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Can Sun Tzu Art of War really be applied when commanding in PR.

Im in the processes of reading The Art of War, and it came to my mind can the strategists be used in PRs game play. Iv Found that Logistics and supply apply to PR and have worked out for me. And also moral.

Lets discuss this Community.

:3

Yes it applies to PR.

Also applies to other things as well.

I like to think many of them apply to PR, but many points don't since they're either irrelevant or PR doesn't have it.

Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest.

Move quick, and stay as a small group. The smaller you are the less chance you'll be seen. The less chance you're seen, the less chance you'll be shot at.

If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in.

Self-explanatory.

Also loved this one lol, translates to PR for reasons obvious..

He will conquer who has learnt the artifice of deviation. Such is the art of maneuvering.

Hahaha laughed at that last quote DTACS.

Isn't the Art of War basically just an explanation of what is successful in war, rather than an actual manual?

I.e. Theories of exploiting weaknesses, etc. Pretty basic stuff but the first time it had ever been written down.

some of it works well, just not the stuff that relies on the enemy routing, most players stand and fight to the end in this game prefering the risk of needing a medic to trying to stay alive. (the best squad leaders know when to retreat )

@Mikemonster: The Art of War can apply to almost every aspect of life. That is why businessmen also tend to have read this book. It teaches the basic philosophy behind large scale combat, and as we all know everything in life can be equated to a battle. Scale down a war and you have a physical representation of a corporation, a company, your own body and it's organs, your very cells. Yes it is not a manual, rather it teaches you the fundamentals which will lead to victory. It is like the difference between logic and reason. Logic tends not to look at the rules and relies simply on a constant, while Reason relies only solely on the rules. In our case the rules are simply the laws of physics, probability, and your own abilities.

@rudd: even IRL a lot of people think to never give up means to charge forward blindly and keep fighting despite clearly knowing it is impossible. Like the kid at school who needs to deal with a bully. that is not the case. Never back down and never give up simply means that the fight isn't over till it's over, retreat if that is how you can win the fight. if you need to back down and make a different approach, do it. Retreat and draw them out into open ground.

Sun Tzu mentions at some point that your formations must be solid like a rock but must be also fluid and ever changing like water. (cant find the quote now, my friend has yet to return my copy of the book) This is very much the philosophy for success in any kind of combat, Particularly important for vehicle based. Even APCs with nothing more than a 20mm can take out a lone MBT if they work in packs. strength in numbers. yet at the same time while keeping that pack close as to provide heavy volumes of fire, you must also keep it loose enough for each individual vehicle to make it's maneuvers. If you lose one you dont want that one to bog down the rest of the formation. you do not want it so tight that while knowing you are being targeted you cannot evade in fear of crashing into another vehicle.

When I became a commander at the PRT there were two books I read as "prep" for the role (Back then it was a huge deal to be a commander, and I was the youngest in PRT history).

The frist called "The American Generalship" was a book about leadership which was decent and helped a lot out of the game when dealing with organization and the such.

The second book I read was The Art of War. Honestly, it applies to nearly everything.

Don't get boged down. Only attack when you know you can win. Wait for the enemy to tire. If you're defensive wait for the enemy to strike first, then when in retreat send out your calvary.* Warefare is the way of deception.

*When the enemy is in retreat, send in helicopters or any armored vehicle. They can engage better on the move than infantry. When the enemy falls back, infantry shouldn't move forward unless they are cornering the enemy inf.

If your strength is ten times theres; surround. If it is five times; attack. If double; Diving your forces and attack from flanks. If equal; Engage. If fewer; circumvent. If outmatched, avoid.

Obvious again. Attack when you have the advantage.

Commanding a large number is like commanding a few.

Learn to macromanage. Micromanaging, even at squad level is a waste of time.

Who ever occupies the battle ground first and awaits the enemy will be at ease.

Obvious. First one there gets to name the terms of the battle with either armor, inf, or both. The enemy must then adapt to you.

The Art of War was useful, but I learned something way more important from Obi Wan Kenobi in starwars.

You can't win Anakin I have the high ground!

Always, always, always, try to take the high ground before the enemy.

And of course!

Ahh you all win, your collective wisdom has persuaded me to buy this for a fiver [5 Brit pounds].

Its definitely worth it, a great read.

I sat on a park bench and read it in one sitting, walked away thinking about how I was going to get promoted to manager at work

Very machiavellian of you mate, you'll go far..

Remember, if you ever find yourself in a fair fight [or competition with others] you only have yourself to blame

The art of war is a collection of obvious advices. Many players already apply some principles of Sun Tzus the art of war. The insurgent civillian trying to bait the soldier "To move your enemy intice him with something he is certain to take". Some or most of it can apply to PR, but everything else too however some things do not work out in modern warfare anymore.

For example, in the art of war proposes Dead ground, move your army somewhere, where is no retreat, so that it will fight to the dead, the opponent however has the option to retreat and might choose to do so and not fight with the same feroicty. That might work in a swordfight, however in a gunfight you want fall back positions, to further bleed a charging enemy. Some people cite D-Day on how this strategy applies today, however a few hundreds were overhelmed by half a million, losing almost 10.000 troops in one day, not something you can take on a daily basis.

In that example, you can see actually how it does NOT work. In china a smaller army defeated a much larger army. Leading your soldiers on dead ground before every fight, means you will win over an enemy with more men. On D-Day a few hundred Germans unloaded on the advancing allied troops in some cases untill they ran out of ammo resulting in an abysmall Kill Death ratio especially for American troops. Had they been on dead ground all the time, I am not sure the Western Allies would have been able to resupply troops over air and sea in sufficient ammount, not to mention that the casualities suffered by the Americans would have led to an animosity torwards Germans similiar to the one in post war Russia.

Same for PR you do not want to fight on dead ground. However there is one exception, insurgency. Around a cash insurgents fight very reckless and agressive, but again, they can die just as fast too and you want to tie down the blueforce as far away from the cache as possible.

All warfare is deception on the other hand still applies today. However you can obtain similiar advantages by gathering detailed information about your enemy.

Once you make it, read Machiavelli's 'The Prince' A good follow up book not related to PR, but to life.

chimpyang wrote:Once you make it, read Machiavelli's 'The Prince' A good follow up book not related to PR, but to life.

Yes, if you are a medieval prince

Well that's me sorted then menin.

Will order that too, why not? Cheers Chimp!


Cassius, making your mean fight to the death (because they have nowhere to retreat to and know they cannot surrender) was used a lot in the Pacific theatre. As a strategic theory (there is NO retreat available) Hitler was a fan of it (Stalingrad, etc), which indeed lends truth to your point that war in that aspect has changed.

Ofcourse, just look at propaganda, when u hear some insurgent music "alaalalaaal..." everybody starting to run like a chickens and start screeming bomb car bomb car!

Just finished reading the book. Very interesting and encouraging philosophy. Attack by stratagem, my friend

Both have arrived, i'm actually reading The Prince first because the Art of War is a hardback and I don't want to put it in my work-bag.. It's too pristine.

Will read it at home.

As much as the art of war is an interesting read; Murphy's Law is also a must read to counter.