https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War#The_13_chapters
| Chapter | Lionel Giles (1910) | R.L. Wing (1988) | Ralph D. Sawyer (1996) | Chow-Hou Wee (2003) | Contents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Laying Plans | The Calculations | Initial Estimations | Detail Assessment and Planning (Chinese: 始計) | Explores the five fundamental factors (the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management) and seven elements that determine the outcomes of military engagements. By thinking, assessing and comparing these points, a commander can calculate his chances of victory. Habitual deviation from these calculations will ensure failure via improper action. The text stresses that war is a very grave matter for the state and must not be commenced without due consideration. |
| II | Waging War | The Challenge | Waging War | Waging War (Chinese: 作戰) | Explains how to understand the economy of warfare and how success requires winning decisive engagements quickly. This section advises that successful military campaigns require limiting the cost of competition and conflict. |
| III | Attack by Stratagem | The Plan of Attack | Planning Offensives | Strategic Attack (Chinese: 謀攻) | Defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and discusses the five factors that are needed to succeed in any war. In order of importance, these critical factors are: Attack, Strategy, Alliances, Army and Cities. |
| IV | Tactical Dispositions | Positioning | Military Disposition | Disposition of the Army (Chinese: 軍形) | Explains the importance of defending existing positions until a commander is capable of advancing from those positions in safety. It teaches commanders the importance of recognizing strategic opportunities, and teaches not to create opportunities for the enemy. |
| V | Use of Energy | Directing | Strategic Military Power | Forces (Chinese: 兵勢) | Explains the use of creativity and timing in building an army's momentum. |
| VI | Weak Points and Strong | Illusion and Reality | Vacuity and Substance | Weaknesses and Strengths (Chinese: 虛實) | Explains how an army's opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of the enemy and how to respond to changes in the fluid battlefield over a given area. |
| VII | Maneuvering an Army | Engaging The Force | Military Combat | Military Maneuvers (Chinese: 軍爭) | Explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations when they are forced upon the commander. |
| VIII | Variation of Tactics | The Nine Variations | Nine Changes | Variations and Adaptability (Chinese: 九變) | Focuses on the need for flexibility in an army's responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully. |
| IX | The Army on the March | Moving The Force | Maneuvering the Army | Movement and Development of Troops (Chinese: 行軍) | Describes the different situations in which an army finds itself as it moves through new enemy territories, and how to respond to these situations. Much of this section focuses on evaluating the intentions of others. |
| X | Classification of Terrain | Situational Positioning | Configurations of Terrain | Terrain (Chinese: 地形) | Looks at the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers and barriers) and the six types of ground positions that arise from them. Each of these six field positions offers certain advantages and disadvantages. |
| XI | The Nine Situations | The Nine Situations | Nine Terrains | The Nine Battlegrounds (Chinese: 九地) | Describes the nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, from scattering to deadly, and the specific focus that a commander will need in order to successfully navigate them. |
| XII | Attack by Fire | The Fiery Attack | Incendiary Attacks | Attacking with Fire (Chinese: 火攻) | Explains the general use of weapons and the specific use of the environment as a weapon. This section examines the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attack and the appropriate responses to such attacks. |
| XIII | Use of Spies | The Use of Intelligence | Employing Spies | Intelligence and Espionage (Chinese: 用間) | Focuses on the importance of developing good information sources, and specifies the five types of intelligence sources and how to best manage each of them. |
Quotations[edit]
Chinese[edit]
Verses from the book occur in modern daily Chinese idioms and phrases, such as the last verse of Chapter 3:
- 故曰：知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆。
- Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
This has been more tersely interpreted and condensed into the Chinese modern proverb:
- 知己知彼，百戰不殆。 (Zhī jǐ zhī bǐ, bǎi zhàn bù dài.)
- If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win numerous (literally, "a hundred") battles without jeopardy.
English[edit]
Common examples can also be found in English use, such as verse 18 in Chapter 1:
- 兵者，詭道也。故能而示之不能，用而示之不用，近而示之遠，遠而示之近。
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