Sun Tzu's The Art of War

Read all thirteen chapters of Sun Tzu's The Art of War in English, with stable paragraph references, editorial summaries, key principles, original Chinese links, and smooth chapter navigation.

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01Laying Plans, Chapter OneThis chapter defines war as a matter of national survival and human life. It argues that decisions should be founded on five factors—Way, Heaven, Earth, commander, and law—and then compared by seven calculations. Comparison is not a static score but a means to find usable advantages and to form plans that seize initiative. Deception and measures of perception serve information and cognition, yet everything returns to prewar calculation: the more complete the conditions, preparations, and judgments, the more foreseeable the outcome.02Waging War — Chapter 2This chapter focuses on the timing and costs of war. Once an army is mobilized, transport, equipment, levies and rising prices steadily drain national resources; even a well-devised tactical plan can be nullified by delay. Therefore the use of arms prizes swift achievement of objectives and the shortening of supply lines. The capture of enemy resources and personnel should be treated not only as plunder but as rewards, reorganization, and conversion so that defeating the enemy also strengthens your own forces.03Attack by Stratagem — Chapter ThreeThis chapter presents a doctrine of achieving victory while preserving the whole. The highest form of success is not triumph in open battle but first undermining the enemy's plans and alliances so they cannot resist; besieging cities is a last resort because of its cost. The chapter also treats comparisons of force, the ruler–general relationship, and the conditions for knowing victory, stressing that political leaders should not interfere with military expertise and that commanders must grasp enemy and self, size and disposition of forces, timing, and the will of the organization.04Military Disposition — Chapter 4This chapter examines what can be controlled and what cannot. It argues that one should first create conditions that make oneself undefeatable—this is within one's control—while whether the enemy exposes a weakness cannot be forced. The skilled combatant does not seek glory through risky feats but chooses engagements where victory is already likely. The sequence degree → measure → calculation → comparison → victory shows how advantage arises from successive assessments of terrain, capacity, numbers, and force balance.05Military Momentum — Chapter FiveThis chapter moves from organization and command to how momentum is formed. Governing a crowd as if it were a few depends on structure and signals; fighting many as if fighting few depends on formation and designation. Though combat shows endless variation, its basic elements are the recurring alternation of orthodox and unorthodox. Momentum is not an abstract spirit but the combination of position, speed, rhythm, and conditions into a releasable force. A brilliant leader does not only demand individual courage but designs the environment so that ordinary people, placed and timed correctly, produce a decisive collective effect.06Emptiness and Fullness — Chapter SixThis chapter centers on seizing the initiative so that the enemy acts according to your design rather than forcing you to react. By offering advantage or harm, using speed, feints and concealment, you disperse enemy defenses and concentrate at the decisive point. The highest military form is formlessness, which prevents the enemy from knowing where to commit resources. The chapter closes with the metaphor of water: water avoids heights and flows downward; troops avoid the strong and strike the weak. Methods must not be fixed but must change with the enemy and the environment.07Chapter Seven — Contesting PositionsThis chapter examines the difficulty of moving an army from assembly to the capture of advantageous positions. Turning a circuitous route into a direct advantage requires inducement, route planning, speed, and logistics; pursuing speed alone may cost the baggage train and divide the forces. The text presents the wind, forest, fire, and mountain modes of action, emphasizes unified signals through drums and banners, discusses morale and physical strength, and counsels restraint when facing feigned retreats, decoy forces, returning armies, and desperate foes.08Nine Changes, Chapter EightThis chapter emphasizes that principles must not be detached from circumstances. Avoiding certain roads, not attacking some forces, not contesting particular cities or lands, and even refusing some sovereign commands may all be necessary to prevent mechanically applying general rules. Mature judgment sees hidden risks in apparent benefits and looks for remedies within dangers. The chapter closes by listing five dangerous character traits in commanders, showing how courage, clinging to life, impatience, excessive scrupulousness, and misplaced affection for the people can all be exploited by an opponent.09Marching, Chapter NineThis chapter begins with how an army should occupy mountain, water, marsh and plain positions, then explains how to judge situations from subtle signs. Movements of trees, rising birds, dust, words, rewards and punishments, and soldiers’ postures must be read together. The chapter closes by linking organizational discipline with loyalty: punish men before they are attached and they will not accept it; if men are attached but punishment is not enforced, they are unusable. Orders must be consistent to build trust.10Terrain — Chapter TenThis chapter first categorizes six kinds of ground—accessible, entangling, intermediate, narrow, precipitous, and distant—and then enumerates six forms of defeat: flight, laxity, entrapment, collapse, disorder, and rout. The first set are external conditions; the second set mostly arise from errors in command and organization and should not be blamed on Heaven. Commanders must judge independently, based on enemy, own forces, and terrain, whether to fight, prioritizing the protection of the people and the state's interest. Loving and protecting troops must be paired with effective command; otherwise affection becomes indulgence.11The Nine Grounds — Chapter ElevenThis chapter distinguishes nine kinds of ground—scattered, light, contentious, intersecting, main-road, serious, difficult, encircled, and death—and prescribes different principles for each situation. Deep penetration into enemy territory alters soldiers’ psychology and unit cohesion; commanders must align will, secure supply, and control information. The serpent analogy shows how mutual rescue between front and rear creates systemic responsiveness. The point is not rote memorization of nine names but understanding how position, lines of retreat, resources and morale jointly change what to do.12Attack by Fire — Chapter TwelveOn the surface this chapter treats conditions for using fire, but its real emphasis is that tools, timing and responses must align. Fire attacks have different targets and require supplies and suitable weather; after ignition commanders must watch the enemy’s reaction to decide whether to follow up. Even a successful assault is wasted if its gains are not secured. The chapter closes by raising caution in warfare to a political ethic: ruler and general must not wage war in sudden anger, because emotions recover but lost states and lives do not.13On the Use of Spies — Chapter ThirteenThe final chapter argues from the high cost of war to demonstrate the value of intelligence: if one begrudges titles and rewards and therefore fails to invest in spies, leaving soldiers and civilians to endure prolonged expense, that is both cruel and foolish. Foreknowledge cannot be obtained from gods, analogy, or conjecture; it must come from people who know the enemy's situation. There are five kinds of spies—local, inside, turned, expendable, and returning—each with a distinct function; among them, the turned spy is the pivot for identifying and using the enemy's intelligence network. Intelligence work requires wisdom, benevolence, subtlety, and strict secrecy.