sun used a strategy of feigning defeat in a series of skirmishes with the Wei forces, in order to lure Pang Juan to pursue him. Sun ordered the Qi troops to reduce the number of cooking stoves they used, creating the false impression that the Qi army was shrinking in size. The pursuing Wei forces led by Pang Juan spotted the trend by observing the marks left behind by
2541-469: The Qi army attacked the Wei capital city of Daliang (present-day Kaifeng ), forcing the Wei army to turn back to save the city and effectively lifting the siege on Handan. The Wei army was ambushed and defeated by the Qi forces at the Battle of Guiling . In 342 BC, the Wei army led by Pang Juan invaded the Han state , an ally of the Qi state, and Han requested help from Qi. Sun Bin and Tian Ji were put in charge of
2618-556: The Western by focusing more on asymmetric warfare and deception. Chanakya 's Arthashastra has been an important strategic and political compendium in Indian and Asian history as well. Strategy differs from operations and tactics , in that strategy refers to the employment of a nation's entire military capabilities through high-level and long-term planning, development, and procurement to guarantee security or victory. Operations and tactics
2695-630: The armies of Genghis, nearly all other armies were cumbersome and relatively static. It was not until well into the 20th century that any army was able to match the speed of deployment of Genghis' armies. When confronted with a fortified city, the Mongol imperatives of maneuver and speed required that it be quickly subdued. Here the terror engendered by the bloody reputation of the Mongolians helped to intimidate and subdue. So too did primitive biological warfare . A trebuchet or other type of ballista weapon would be used to launch dead animals and corpses into
2772-427: The concept of the grand strategy which encompasses the management of the resources of an entire nation in the conduct of warfare. In the environment of the grand strategy, the military component is largely reduced to operational strategy —the planning and control of large military units such as corps and divisions . As the size and number of the armies grew and the technology to communicate and control improved,
2849-451: The conduct of a campaign, and " generalship " rather than "statesmanship". He proposed that victory could be achieved by occupying the enemy's territory rather than destroying a opposing army. As such, geometric considerations were prominent in Jomini's theory of strategy. Jomini's two basic principles of strategy were to concentrate against fractions of the enemy force at a time and to strike at
2926-503: The development of another method of warfare which went largely unnoticed at the time, but would become far more common in the 20th century. That was the aid and encouragement the British gave to the Spanish to harass the French behind their lines which led them to squander most of the assets of their Iberian army in protecting the army's line of communications. This was a very cost effective move for
3003-401: The difference between "military strategy" and "grand strategy" shrank. Fundamental to grand strategy is the diplomacy through which a nation might forge alliances or pressure another nation into compliance, thereby achieving victory without resorting to combat. Another element of grand strategy is the management of the post-war peace. As Clausewitz stated, a successful military strategy may be
3080-469: The disposition and manoeuvre of units on a particular sea or battlefield, but less broad than grand strategy otherwise called national strategy, which is the overarching strategy of the largest of organizations such as the nation state , confederation , or international alliance and involves using diplomatic, informational, military and economic resources. Military strategy involves using military resources such as people, equipment, and information against
3157-401: The distance of communication between the political and the military leader was small. But as the need of a professional army grew, the bounds between the politicians and the military came to be recognized. In many cases, it was decided that there was a need for a separation. As French statesman Georges Clemenceau said, "War is too important a business to be left to soldiers." This gave rise to
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3234-546: The distinction between maneuver and battle, strategy and tactics, expanded with the capacity of technology and transit. Tactics that were once the province of a company of cavalry would be applied to a panzer army . It is often said that the art of strategies defines the goals to achieve in a military campaign, while tactics defines the methods to achieve these goals. Strategic goals could be "We want to conquer area X", or "We want to stop country Y's expansion in world trade in commodity Z"; while tactical decisions range from
3311-677: The ends of policy". Hence, both gave the pre-eminence to political aims over military goals. Sun Tzu (544–496 BC) is often considered as the father of Eastern military strategy and greatly influenced Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese historical and modern war tactics. The Art of War by Sun Tzu grew in popularity and saw practical use in Western society as well. It continues to influence many competitive endeavors in Asia, Europe, and America including culture, politics, and business, as well as modern warfare. The Eastern military strategy differs from
3388-458: The ends of policy. Tactics means the dispositions for, and control of, military forces and techniques in actual fighting. Put more shortly: strategy is the art of the conduct of war, tactics the art of fighting." Military strategy in the 19th century was still viewed as one of a trivium of "arts" or "sciences" that govern the conduct of warfare; the others being tactics , the execution of plans and maneuvering of forces in battle, and logistics ,
3465-462: The first encounter with the enemy. Field Marshal Schlieffen succeeded Moltke and directed German planning in the lead up to World War I. He advocated the "strategy of annihilation" but was faced by a war on two fronts against numerically superior opposition. The strategy he formulated was the Schlieffen Plan , defending in the east while concentrating for a decisive victory in the west, after which
3542-449: The former. The former advised against siege warfare , while the latter suggested tactics for attacking a besieged city. This paralleled a shift in the strategic consideration of siege warfare during the later stages of the Warring States period . Sun Bin sometimes appears as a Menshen (door god) in Chinese and Taoist temples , usually paired with Pang Juan . His rivalry with Pang Juan
3619-523: The full power of the pursuit of the enemy could not be achieved because the second army needed attention. Napoleon used the central position strategy during the Battle of Waterloo . Napoleon masked Wellington and massed against the Prussian army , and then after the Battle of Ligny was won, Napoleon attempted to do the same to the Allied/British army located just to the south of Waterloo. His subordinate
3696-604: The geopolitical policy objectives into militarily achievable goals and campaigns. Field Marshal Viscount Alanbrooke , Chief of the Imperial General Staff and co-chairman of the Anglo-US Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee for most of the Second World War, described the art of military strategy as: "to derive from the [policy] aim a series of military objectives to be achieved: to assess these objectives as to
3773-487: The king instead condemned Sun to face-tattooing and removal of the kneecaps, effectively branding Sun as a criminal and crippling him for life. Pang pretended to take pity on Sun and treated him well while trying to trick Sun into compiling his knowledge on military strategy into a book, after which Pang could kill him. Sun eventually realized Pang's true intentions and feigned madness . Pang attempted to test whether Sun had really become insane or not, so he had Sun locked up in
3850-402: The larger portion overwhelmed and defeated the second army quickly. He would then march on the second army leaving a portion to pursue the first army and repeat the operations ( defeat in detail ). This was designed to achieve the highest concentration of men into the primary battle while limiting the enemy's ability to reinforce the critical battle. The central position did have a weakness in that
3927-426: The lines. The rupture in the enemy lines allowed Napoleon's cavalry to flank both lines and roll them up leaving his opponent no choice but to surrender or flee. The second strategy used by Napoleon I of France when confronted with two or more enemy armies was the use of the central position. This allowed Napoleon to drive a wedge to separate the enemy armies. He would then use part of his force to mask one army while
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#17328589060864004-494: The locals and so did not have to garrison their lines of communications to the same extent as the French did. So the strategy of aiding their Spanish civilian allies in their guerrilla or 'small war' benefited the British in many ways, not all of which were immediately obvious. Clausewitz 's On War has become a respected reference for strategy, dealing with political, as well as military, leadership , his most famous assertion being: Clausewitz saw war first and foremost as
4081-550: The maintenance of an army. The view had prevailed since the Roman times, and the borderline between strategy and tactics at this time was blurred, and sometimes categorization of a decision is a matter of almost personal opinion. Carnot , during the French Revolutionary Wars thought it simply involved concentration of troops . Strategy and tactics are closely related and exist on the same continuum; modern thinking places
4158-447: The maneuver to battle to dictate how and where the battle would progress. The Battle of Austerlitz was a perfect example of this maneuver. Napoleon withdrew from a strong position to draw his opponent forward and tempt him into a flank attack, weakening his center. This allowed the French army to split the allied army and gain victory. Napoleon used two primary strategies for the approach to battle. His "Manoeuvre De Derrière" ( move onto
4235-454: The manoeuvring was constrained to narrow, vulnerable corridors. Steam power and ironclads changed transport and combat at sea. Newly invented telegraph enabled more rapid communication between armies and their headquarters capitals. Combat was still usually waged by opposing divisions with skirmish lines on rural battlefields, violent naval engagements by cannon-armed sailing or steam-powered vessels, and assault on military forces defending
4312-442: The military requirements they create, and the pre-conditions which the achievement of each is likely to necessitate: to measure available and potential resources against the requirements and to chart from this process a coherent pattern of priorities and a rational course of action." Field-Marshal Montgomery summed it up thus "Strategy is the art of distributing and applying military means, such as armed forces and supplies, to fulfil
4389-558: The morale and mental state of the opposing population) achieved through the offensive; this offensive was itself characterized by concentration of force, maneuver, surprise, and simplicity. In 1520 Niccolò Machiavelli 's Dell'arte della guerra (Art of War) dealt with the relationship between civil and military matters and the formation of grand strategy. In the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden demonstrated advanced operational strategy that led to his victories on
4466-420: The most decisive objective. Clausewitz and Jomini remain required reading for today's military professional officer. The evolution of military strategy continued in the American Civil War (1861–1865). The practice of strategy was advanced by generals such as Robert E. Lee , Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman , all of whom had been influenced by the feats of Napoleon ( Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
4543-480: The most men". The concepts given as essential in the United States Army Field Manual of Military Operations ( FM 3–0 ) are: According to Greene and Armstrong, some planners assert adhering to the fundamental principles guarantees victory, while others claim war is unpredictable and the strategist must be flexible. Others argue predictability could be increased if the protagonists were to view
4620-405: The operational level between them. All deal with distance, time and force but strategy is large scale, can endure through years, and is societal while tactics are small scale and involve the disposition of fewer elements enduring hours to weeks. Originally strategy was understood to govern the prelude to a battle while tactics controlled its execution. However, in the world wars of the 20th century,
4697-425: The opponent's resources to gain supremacy or reduce the opponent's will to fight, developed through the precepts of military science . NATO 's definition of strategy is "presenting the manner in which military power should be developed and applied to achieve national objectives or those of a group of nations." Strategy may be divided into 'grand strategy', geopolitical in scope and 'military strategy' that converts
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#17328589060864774-517: The original Sun Bin's Art of War was 89 chapters long, the rediscovered copy had 16 verifiable chapters only. As fragments of Sun Tzu 's The Art of War were discovered as well, historians believed that some of the chapters might belong to The Art of War instead. The newly discovered text provided historians with a different perspective on the Battle of Guiling and Battle of Maling . In addition, when compared to Sun Tzu's The Art of War , Sun Bin's Art of War contained one major difference from
4851-479: The preface to The Influence of Sea Power upon History how the Romans used their sea power to effectively block the sea lines of communication of Hannibal with Carthage ; and so via a maritime strategy achieved Hannibal's removal from Italy, despite never beating him there with their legions. One of these strategies was shown in the battle between Greek city states and Persia. The Battle of Thermopylae in which
4928-550: The rear ) was intended to place the French Army across the enemy's lines of communications . This forced the opponent to either march to battle with Napoleon or attempt to find an escape route around the army. By placing his army into the rear, his opponent's supplies and communications would be cut. This had a negative effect on enemy morale. Once joined, the battle would be one in which his opponent could not afford defeat. This also allowed Napoleon to select multiple battle angles into
5005-630: The ruse, pooled more of his forces to besiege Handan. Although defeated, the Zhao Army fought desperately and suffered heavy losses to the Wei Army in the subsequent battle. After feigning defeat at Pingling, Sun Bin led his army directly to the Wei capital, Daliang . Wei scouts reported that the Qi Army had committed small groups to attack the city. Upon hearing the report, Wei general Pang Juan took his crack cavalry and left his infantry and supplies at Handan, making
5082-580: The situation from the other sides in a conflict. Field Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke expressed strategy as a system of " ad hoc expedients" by which a general must take action while under pressure. These underlying principles of strategy have survived relatively unchanged as the technology of warfare has developed. Strategy (and tactics) must constantly evolve in response to technological advances. A successful strategy from one era tends to remain in favor long after new developments in military weaponry and matériel have rendered it obsolete. World War I, and to
5159-708: The soil of the Holy Roman Empire . It was not until the 18th century that military strategy was subjected to serious study in Europe. The word was first used in German as " Strategie " in a translation of Leo VI's Tactica in 1777 by Johann von Bourscheid. From then onwards, the use of the word spread throughout the West. In the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), Frederick the Great improvised
5236-501: The sole aim of utterly destroying his opponent, usually achieving success through superior maneuver. As ruler and general he dealt with the grand strategy as well as the operational strategy, making use of political and economic measures. While not the originator of the methods he used, Napoleon effectively combined the relatively superior maneuver and battle stages into one event. Before this, General Officers had considered this approach to battle as separate events. However, Napoleon used
5313-526: The south, and maneuver and security, by preventing the Germans from going directly from Alsace to Paris. The principles of military strategy emerged at least as far back as 500 BC in the works of Sun Tzu and Chanakya . The campaigns of Alexander the Great , Chandragupta Maurya , Hannibal , Qin Shi Huang , Julius Caesar , Zhuge Liang , Khalid ibn al-Walid and, in particular, Cyrus the Great demonstrate strategic planning and movement. Mahan describes in
5390-464: The stoves, and Pang fell for Sun Bin's ruse. Eager to defeat Sun Bin, Pang continued the pursuit and fell into an ambush in a narrow valley laid by the Qi forces. The Wei army suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Maling , and the crown prince of Wei was captured by the Qi forces. In traditional folklore, Sun Bin carved the words "Pang Juan dies under this tree" on a tree in the ambush area. When Pang arrived there, he saw that there were carvings on
5467-407: The time, which was strongly in favour of victory in battle, yet World War I would soon demonstrate the flaws of a mindless "strategy of annihilation". Battle of Guiling The Battle of Guìlíng ( simplified Chinese : 桂陵之战 ; traditional Chinese : 桂陵之戰 ) was fought between the states of Qí and Wei in the Warring States period of Chinese history . In 354 BC, an army from Wèi
5544-766: The vast horse-herds of Mongolia. Each archer had at least one extra horse—there was an average of five horses per man—thus the entire army could move with astounding rapidity. Moreover, since horse milk and horse blood were the staples of the Mongolian diet, Genghis' horse-herds functioned not just as his means of movement but as his logistical sustainment. All other necessities would be foraged and plundered. Khan's marauders also brought with them mobile shelters, concubines, butchers, and cooks. Through maneuver and continuous assault, Chinese, Persian , Arab and Eastern European armies could be stressed until they collapsed, and were then annihilated in pursuit and encirclement. Compared to
5621-519: Was believed to be lost after the Han dynasty , and although there were numerous references to it in post-contemporary texts, some historians still believed that the book was never written and could be a forgery. However, in April 1972, archaeologists excavated several fragments of scrolls from a tomb in Linyi , Shandong province. Sun Bin's Art of War was found among the scrolls. Although ancient texts mention that
5698-455: Was laying siege to Handan , the capital of the State of Zhao . The next year, Zhao turned to Qi for help. Tian Ji and Sun Bin , acting as co-commanders of Qi, led an army to lift the siege and save Zhao. Sun Bin moved south intentionally to make an unsuccessful attack on Pingling, intending to convince Wei commander Pang Juan that the Qi Army was too weak to achieve victory. Pang Juan, falling for
5775-404: Was recognized for his brilliance at an early age, while he was still studying military strategy under the tutelage of the hermit Guiguzi . He could recite The Art of War , which made Guiguzi remark that all his other students should look up to Sun Bin as a role model. Pang Juan , a fellow student of Guiguzi, became sworn brothers with Sun. Pang left early and went to serve the Wei state as
5852-495: Was said to have carried a book of Napoleon's maxims with him.) However, the adherence to the Napoleonic principles in the face of technological advances such as the long-range infantry breechloader rifles and minie ball guns generally led to disastrous consequences for both the Union and Confederate forces and populace. The time and space in which war was waged changed as well. Railroads enabled swift movement of large forces but
5929-537: Was unable to mask the defeated Prussian army, who reinforced the Waterloo battle in time to defeat Napoleon and end his domination of Europe. It can be said that the Prussian Army under Blücher used the "maneuver de derrière" against Napoleon who was suddenly placed in a position of reacting to a new enemy threat. Napoleon's practical strategic triumphs, repeatedly leading smaller forces to defeat larger ones, inspired
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