Sun Tzu and The Art of War

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2018

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas attributed to Sun Tzu (544-496BC, according to tradition), a legendary figure from the beginning of the Iron Age in China, around the time of Confucius. He may have been the historical figure Sun Wu, a military adviser at the court of King Helu of Wu (who reigned between about 514 and 496 BC), one of the kings in power in the Warring States period of Chinese history (6th - 5th century BC). Sun Tzu was credited as the author of The Art of War, a work on military strategy that soon became influential in China and then Japan both for its guidance on conducting and avoiding war and for its approach to strategy generally. After The Art of War was translated into European languages in C18th, its influence spread to military academies around the world. The image above is of a terracotta warrior from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor, who unified China after the Warring States period. With Hilde De Weerdt Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University Tim Barrett Professor Emeritus of East Asian History at SOAS, University of London And Imre Galambos Reader in Chinese Studies at the University of Cambridge Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:02.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:05.0	There's a reading list to go with it on our website.
0:07.0	And you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:12.0	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:14.0	Hello, quote, the art of war is vital to the state, erode either to safety or to ruin.
0:20.0	End quote.
0:21.0	Sir begins one of the great works of strategy, in particular military strategy,
0:25.0	written two and a half thousand years ago in China.
0:29.0	According to legend, the author of the art of war was Sun Tsui,
0:33.0	reputedly a general or advisor for the King of Wu in the 6th century BC,
0:37.0	near the start of 300 years of war that ended with the first emperor,
0:41.0	he of the Telekota army fame.
0:43.0	The work was embellished for another thousand years and studied not so much for the directions it gave,
0:48.0	but for the state of mind it encouraged.
0:50.0	And its influence leaders from the American Civil War,
0:53.0	the Mao's Long March to the latest war in Iraq, especially the line,
0:57.0	all warfare is based on deception.
1:00.0	We'd need to discuss Sun Tsui and the art of war, our Tim Barrett,
1:04.0	Professor Emeritus of East Asian History at Sir US, University of London,
1:08.0	Hilded Eviet, Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University,
1:11.0	and Emery Glambers, reading in Chinese studies at the University of Cambridge.
	...

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