Weak Points and Strong
A chapter summary from The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
“The ideal is to be without ascertainable shape: "O divine art of subtlety and secrecy!”
The governing idea here is initiative: "Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted." The clever combatant therefore imposes his will on the enemy but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him. He arrives first, chooses the ground, and rests while the other side tires.
From initiative flows the principle of striking the undefended. "You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defence if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked." Against a skilled attacker the enemy does not know what to defend; against a skilled defender the enemy does not know what to attack. The ideal is to be without ascertainable shape: "O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands."
Concentration against division is the chapter's tactical core. By making the enemy uncertain where you will strike, you force him to defend everywhere, and "the spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points." If he reinforces his front he weakens his rear; if he strengthens his left he weakens his right; if he prepares everywhere he is weak everywhere. "We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemy's few" at the decisive point.
This requires knowing the place and time of battle, for then "we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight." Without that knowledge the left wing is helpless to aid the right and the van is helpless to aid the rear. Sun Tzu insists that victory can be made: "Though the enemy be stronger in numbers, we may prevent him from fighting."
The chapter ends with the book's most famous analogy — military tactics are like water. As water shuns the heights and hastens downward, so an army avoids what is strong and strikes at what is weak. As water shapes its course according to the ground over which it flows, so the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe he is facing. "Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions." The general who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent, and thereby succeed in winning, "may be called a heaven-born captain." The lesson is permanent: keep your own form fluid and hidden, force the other side to spread thin, and then concentrate overwhelming strength against the point you have made weakest.
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