The Art of War by Sun Tzu | Introduction & Overview

The Art of War Introduction

Sun-Tzu's The Art of War (Sun-tzu ping-fa), unlike other contributions of war literature, is not a fictional or otherwise indirect account of warfare. Rather, it is one of the first known treatises on military strategy in human history and continues to be one of the most studied and enduring of such writings.

Not much certainty exists for its date of composition, though most scholars place it during the Warring States period (403–221 B.C.) of Chinese history. In Battle: A History of Combat and Culture, military historian John A. Lynn equates the period with endless warfare, when "perhaps 110 states ceased to exist." It was a "long, brutal, and destructive" period, writes military historian Ralph Peters in "The Seeker and the Sage," but one that nonetheless "bloomed with creativity," the work of Sun-Tzu not being the least of its accomplishments. Some, alternatively, have claimed that Sun-Tzu was a contemporary of...
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