The Art Of War

The Art of War, an influential document written by the ancient Chinese military strategist Sunzi (also known as Sun-Tzu), is one of the first known treatise on warfare strategy in history. Known in Chinese as Bingfa, this guide features information about various battle maneuvers and tactics, as well as strategic advice on collecting information about the enemy’s location and battlefield terrain before attacking. It is hard to know exactly when The Art of War was written, but most scholars think it was written between 475 and 221 B.C.E., during the Warring States period. Scholars also cannot be sure about the details of the life of its author, Sunzi, but they believe he was a general working for the Wu state. It is clear that whatever Sunzi’s life experiences were, he had a great deal of knowledge about warfare and tactical training.