0:02 1) Laying Plans 4:23 2) Waging War 8:11 3) Attack by Stratagem 12:32 4) Tactical Dispositions 15:50 5) Energy 20:04 6) Weak Points and Strong 26:17 7) Manoeuvring 31:50 8) Variation in Tactics 34:38 9) The Army on the March 42:06 10) Terrain 48:13 11) The Nine Situations 59:45 12) Attack by Fire 1:02:57 13) The Use of Spies You're welcome
ja52ng74 - James thank you seriously. I’m still going to read this. I have a translation (why is there books from 1972-2016/7 and about ten different authors/translators?)
Because these ANCIENT words written to teach the rules and commandments to wage war....... it was valid in those ancient around 500 BC when it was written and JUST AS VALID today in the most modern war. Some big business enterprises make this required reading for the group of people who manage them because the strategies are even valid on the battlefield of commerce. His mind was fucking genious and took a "WAY BEFORE HIS TIME" concept and made it part of his time. How to make a much smaller force fight as if they were many times bigger and win vs a much larger army? Put ur scared men who WILL panic and run in the face of the larger force with a natural "wall" at their back...... a mountain or the coastline..... any wall and your squad that faces a platoon now only has ONE way to go...... through the enemy. It killed 2 birds with 1 stone...... keeps his army from letting fear overcome them them and making them flee...... they fight harder to win because they cannot run can defeat the larger army at a MUCH higher % win rate. What general would put his resources that are outnumbered 50 to 1 in a corner on PURPOSE..... that is like saying HERE YOU GO, Let me help you kill a good chunk of my army....... A lot would fight with hit and run strategy picking them off slowly....... Sun Tzu did the complete OPOSITE of what most "sane" commanders would do. ..... he not only used his vast understanding of literal strategies of moving the chess pieces around the board but when needed disregarded the "game" and no longer moved pieces but used the troops psychology and the pretty much "instinct" way human briains think and that was his weapon. A LOT of people can go through the whole book and only start to grasp the "obvious" strategies that are pretty much common sense today but much of the strategies leaves most people saying WTF? what the fuck does that mean...... West Point should only have THIS textbook to teach the "officers" how to lead. You can march an army to death till they can march in their sleep..... you can put the fear in them to where they pray to god to save them from YOU...... you can brainwash them to where they will march off the edge of a cliff like lemmings if you wished it and do it WITHOUT QUESTION!..... It all means NOTHING if you do not know where to march them, where to order them to fight..... Burn every battlefield strategy textbooks and issue only "Art of War". Any commander who deploys these strategies is the one who will write the next version of history books. GENIOUS!
Similar Western Europe and Roman & Greece empire to the art of war and tactics & stratagems books should be more studying and more reading. Don't always depend on brave. Brave represent ambition, not wisdom. Tactics and stratagems represent wisdom.
I've read this dozens of times throughout my life and still read it or in this case, listen to it, whenever I come across it. Still manage to learn something new every time. It would be super cool if historians could place him time wise and prove he was real.
I've listened / read this book so many times, I know it by heart and hearing sargon narrate it gave me chills and a huge smile on my face from sheer surprise! Thank you so much for doing this.
Thank you. Trust God folks.. Please keep audio and written journals, and help non beggars.. Always let go and let Go. Treat everyone, how you want to be treated. Hands are for helping and not hurting.
Kaine Bishop I totally agree. I have yet to find a situation in my life that I couldn't get good advice by referring to Sun Tzu. Especially his advice on war being a means to an end, instead of an end unto itself. And that you must never loss sight of your priorities.
chankljp Kaine Bishop I really, really don't understand you two, and everyone else who says this book is so good. It's just trivial shit, at times oddly specific (20 times as good!) without reason (and indeed being false as in the 20 times example) and at other times just ... dull. Yeah sure having the hill is good -WHAT? You don't say! It is good? I would have never thought of that m( what did you take from the book that wasn't obvious before?
SoWeMeetAgain Bare in mind that this was written before total war games were made when Generals literally thought that firing uphill in battle was advantageous. I think its name was the battle of Freedericksburg? But anyway in daily use I suppose that you are meant to shape it into your life e.g. Having helpful friends or avoiding getting into winnable fights ect.
SoWeMeetAgain Ever heard of the saying 'common sense is not commonly found' (or something like that)? The advice in this book are indeed very basic and simply, yet no one seems to ever follow them (More then 2000 years since the part about how no country ever benefited from prolong warfare, the entire 'broken glass fallacy' is still taken seriously within economics). While parts of it are indeed outdated, there are lots of good advice there that are really useful in all kinds of situations in everyday life, distilled into simple, easy to remember, and nice sounding quotes that you can refer to even when you are hotheaded and can't really do a rational analysis. As for the part about it being boring.... I honestly can't argue with that. But remember that this was written as a top secret military document meant for training officers, not for popular consumption. And I guess that me being Chinese, I have a soft spot for Sun Tzu, since he has since entered popular consciousness and affected the culture in a way that is a key part of our identify.
Kaine Bishop and yet Europe build an world colonial Empires following "Vom Kriege" written by von Clausewitz (with little or no reference to Sun Tzu) For instance (opposed to Sun Tzu) von Clausewitz states : "It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past." and "No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy" Even Mao Zedong (yes ....him) followed primarily (solely) von Clausewitz approach toward war leading to his success ... Clausewitz advocates the frontal and bold destruction of the strongest enemy position in full view and in a "shock and awe" manner ... Following his teachings armies outnumbered greatly can win decisively in the open field ; which is a "total victory" (not to be confused with "total war" ideas) taking away the future excuses of the defeated enemy such as "yes we lost because trickery... , etc" The victory must be military and (!) political at the same time , if not problems will ensue... because after all "war is the continuation of politics by other means" ; ps: all modern armies (even Chinese) function according von Clausewitz: fog of war ; culminating point of the offensive ; conversely, the very real effects of a superiority in numbers and "mass" ; etc. Sun Tzu is a great read indeed but if you want to win, then read von Clausewitz ...
I enjoyed this very much thankyou. It's nice to listen to a free audio book where the reader actually speaks passionately and understands what the book is saying.
Thank you Sargon! I really appreciate you doing this text. It is honestly one of my favorite "voices from the past" - it is really shocking how... accurate and modern it sounds, after all those years. Change "crossbows" to "guns" and "fire" to "strategic weapons", and Sun Tzu could be be talking to us modern people ;)
zenek bembenek When I first read this I couldn't believe it was from so far ago. My favorite part is when he seems to have a sort of understanding about psychology, Just from watching how the enemy troops move to things like water after marching. That was shocking to me. Troop movements and formations is one thing. But for a general from way back then to See that in some thing so simple, brilliant.
Midwest Mage The ancient Chinese were pretty good at observing these kinds of things. They were prosperous enough to have the time to sit around and consider these kinds of subtle things.
GEhotpants101 True they were really advanced for the times. But I think he came up with this stuff from experience. 3 kingdoms, lotta fighting going on. I'm in the camp for the older Tzu being the author, not the later one. If I didnt get those two switched around lol. Honestly there are just things in the book that I think would have to come from experience, not having tea and pondering. You wouldn't get that insight.
True. But was also meant to primarly apply to war, seeing how it is a war-waging manual. Its universal enough to be used in other settings, part of what makes it so timeless, but only if you pick and choose what you need.
Replace the word „Army“ with the group/family/collective and the word „General“ with the Individual....instant life lessons. No wonder the Book still to this day still holds up on many levels.
+Ancient Recitations It's so weird that I'm subbed to your (main?) channel and just did a random search for this book and found this video and recognized your voiced instantly. I had to turn my monitor back on and scroll through comments to find out if you were who I thought you were.
+Ancient Recitations If this is actually you reading, AR, you have done a commendable job. I cannot listen to liver box? renditions. They hurt my liver. I'd like to submit a LVox rendition of this using a speech impediment, just to see if it gets accepted, and published! Every now and then I'd blow my nose. Namaste and care, mhikl
"'If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!' Sun Tzu said that and I'd say he knows a little more about it than you do, pal, because he invented it; and then he perfected it, så that no living man could best him in the ring of honor. Then he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth. Then he herded them unto a boat and then he beat the crap out of every single one of them. And henceforth whenever two or more animals are together in one place it's called a Tzu; unless it's a farm!"
Cliff Notes version: Sun Tzu was a man who, when asked for advice, displayed an amazing talent for stating the obvious at great length. Luckily for him, very few people could actually read at the time and the Emperor couldn't afford lose face by going around telling people that he'd paid good coin for an entire book of advice that says things which are on the level of, "When outside during a rain shower, the person who goes inside or uses an umbrella will stay dry; the person who does neither of these things, will get wet."
You'd be surprised how often painfully obvious and simple solutions are the keys to success ... and ppl don't often see the obvious and delude themselves with needless complexities.
It seems obvious to the guy who read it, but i bet the critic could not write such a clear explanation of strategy if asked to and without any texts to read that were written by others.. It's like indoor plumbing seems obvious now we have it, or electric circuits etc, batteries.. There's gonna be some critic saying "that was obvious" but they never came up with any profound innovations themselves or thought of it til they read it or saw it To paraphrase..The merit belongs not to the critic who didn't think of anything by themselves but stood on the shouldr of giants saying "this view is obvious"
Dam he was smart, I've been meaning to read this for years. Thank you for making it so accessible with your voice. Really put me in the mood to start another total was campaign.
Haven't listened to this yet but I plan on doing so later. I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am that you did this. It's very difficult for me to find a physical copy of The Art of War so it's nice to finally hear it.
This is one of my favorite UA-cam channels. Sometimes it's great to just have a nice ancient recitation and not have to deal with all of the idiocy of today.
I like this because it is a really humane text."It is better to capture a settlement instead of destroying it.." and so on. Will you do Niccolo Machiavelli's The Art of War or The Book Of 5 Rings by Miyamoto Musashi?
Ancient Recitations The difference is "Art of War" is about achieving goal of winning war, so that state will benefit from conquest, whereas "Prince" is about maintaining rule over other people. In both cases people are tools to achive goals. Thou Machiavelli is more direct.
for some untangible reason I've found this right enrapturing. Can't seem to stop listening to this without reminding myself of past life events where said lessons could have been applied.
+Robin Shaw No, the biggest criticism from contemporary and later chinese military authors are that the Art of War is terrible at dealing with Nomadic Empires due to its fundamental differences. Nomadic Empires operate in different ways and can not be dealt in the same way as other sedentary empires. If you try to fight them as you would fight Rome or Carthage, you will fail and might not recover. This blog has a few good posts about the military tradition of China. English translations of their materials are urgingly lacking. scholars-stage.blogspot.ca/search?q=war+china
+jg48481 And the conceptual approaches to warfare did not apply to Nomadic peoples because of a completely different reality when fighting with Nomadic Empires. He advocated political and conceptual approaches that did not apply when fighting with nomads especially in regards to losses and victory as well as the long-term approach in regards to the diplomacy and wars between nations. Non-sinologists can not understand this extremely different nature between a sedentary and nomadic interstate conflict. They are completely different beasts that require completely different concepts. It is not a problem of stratagem, but of a difference in the general approach in interstate conflict.
+jaidogu "Unbeknownst to them, them Romans often subjugated nomadic people's using many principles derived from sun tzu. " Completely false. The Romans never subjugated any nomadic peoples. They never subjugated people like the Xiongnu. The major difference between interstate conflict between sedentary peoples and nomadic peoples is the simple fact that the nomadic peoples do not require a population center, nor do they need to hold cities. Therefore, the nature of your decisions regarding your critical decisions when you are close to a victory is completely different. A) Decide to completely encircle the enemy soldiers during a near victory or NOT. Sun Tzu advocates not to do this. This was heavily criticized the general Wei Qing when he campaigned against the Xiong Nu Empire. This is because unlike soldiers of sedentary nations, nomadic armies can easily re-build, strike back and attack your supply line. Another factor is his diplomacy stance, which works in the context of the Warring States period - but would fail against nomadic Empires. You can not play a game of resource (not military) attrition with the Nomadic Empires, therefore his approach to dealing with another state was heavily criticized again by generals who campaigned against nomads. "Nomadic stucture is basic, not complex at all." Another false statement which shows the tremendous ignorance of non-sinologist or central-asian specialists in the degree of development of socities and military structure of the Far eastern nomadic empires. The military organization and rank division so-praised as invented by Ghenghis Khan was already existent during the Xiongnu era.
+jaidogu Nomadic Empires operate on a radically different nature than sedentary ones. The reason why my comment about non-sinologists stand is because no other civilizational was under the threat and contact of the most powerful nomadic empires in the world as China did. China was at the doorstep of all the greatest Nomadic Empires that has ever walked this Earth, while the rest of the world dealt with the paler versions of it giving them a false understanding of "primitive, unorganized barbarians" similar to the Celts. It is a completely different scenario.
+Robin Shaw Sun Tzu's Art of War was compiled for a time in which there were many different Chinese feudal states under the Zhou Dynasty, prior to Qin Shi Huang's centralization and unification of China in 221BCE. These tactics are meant for warfare/battles between Chinese states, and not between Chinese and barbarian (i.e., Xiongnu/Mongol) states. Hence why a lot of the tactics in the compilation focus heavily on governance rather than pure "warfare". Zhou lords waged war against other Zhou lords in order to expand the size of their own feudal state under the Zhou Emperor. The compilation was developed with the idea that all of the belligerents in warfare were part of Zhou Chinese civilization, and not barbarians/non-Chinese belligerents.
Thank you so much for this one, I have tried a few versions of the Art of War but this is by far the best. Like all your work actually in all the channels. Keep up the great work.
"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight! Even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler's bidding"
Man, your video output on this channel is staggering. You must be having a lot of fun doing this. I haven't even had time to listen to all of the stuff you put out on here. Godspeed, you dirty brit. Godspeed.
I am currently listening to different narrations of this work in different languages. For one, to become so familiar with it as to know it by heart and for two, to learn and practice different languages. Since if I know this book completely, I can deduct the words in different languages and thus I practice them subconsciously while this audio is book plays in the background or while commuting.
oh god YES i've always wanted to read The Art of War, Sun Tzu is such an interresting person. hope you will still do these series even though they dont get alot of views
5:41 : "...thus though we have heard of stupid haste into war, cleverness has never been associated with long delays. There is no instance of a country that benefited from prolonged warfare. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war, that can understand the profitable way of carrying it on." This is exactly what America is doing in the Middle East from the Bush administration onward.
Ello Sargon, good choice of read. I have this here at home, translated by J. Trapp. I'm catching some of this, not all the way through tonight. But I checked you're source. You should check out Trapp's translation. The one I got, he leaves notes about the translations. How the language is tricky with ancient China because of all the different versions of the same word. Also, can't remember which part but in this there is a piece where Tzu mentions a book of war. Trapp says we just have no idea what hes talking about there. That book never survived history. Also the piece it was referred to, I think, was incomplete. I did not know that before. Tzu's work is not an entire edition, some of didn't make it to today. Anyway, pick it up if you can, good stuff, more involved then a straight translation. Also I agree with comments suggesting for next read being Five Rings, that would be awesome. Thanks and good wishes from Nebraska.
There are so many tactics in the art of war. We must study tactics and stratagems which meet small elite troops and elite weapon to defeat the powerful of enemy.
There's a book on statecraft, military stratergy and politics by Chanakya named Arthashastra(c.350-283 BCE). It is worth checking out. It's scope, however is much wider than just military. Maybe you could do a reading of that??????
arav kris Thanks for the recommendation, I found an English translation in ebook form. ^_^ Is this translate accurate? archive.org/details/Arthasastra_English_Translation
I'm not sure if the translation is accurate as I, like most people haven't studied Sanskrit. But I don't see any reason why it would not be accurate. When you've finished, if you're into literature there are hundreds of ancient Sanskrit plays to choose from. Or medical treatsies. Or poetry. Or grammatical theory. Or philosophy(most of which does not mention God as in imaginary man). Wikipedia some of them. One specific recommendation is the play Abhijnanashakuntalam by Kalidasa. Or if you're into long, long epics to an extent that you'd like to read the longest poem ever, there is the Mahabharata or the much shorter Ramayana. Here is a super-super-abridged English version (with much of the original poetic beauty and secondary plots missing) www.gita-society.com/section3/mahabharata.pdf Of these the Ramayana and Mahabharata have a very strong cultural impact in the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia. Is this(reply) too long for you? Sorry.
arav kris This is getting more and more awesome. ^^ Do you have any favorite works of poetry, plays, medical treatises, and philosophy that have been translated into English? I do love to read historical texts in my free time (currently reading through System of Nature and the Prince).
Elround4 I'm no scholar of Sanskrit. But being raised up in a Hindu household, I grew up listening to tales from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas.(in the religious context). Since there is no equivalent of formalized, standard "Sunday school", the stories I listened to were not the ones my friends listened to. I just literally provided a link to The Mahabharata version of Rajagopalachari. He also has The Ramayana in similar format. Poetry: I'm no expert on poetry. But virtually every composition in Sanskrit is in verse. So technically they are all poems. But what Sanskrit grammarians call Kavya wikipedia will be able to help you. Philosophy:Again no expert. But my personal favourites would be The Mundakopanishad.(The only one I've read lol), one among 108 texts called Upanishads. Then I remember my grandfather talking to me about the Advaita school of philosophy(by Adi Shankaracharya). Plays: Again, not my area of expertise. But almost all Indians have atleast a basic elementary knowledge of Abhijnanashakuntalam. Amar Chitra Katha comics has an issue named "Shakuntala". Again use wikipedia dude.
43:47 Picketts charge was a blunder of attacking a fortified hill position. Supplies were cut off, the cavalry was missing in action, the troops exhausted and on the verge of mutinous capitulation. General Lee forced his hand and lost badly by breaking many many arts of war. He thought he couldn't retreat and regroup, hastyness.
Chinese war general, "there are no more than 5 musical notes, yet one can combine them to create countless melodies" . Italian musicians, "Do Di Re Ri Mi Fa Fi Sol Si La Li Ti". Indian musicians, "22 shrutis".
Sargon, have you though on making one about the romance of the three kingdoms? I mean, it would be a pretty lenghty audio book, but with the graphyc material there is, it could be quite enjoyable.
![The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian [Audiobook] #300maximsforlife #classicliterature](/img/n.gif)
0:02 1) Laying Plans
4:23 2) Waging War
8:11 3) Attack by Stratagem
12:32 4) Tactical Dispositions
15:50 5) Energy
20:04 6) Weak Points and Strong
26:17 7) Manoeuvring
31:50 8) Variation in Tactics
34:38 9) The Army on the March
42:06 10) Terrain
48:13 11) The Nine Situations
59:45 12) Attack by Fire
1:02:57 13) The Use of Spies
You're welcome
Not all heros wear capes
Thank you!
Thanks
ja52ng74 ty fren
ja52ng74 - James thank you seriously. I’m still going to read this. I have a translation (why is there books from 1972-2016/7 and about ten different authors/translators?)
"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight." Sun Tzu said that
and i think he knows a little more about fighting than you do pal because he invented it!
@@Guy-bm5wh its a tf2 joke
he said to win without fighting is best
I'm not going to lie, I did everything this book told me to in mount and blade, and I was unstoppable
I did the same in Rome 2 Total War.
Now stainless steel m2total war!
@Derrick Flyr
Your Issues started when you initiated the ignition.
Because these ANCIENT words written to teach the rules and commandments to wage war....... it was valid in those ancient around 500 BC when it was written and JUST AS VALID today in the most modern war. Some big business enterprises make this required reading for the group of people who manage them because the strategies are even valid on the battlefield of commerce.
His mind was fucking genious and took a "WAY BEFORE HIS TIME" concept and made it part of his time.
How to make a much smaller force fight as if they were many times bigger and win vs a much larger army? Put ur scared men who WILL panic and run in the face of the larger force with a natural "wall" at their back...... a mountain or the coastline..... any wall and your squad that faces a platoon now only has ONE way to go...... through the enemy. It killed 2 birds with 1 stone...... keeps his army from letting fear overcome them them and making them flee...... they fight harder to win because they cannot run can defeat the larger army at a MUCH higher % win rate.
What general would put his resources that are outnumbered 50 to 1 in a corner on PURPOSE..... that is like saying HERE YOU GO, Let me help you kill a good chunk of my army.......
A lot would fight with hit and run strategy picking them off slowly....... Sun Tzu did the complete OPOSITE of what most "sane" commanders would do. ..... he not only used his vast understanding of literal strategies of moving the chess pieces around the board but when needed disregarded the "game" and no longer moved pieces but used the troops psychology and the pretty much "instinct" way human briains think and that was his weapon.
A LOT of people can go through the whole book and only start to grasp the "obvious" strategies that are pretty much common sense today but much of the strategies leaves most people saying WTF? what the fuck does that mean......
West Point should only have THIS textbook to teach the "officers" how to lead. You can march an army to death till they can march in their sleep..... you can put the fear in them to where they pray to god to save them from YOU...... you can brainwash them to where they will march off the edge of a cliff like lemmings if you wished it and do it WITHOUT QUESTION!.....
It all means NOTHING if you do not know where to march them, where to order them to fight..... Burn every battlefield strategy textbooks and issue only "Art of War".
Any commander who deploys these strategies is the one who will write the next version of history books. GENIOUS!
The ultimate brainwashing machine. WAR!!!
Important work in the modern era.
"All warfare is based on deception." Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Similar Western Europe and Roman & Greece empire to the art of war and tactics & stratagems books should be more studying and more reading. Don't always depend on brave. Brave represent ambition, not wisdom. Tactics and stratagems represent wisdom.
> When your recording of The Art of War was so good that Audible thought it was their own and false copyright strikes your channel
I've read this dozens of times throughout my life and still read it or in this case, listen to it, whenever I come across it. Still manage to learn something new every time. It would be super cool if historians could place him time wise and prove he was real.
I've listened / read this book so many times, I know it by heart and hearing sargon narrate it gave me chills and a huge smile on my face from sheer surprise! Thank you so much for doing this.
read it 8 times this year. Internalizing is mandatory for perfect victory
its funny cause its true
I read this one, Civil Disobedience, and Self Reliance every year
@@beridledodopidop4822 Um, that's my line you misused and there is nothing funny here nor above.
@@meacomefeyou HAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAAHHAHAAAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAAHHAHAAAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAAHHAHAAAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAAHHAHAAAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAAHHAHAAAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAAHHAHAAAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Thank you.
Trust God folks..
Please keep audio and written journals, and help non beggars..
Always let go and let Go.
Treat everyone, how you want to be treated.
Hands are for helping and not hurting.
The Art of War read to me by one of my favorite youtubers? YES PLEASE!!!!!!
You can really tell how well thought out Sun Tzu's ideas are and why they became revolutionary in warfare. Great reading, Mr. Sargon.
"There are commands of the Sovereign which must not be obeyed."
Understood 2,500 years ago, but lost to us today...
Onward - to the cliff Lemmings!
HAHAHAHA!!! LOL!!! so true.
We haven't won a War since WWll!
Peter Smith orange man bad !
@@FraldinhoBJJ orange man good orange man bad both are npcs. doesn't matter what side your on.
@@jamestribbett952 dont worry you didn't win that war anyway
I imagine Sargon reads this to his son when he puts him to bed.
He shall be a fine warrior!
I wish someone read this to me when I was little
+keith mooney read it to your children
+Derek fulton if I decide to have kids I certainly will
Sargon you sexy bardard
MrJobocan he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.
This is the most useful book I have ever read.
Kaine Bishop I totally agree. I have yet to find a situation in my life that I couldn't get good advice by referring to Sun Tzu. Especially his advice on war being a means to an end, instead of an end unto itself. And that you must never loss sight of your priorities.
chankljp Kaine Bishop I really, really don't understand you two, and everyone else who says this book is so good. It's just trivial shit, at times oddly specific (20 times as good!) without reason (and indeed being false as in the 20 times example) and at other times just ... dull. Yeah sure having the hill is good -WHAT? You don't say! It is good? I would have never thought of that m(
what did you take from the book that wasn't obvious before?
SoWeMeetAgain Bare in mind that this was written before total war games were made when Generals literally thought that firing uphill in battle was advantageous. I think its name was the battle of Freedericksburg? But anyway in daily use I suppose that you are meant to shape it into your life e.g. Having helpful friends or avoiding getting into winnable fights ect.
SoWeMeetAgain Ever heard of the saying 'common sense is not commonly found' (or something like that)? The advice in this book are indeed very basic and simply, yet no one seems to ever follow them (More then 2000 years since the part about how no country ever benefited from prolong warfare, the entire 'broken glass fallacy' is still taken seriously within economics).
While parts of it are indeed outdated, there are lots of good advice there that are really useful in all kinds of situations in everyday life, distilled into simple, easy to remember, and nice sounding quotes that you can refer to even when you are hotheaded and can't really do a rational analysis.
As for the part about it being boring.... I honestly can't argue with that. But remember that this was written as a top secret military document meant for training officers, not for popular consumption.
And I guess that me being Chinese, I have a soft spot for Sun Tzu, since he has since entered popular consciousness and affected the culture in a way that is a key part of our identify.
Kaine Bishop and yet Europe build an world colonial Empires following "Vom Kriege" written by von Clausewitz (with little or no reference to Sun Tzu)
For instance (opposed to Sun Tzu) von Clausewitz states : "It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past." and
"No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy"
Even Mao Zedong (yes ....him) followed primarily (solely) von Clausewitz approach toward war leading to his success ...
Clausewitz advocates the frontal and bold destruction of the strongest enemy position in full view and in a "shock and awe" manner ...
Following his teachings armies outnumbered greatly can win decisively in the open field ; which is a "total victory" (not to be confused with "total war" ideas) taking away the future excuses of the defeated enemy such as "yes we lost because trickery... , etc"
The victory must be military and (!) political at the same time , if not problems will ensue... because after all "war is the continuation of politics by other means" ;
ps: all modern armies (even Chinese) function according von Clausewitz: fog of war ; culminating point of the offensive ; conversely, the very real effects of a superiority in numbers and "mass" ; etc.
Sun Tzu is a great read indeed but if you want to win, then read von Clausewitz ...
What a great piece of literature. This ain't just a philosophy of war, but also a philosophy of life, as well.
"If you do not know what you`re doing, neither does your enemy" --Joe Tzu.
One of my favourite audiobook channels, love the handbook by the stoicist the most!
I enjoyed this very much thankyou. It's nice to listen to a free audio book where the reader actually speaks passionately and understands what the book is saying.
Absolutely
Thank you Sargon! I really appreciate you doing this text.
It is honestly one of my favorite "voices from the past" - it is really shocking how... accurate and modern it sounds, after all those years. Change "crossbows" to "guns" and "fire" to "strategic weapons", and Sun Tzu could be be talking to us modern people ;)
zenek bembenek When I first read this I couldn't believe it was from so far ago. My favorite part is when he seems to have a sort of understanding about psychology, Just from watching how the enemy troops move to things like water after marching. That was shocking to me. Troop movements and formations is one thing. But for a general from way back then to See that in some thing so simple, brilliant.
Midwest Mage The ancient Chinese were pretty good at observing these kinds of things. They were prosperous enough to have the time to sit around and consider these kinds of subtle things.
GEhotpants101 True they were really advanced for the times. But I think he came up with this stuff from experience. 3 kingdoms, lotta fighting going on. I'm in the camp for the older Tzu being the author, not the later one. If I didnt get those two switched around lol. Honestly there are just things in the book that I think would have to come from experience, not having tea and pondering. You wouldn't get that insight.
True. But was also meant to primarly apply to war, seeing how it is a war-waging manual. Its universal enough to be used in other settings, part of what makes it so timeless, but only if you pick and choose what you need.
Replace the word „Army“ with the group/family/collective and the word „General“ with the Individual....instant life lessons.
No wonder the Book still to this day still holds up on many levels.
I listened to this while playing Europa Universalis 4 rather than the music. Excellent experience. Thank you for doing this recitation.
Battlemage15 You do have to admit Paradox's soundtracks are quite excellent.
Jimmy Yang Oh, they are. It was just a nice change of pace to have The Art of War in the background while in conquered.
"When circumstances are favorable one should modify ones plans". "ALL WARFARE IS BASED ON DECEPTION". SMART MAN.
Ancient Recitations Sargon, you are getting better and better at this. Very, very enjoyable.
Written Word Thanks man, I have actually been working very hard doing it!
+Ancient Recitations It's so weird that I'm subbed to your (main?) channel and just did a random search for this book and found this video and recognized your voiced instantly. I had to turn my monitor back on and scroll through comments to find out if you were who I thought you were.
+Ancient Recitations
If this is actually you reading, AR, you have done a commendable job. I cannot listen to liver box? renditions. They hurt my liver.
I'd like to submit a LVox rendition of this using a speech impediment, just to see if it gets accepted, and published! Every now and then I'd blow my nose.
Namaste and care,
mhikl
"'If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!' Sun Tzu said that and I'd say he knows a little more about it than you do, pal, because he invented it; and then he perfected it, så that no living man could best him in the ring of honor. Then he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth. Then he herded them unto a boat and then he beat the crap out of every single one of them. And henceforth whenever two or more animals are together in one place it's called a Tzu; unless it's a farm!"
good one.
Soldier - TF2 I got chu
Yes
Cliff Notes version: Sun Tzu was a man who, when asked for advice, displayed an amazing talent for stating the obvious at great length. Luckily for him, very few people could actually read at the time and the Emperor couldn't afford lose face by going around telling people that he'd paid good coin for an entire book of advice that says things which are on the level of, "When outside during a rain shower, the person who goes inside or uses an umbrella will stay dry; the person who does neither of these things, will get wet."
You'd be surprised how often painfully obvious and simple solutions are the keys to success ... and ppl don't often see the obvious and delude themselves with needless complexities.
Idk about you, but having a handbook that lays out the basics of war sounds pretty handy to me.
It seems obvious to the guy who read it, but i bet the critic could not write such a clear explanation of strategy if asked to and without any texts to read that were written by others.. It's like indoor plumbing seems obvious now we have it, or electric circuits etc, batteries.. There's gonna be some critic saying "that was obvious" but they never came up with any profound innovations themselves or thought of it til they read it or saw it
To paraphrase..The merit belongs not to the critic who didn't think of anything by themselves but stood on the shouldr of giants saying "this view is obvious"
It is still used in armies across the world to this day
HA ha!
Oh shit it's Sargon!
MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!!
nice
YUUUGIIIIOOOOOOOHH!!!
Yeah, I thought it was Sargon too.
Carl Benjamin (sargon) has like three channels, one of which is this one. It is SARGON. :)
Dam he was smart, I've been meaning to read this for years. Thank you for making it so accessible with your voice.
Really put me in the mood to start another total was campaign.
I love listening to this every night before bed. Every time I do, before I go to bed, my nerd-stabbing ability score increases by one!
WTF Sargon out of nowhere.
Lol, had the exact same reaction!
Who is sargon
+Phantom wO Look up Sargon of Akkad on youtube
Phantom wO the narrator
BANG
Haven't listened to this yet but I plan on doing so later. I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am that you did this. It's very difficult for me to find a physical copy of The Art of War so it's nice to finally hear it.
Tyler Caskey They're very common on amazon, or you coulds use abebooks.com
I remember thinking, "Maybe, he'll even do Sun Tzu.".
Awesome!
Oh man I love this book, I feel like I've retained more information when having it read to me.
This book. it was my favorite book growing up. it still is now. id often read it back over. saving this for the perfect time to have a listen.
This is one of my favorite UA-cam channels. Sometimes it's great to just have a nice ancient recitation and not have to deal with all of the idiocy of today.
Carl your absolutely brilliant, never stopped loving ya. A real man whom tells the truth with such
Eloquence x
I like this because it is a really humane text."It is better to capture a settlement instead of destroying it.." and so on.
Will you do Niccolo Machiavelli's The Art of War or The Book Of 5 Rings
by Miyamoto Musashi?
MadBrainBox I shall indeed, and you're right, there is a stark contrast between this and the Prince, for example.
Ancient Recitations Awesome.Looking forward to that.
Ancient Recitations The difference is "Art of War" is about achieving goal of winning war, so that state will benefit from conquest, whereas "Prince" is about maintaining rule over other people. In both cases people are tools to achive goals. Thou Machiavelli is more direct.
terran456cghost I was talking about Sun Tzu here.I still need to read Machiavelli.It's on my to do list.
MadBrainBox Five Rings would be dope, dude. I'm seconding this.
for some untangible reason I've found this right enrapturing. Can't seem to stop listening to this without reminding myself of past life events where said lessons could have been applied.
# 2,136. Thank you for this excellent reading of the holy bible.
The art of war teaches the stratagem of the general, the book of 5 rings teaches the strategem of the warrior.
Now I can invade Mongolia! Thanks, Sargon.
+Robin Shaw No, the biggest criticism from contemporary and later chinese military authors are that the Art of War is terrible at dealing with Nomadic Empires due to its fundamental differences. Nomadic Empires operate in different ways and can not be dealt in the same way as other sedentary empires. If you try to fight them as you would fight Rome or Carthage, you will fail and might not recover.
This blog has a few good posts about the military tradition of China. English translations of their materials are urgingly lacking. scholars-stage.blogspot.ca/search?q=war+china
+jg48481 And the conceptual approaches to warfare did not apply to Nomadic peoples because of a completely different reality when fighting with Nomadic Empires. He advocated political and conceptual approaches that did not apply when fighting with nomads especially in regards to losses and victory as well as the long-term approach in regards to the diplomacy and wars between nations.
Non-sinologists can not understand this extremely different nature between a sedentary and nomadic interstate conflict. They are completely different beasts that require completely different concepts. It is not a problem of stratagem, but of a difference in the general approach in interstate conflict.
+jaidogu
"Unbeknownst to them, them Romans often subjugated nomadic people's using many principles derived from sun tzu. "
Completely false. The Romans never subjugated any nomadic peoples. They never subjugated people like the Xiongnu.
The major difference between interstate conflict between sedentary peoples and nomadic peoples is the simple fact that the nomadic peoples do not require a population center, nor do they need to hold cities. Therefore, the nature of your decisions regarding your critical decisions when you are close to a victory is completely different. A) Decide to completely encircle the enemy soldiers during a near victory or NOT.
Sun Tzu advocates not to do this. This was heavily criticized the general Wei Qing when he campaigned against the Xiong Nu Empire. This is because unlike soldiers of sedentary nations, nomadic armies can easily re-build, strike back and attack your supply line.
Another factor is his diplomacy stance, which works in the context of the Warring States period - but would fail against nomadic Empires. You can not play a game of resource (not military) attrition with the Nomadic Empires, therefore his approach to dealing with another state was heavily criticized again by generals who campaigned against nomads.
"Nomadic stucture is basic, not complex at all."
Another false statement which shows the tremendous ignorance of non-sinologist or central-asian specialists in the degree of development of socities and military structure of the Far eastern nomadic empires. The military organization and rank division so-praised as invented by Ghenghis Khan was already existent during the Xiongnu era.
+jaidogu Nomadic Empires operate on a radically different nature than sedentary ones. The reason why my comment about non-sinologists stand is because no other civilizational was under the threat and contact of the most powerful nomadic empires in the world as China did. China was at the doorstep of all the greatest Nomadic Empires that has ever walked this Earth, while the rest of the world dealt with the paler versions of it giving them a false understanding of "primitive, unorganized barbarians" similar to the Celts.
It is a completely different scenario.
+Robin Shaw Sun Tzu's Art of War was compiled for a time in which there were many different Chinese feudal states under the Zhou Dynasty, prior to Qin Shi Huang's centralization and unification of China in 221BCE. These tactics are meant for warfare/battles between Chinese states, and not between Chinese and barbarian (i.e., Xiongnu/Mongol) states. Hence why a lot of the tactics in the compilation focus heavily on governance rather than pure "warfare". Zhou lords waged war against other Zhou lords in order to expand the size of their own feudal state under the Zhou Emperor. The compilation was developed with the idea that all of the belligerents in warfare were part of Zhou Chinese civilization, and not barbarians/non-Chinese belligerents.
Thank you so much for this one, I have tried a few versions of the Art of War but this is by far the best. Like all your work actually in all the channels. Keep up the great work.
"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight! Even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler's bidding"
Thank you so much for reading this. I never would have gotten around to reading it if I hadn't been ref'd over here.
Man, your video output on this channel is staggering. You must be having a lot of fun doing this. I haven't even had time to listen to all of the stuff you put out on here.
Godspeed, you dirty brit. Godspeed.
I would like to put in a formal request for "Green Eggs and Ham".
Prudent Paratrooper brilliant👏
😂
I would, I would Sam I am.
00000
I am currently listening to different narrations of this work in different languages. For one, to become so familiar with it as to know it by heart and for two, to learn and practice different languages. Since if I know this book completely, I can deduct the words in different languages and thus I practice them subconsciously while this audio is book plays in the background or while commuting.
Ta for this upload, Carl. This translation is a bit better than the copy I have and hearing it in a voice I enjoy is lovely.
Holy shit! I never expected Sargon as the narrator.
I'm glad you did this one. I've read this in Finnish about couple dozen times.
Many start but not everyone Finnishes it!
Thanks for sharing the classics from Chinese history and culture！😍🥰🥰🥰
You have a very good reading voice. Incredibly calming to listen to!
It’s funny how this book is somehow becoming more popular in this outrageous outrage culture.
I have terrible reading comprehension but I am a good listener, thanks for this.
oh god YES i've always wanted to read The Art of War, Sun Tzu is such an interresting person. hope you will still do these series even though they dont get alot of views
NEW SUBSCRIBER!
Your channel is absolutely inspirating.
I love your contents.
You are truly making the world a better place.
I'm looking forward to your future readings, Mr Benjamin. This is some good stuff.
I am really, really enjoying this channel, man. Thanks for giving me more of your voice to listen to.
There is a great deal of military commanders throughout history that I consider to be thankful that they did not acquire this book.
MrSeekerOfPeace I concur. Though, on the other hand, I am glad it was used by one or more Ally generals during WWII.
+ilyriandevil they did, they lost millions. Most of the loss was from civilians that were murdered when the Japanese invaded
+carloscordovajr not most but a large amount
Thanks for this. There is another video but this one have no ads and the voice is better.
I pretty much know it all anyway, from the quotes on the loading screens for rome total war :D
***** the men are wavering..
***** ''charging spear-men head on is a great way to kill of your cavalry'' shut the fuck up they can do this!
Battle adviser doesn't know shit.
***** Another great idea! disband the legionaries and recruit peasants instead and throw them at spartan hoplites! we'll save tons of money on upkeep!
***** I think Ancient Recitations would be proud of our battle strategy.
This is the best one so far (in my opinion).
Reminds me of the style used in Proverbs. Direct and effective.
What i was thinking
Could you please do Meditations by Marcus Aurelius?
I could probably curl up under a mountain of blankets and listen to Sargon read me to sleep...and be happy about it.
Hey Carl thanx for the fantastic reading! I just stumbled across this today and instantly recognized your voice.
*Top Three Audiobooks*
1) _How to win friends and influence people._
2) _The 48 laws of power._
3) _The way of the superior man._
Some parts of this relate to classroom behavior management I think
The Art of War by Sun Tzu entire audiobook in only 1 hour 7 minutes???
I was too busy fighting wars to create an extra long audio book 😉
@@SunTzuMedia I see
Thank you for reading one of my favorite texts
Mastery Over All These. And I Use them daily
I didn't stop at the moral law. And life got better.
A few American Presidents and their Generals failed to see the wisdom in Sun Tzu's Art of War.
i have never read this book so it is nice to hear it read.
Hey Sargon, great read! Could you give a proper review of Father John Misty's new music box?
This isn't Fantano...
I was today years old when I found out Carl had this channel.
Your voice is great for this
5:41 : "...thus though we have heard of stupid haste into war, cleverness has never been associated with long delays. There is no instance of a country that benefited from prolonged warfare. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war, that can understand the profitable way of carrying it on."
This is exactly what America is doing in the Middle East from the Bush administration onward.
The art of war applies to Supreme commander 1 and FA. know your enemies factions weakness and strengths and you will win with tactics.
Ello Sargon, good choice of read. I have this here at home, translated by J. Trapp. I'm catching some of this, not all the way through tonight. But I checked you're source. You should check out Trapp's translation. The one I got, he leaves notes about the translations. How the language is tricky with ancient China because of all the different versions of the same word. Also, can't remember which part but in this there is a piece where Tzu mentions a book of war. Trapp says we just have no idea what hes talking about there. That book never survived history. Also the piece it was referred to, I think, was incomplete. I did not know that before. Tzu's work is not an entire edition, some of didn't make it to today. Anyway, pick it up if you can, good stuff, more involved then a straight translation. Also I agree with comments suggesting for next read being Five Rings, that would be awesome. Thanks and good wishes from Nebraska.
There are so many tactics in the art of war. We must study tactics and stratagems which meet small elite troops and elite weapon to defeat the powerful of enemy.
"When a mosquito lands on your testicles will you truly understand the meaning of solving conflict without violence"
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War
LMAOO
There's a book on statecraft, military stratergy and politics by Chanakya named Arthashastra(c.350-283 BCE).
It is worth checking out. It's scope, however is much wider than just military. Maybe you could do a reading of that??????
arav kris Thanks for the recommendation, I found an English translation in ebook form. ^_^ Is this translate accurate? archive.org/details/Arthasastra_English_Translation
I'm not sure if the translation is accurate as I, like most people haven't studied Sanskrit. But I don't see any reason why it would not be accurate.
When you've finished, if you're into literature there are hundreds of ancient Sanskrit plays to choose from. Or medical treatsies. Or poetry. Or grammatical theory. Or philosophy(most of which does not mention God as in imaginary man). Wikipedia some of them. One specific recommendation is the play Abhijnanashakuntalam by Kalidasa.
Or if you're into long, long epics to an extent that you'd like to read the longest poem ever, there is the Mahabharata or the much shorter Ramayana.
Here is a super-super-abridged English version (with much of the original poetic beauty and secondary plots missing)
www.gita-society.com/section3/mahabharata.pdf
Of these the Ramayana and Mahabharata have a very strong cultural impact in the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia.
Is this(reply) too long for you? Sorry.
arav kris This is getting more and more awesome. ^^ Do you have any favorite works of poetry, plays, medical treatises, and philosophy that have been translated into English? I do love to read historical texts in my free time (currently reading through System of Nature and the Prince).
Elround4 I'm no scholar of Sanskrit. But being raised up in a Hindu household, I grew up listening to tales from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas.(in the religious context).
Since there is no equivalent of formalized, standard "Sunday school", the stories I listened to were not the ones my friends listened to.
I just literally provided a link to The Mahabharata version of Rajagopalachari.
He also has The Ramayana in similar format.
Poetry: I'm no expert on poetry. But virtually every composition in Sanskrit is in verse. So technically they are all poems. But what Sanskrit grammarians call Kavya wikipedia will be able to help you.
Philosophy:Again no expert. But my personal favourites would be The Mundakopanishad.(The only one I've read lol), one among 108 texts called Upanishads. Then I remember my grandfather talking to me about the Advaita school of philosophy(by Adi Shankaracharya).
Plays: Again, not my area of expertise. But almost all Indians have atleast a basic elementary knowledge of Abhijnanashakuntalam. Amar Chitra Katha comics has an issue named "Shakuntala".
Again use wikipedia dude.
Sun Tzu you know very well that we are warriors in garden rather then gardeners in war 🙄🙏👑
YES the Art of War!
All day.
Excellent narration.
43:47 Picketts charge was a blunder of attacking a fortified hill position. Supplies were cut off, the cavalry was missing in action, the troops exhausted and on the verge of mutinous capitulation. General Lee forced his hand and lost badly by breaking many many arts of war. He thought he couldn't retreat and regroup, hastyness.
This alongside with Go Rin No Sho is going to become my background while doing anything playlist.
This is so high level english... A lot of smart words, very hard to understand for non native speakers
+pupicucek2 people who speak English do that because it makes us fell smart and pisses everybody else off
Chinese war general, "there are no more than 5 musical notes, yet one can combine them to create countless melodies" .
Italian musicians, "Do Di Re Ri Mi Fa Fi Sol Si La Li Ti".
Indian musicians, "22 shrutis".
Always a good read/listen.
It is!!! I listened to The prince and thought no cant be..I scroll down here yup thats amazing TY Sargon!
I just fucking love this new channel of yours Sargon. I would probably have never read the texts you've made readings of otherwise.
Thank you so much.
In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.
I've already read this book a thousand times. Is that Piers Morgan doing audio?
Sargon, have you though on making one about the romance of the three kingdoms? I mean, it would be a pretty lenghty audio book, but with the graphyc material there is, it could be quite enjoyable.
It's three times as long as War and Peace, though...
Really? War and Peace is only 40 chapters long?
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has 120 chapters with more than 1000 characters
Romance of the three kingdoms podcast. UA-cam that shit
No fuk off
Ancient Chinese pre-Qin culture and the art of war during the Spring, Autumn and Warring States period can be applied in any dynasty
could you do a reading of the romance of the three kingdoms
well done and thank you, I was looking forward to reading the book but work won't allow it so this is excellent for me.
to give thought, then consider all things, great read.
This was really great, thanks a lot Sargon!
How about a Dante's inferno audiobook?
inuysha360 thats a game, and you mean the "divine comedy"?
MegaFarinato Yes, sorry if that was unclear. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)
inuysha360 oh! so Dante's inferno is actually a thing! i like discovering new stuff =)
MegaFarinato Inferno is part of the divine comedy. There's also paradiso and another one (purgatory I think?).
MegaFarinato You and seven other people thought Dante's Inferno was originally a game.
I'm going to go kill myself now.