Relevance of Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz's Strategies in Modern Warfare

This essay compares the strategies of Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz in modern warfare and explores the debate on their relevance. It discusses the characteristics of modern warfare, the strategies given by both authors, and concludes that their strategies are still relevant in modern warfare.

Are strategies of Sun Tzu and Carl
von Clausewitz still relevant in
modern warfare? (Essay)

Table of Contents

Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................1
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................4

Introduction
The following essay is based on the concept of strategies of Sun Tzu and Carl Von
Clausewitz in terms of warfare which are still relevant in modern warfare or not. Sun Tzu is the
Chinese general who is also known as the military strategist and writer along with the
philosopher. He lived in the eastern Zhou in the period of ancient China. Traditionally he is
credited as the author of The art of war who is also the influential of the military strategy work
which got affected on both the Western and East Asian philosophy for the military thinking
concepts. Talking about Carl Von Clausewitz, he is a Prussian general who also studies military
theories who has focused on the political and moral aspects of war. He has one of the most
notable works which was unfinished because of his death, named as Vom Kriege. He was a
professional combat soldier who was involved in the various military campaigns and walls
famous as the military theories because he had a great interest in the examination of war (Sun
Tzu, 1993). The following discussion is based on the concept of modern warfare and the
strategies used and given by both of the authors in regards with modern warfare. It will also
provide the insight of the debate on the question "Are strategies of Sun Tzu and Carl Von
Clausewitz still relevant in modern warfare?" with proper conclusion.
Main Body
Modern warfare is defined as a warfare which is in the notable contrast with the past
concepts and methods of military in terms of Technology which emphasizes on the combatants
that how they can modernize in order to preserve the worthiness of the battle. This is a subject
which is continuously evolving from the ancient times to the current era but has seen different
times and places. If modern warfare is compared with the traditional warfare simulation then it
can be analysed that the modern warfare simulation has the four main characteristics which are
defined from the previous times. It has the standardized modelling approach and unified common
Technology framework along with the series which is used by warfare simulation systems and
also the broadly ranged application of warfare simulation. These are the four characteristics on
which modern warfare is based as compared to traditional warfare. Warfare is basically the
operations conducted by the military among the enemies which are personally or professionally
undertaken by the political unit for example a nation in order to weaken or destroy the economic
welfare of another Nation. It is basically the struggle among the computing entities which are
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also known as the conflicts among the different countries. This is a concept of modern warfare
(Ballentine Clausewitz, 2008).
Sun Tzu Has the book named as the art of war which has emphasized on the winning of a
victory and subduing the enemy without any fights and violence is considered as the highest
excellence by the author. He has given one of the best policies for military operations in order to
gain victory with the help of strategies. He always provides strategies to win the war but not
violence and tough fighting among the Nations. He says that it is important to know the enemy
and of course knowing the personal self as well because it helps in fighting the hundred battles
which will never be in peril. Therefore he has given the strategy that the cards must be closed to
the chest and it must not be revealed in front of the others because it helps in anticipation and
counter the strategies. It is highly important to keep the multiple plans ready in order to maintain
the momentum. He has given the 5 basic military strategies which are also considered as the mini
theories of military strategy. For example extermination and exhaustion along with the
annihilation and intimidation and also the subversion. These are together studied and then
practically applied in the coherent military strategy in order to frame such strategy in a
theoretical manner. He has a contribution in the strategic military because he has also given the
various theories of leadership and leading the team of war so that they all can have some
strategies to fight against the war and win the war according to the plan made by them (Sun Tzu,
1993).
Carl von Clausewitz has provided the strategies which are used by the armed forces for
the specific battle and the strategies given by the author is based on the doctrine use of individual
battles specifically for the purpose of war. he has given the strategy which is basically the
decision making strategies so that the right battles can be pigged out in order to successfully
executing the battles which is basically concerned while defining the entire purpose and
priorities. he has given the theory of wall strategy which are basically divided into three primary
objectives. First objective is to overcome the armed power of the enemy. The second objective is
the taking possession of material and different other sources of strength. Third objective is to win
public support. It is important to identify the armed power of the enemy so that strategies can be
developed against them in order to execute in a successful manner. Moreover The other materials
which are required for the strength must be available so that the public support can be won by the
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particular Nation. He has taught that it is important to seize and retain along with the exploit the
initiative of the enemy (Ballentine. Clausewitz, 2008).
Strategies given by both the authors are considered relevant in modern warfare. This is
because the assumptions of both the authors are revolutionary and Napoleonic wars which are
based on the war on terror. Moreover the motives worry from time to time and context to context
of a specific war. The philosophies given by the authors are relevant to the current age warfare
because of the grounded practices introduced by them (Królikowski, 2016).
Conclusion
It is concluded that modern warfare is one of the most important concepts to learn and
study so that it can be analysed in the current situations. This is because nowadays wars are
increasing from different countries and their philosophies and theories in terms of military is
highly important by some of the well known authors so that they can be studied and applied as
per the strategies in the real world wars. Both of the authors have given the strategies in the
ancient times of worlds and are considered still relevant in today's modern warfare. The reason
being is that theories and concepts given by both of the authors are based on the ground it theory
in which the practices are related with the root cause of the wars and tactics are displayed in a
practical manner. Therefore it is important to analyse the concept of modern warfare. It is
essential to examine the strategies of one of the most important authors known as Sun Tzu. It is
necessary to determine the strategies of another most important author known as Carl Von
Clausewitz. It is significant to assess the debate on the strategies of both of the authors which are
still relevant in modern warfare. Therefore the essay has come to the conclusion that the
strategies given by both of the authors are still relevant in modern warfare. Hence the above
discussion covers all such areas in order to better understand the concept of strategies of warfare
given by the authors.
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References
Books and Journals
Ballentine. Clausewitz, C. (2008). On War (M. Howard & P. Paret, Trans., B. Heuser, Ed.).
Oxford.
Królikowski, H., 2016. Modern military strategy and its founders: Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz
and Andre Beaufre. Politeja-Pismo Wydziału Studiów Międzynarodowych i Politycznych
Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 13(44), pp.199-208.
Sun Tzu. (1993). The art of warfare: The first English translation incorporating the recently
discovered Yin-ch’ueh-shan texts (R. Ames Trans.).
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