Comparison of Sun Tzu and Clausewitz War Philosophies

Since the beginning of human history till now, man has experienced many wars. In times of peace, the growth excels while in times of war, there is reduction in advancement. In case of any conflict between two parties or factions there is a dispute. Contentions between countries lead to war. The counterparts endeavor to overwhelm each other by using some tactics and philosophy according to the circumstances. This paper aims to lament two of the major philosophies of war that were applied and popular in the past wars. From ancient times, the Sun Tzu’s philosophy emerged as one of the famous philosophy of war. From modern history, we observed another very popular philosophy contributed by Clausewitz.Both these philosophies are highly rated and respected in the world of war. Whenever, there is a war, the factions contributing to war; often utilize the war according to the characteristics identified by these philosophies. In this paper, the attempt is made to clarify the distinction between the two famous philosophies of war. The major emphasis is on the nature of war, how it is to be handled and what should be the approach during the war Different wars are fought with almost different philosophies that emerge to gain the aims and objectives of the war.The philosophy of war is based on war strategies that need to be adopted to achieve the goals,the equation existing between war and human nature, and the moral and ethical values that need to be given respect in times of war. Here we discuss two of the most important philosophies relating to war. 1.Sun Tzu Philosophy of war and 2.Clausewitz philosophy of war. Sun Tzu ‘s Philosophy is a collective name used to identify the contribution of unknown Chinese authors to war. It is based on sophisticated treatise by ancient Chinese that were developed early in the Warring States period (c.453–221 B.C.) .The Sun Tzu treatise relate to philosophy, logistics, espionage system and strategies and tactics to be implemented in the war times. Sun Tzu philosophy of war emerges from different thinkings of Chinese Thinkers of ancient times. Sun Tzu c.500–320. B.C summarized these thoughts in to a book titled The Art of War combining different streams of thoughts related to war emerging from different feudal conflicts of ancient times.
Another most impressive work on the philosophy based on nature of war is contributed by Karl von Clausewitz, ( 1780–1831).Being a Prussian general and military strategist, he served in Napoleonic wars and won laurels in Rhine campaigns (1793–94).Serving as a military strategist in the service of Russia from 1812 until 1814, he aided negotiation of the convention of Tauroggen (1812), which paved the way for a tri-partite alliance of Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain against Napoleon bringing an end to Napoleon’s series of victories at Waterloo. His masterpiece “On war”; written in a dialectic style; containing traces of Hegelian style; captured millions attention.
Comparison between Sun Tzu and Clausewitz Philosophy:- The main focus of Sun Tzu is mostly on weaponry and strategy instead of philosophy. This treatise relates to the strategies applied to execute the major systems that affect the war such as espionage system and the achievement of the goals in war. Here the emphasis is on the uncertainty of battle. The significance of deception and surprise is one of the cores of the philosophy such that war is unpredictable to exist at times. The Sun Tzu philosophy relates politics to military policy attributing to high military costs. Sun Tzu's observations are often broadened into a philosophy applied in situations extending well beyond war itself .Sun Tzu ‘s philosophy has profound admiration by Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese military thinkers .Sun Tzu ‘s philosophy contributed to Guerilla warfare .Scattered tactics for scattered attacks ,un estimated but high cost of war are some characteristics of Sun Tzu ‘s Philosophy. As compare to Clausewtiz‘s philosophy it is an undeclared war that is waged in form of small skirmishes, at small scale and at different territories of land. Sun Tzu’ philosophy aims to harm the enemy utilizing clandestine methods such as spying about the strategy and plans, sabotaging the resources of the counterpart etc. In view of Sun Tzu “The best battle is the battle that is won without being fought.” The war in this philosophy may serve to be instrumental in the sense it has a purpose to harm enemy. It could be national if serving for the nation state however it can not be rationalize such that the costs of the war can not be calculated and estimated earlier. There is an uncertainty about the motives of war either win or loose. These attribute to subtle paradoxes of success. According to Clausewitz ‘philosophy, the war serves all these three purposes. These are its being rational, instrumental and national. These three purposes of war explain its connection to politics such that it is to be estimated before waging any war and it must be purposeful and aiming to serve it. Having no purpose, it seems un worthy. This implies to its instrumental characteristic. In other words the Clausewitz view of war is to be extremely calculated attempt in order to gain the objectives. Before opting for war all major costs are to be taken under consideration so as to avoid undue risks of death and destruction. These are to be pre-calculated and pre-identified key concepts of this ideology. This attributes to its rationalize nature and finally the national interest guarded by the war to advance the state in its motives implies to it’s national charactersistics.In short ,the war must aim to safeguard the national state with calculated attempts with only one motive that is unidirectional towards victory. Both the philosophies have their significance and impact depending upon the circumstances of time frame. However it can not be denied that war is equally important to the state as it serve it by one means or another.