Best Strategist: Discussion

[Xen]

Originally posted by amirsan
It has to be Sun Tzu. Everyone else afterwards learned from Sun Tzu on military strategy. He is the best strategist!

Second I think is Alexander the Great and Napoleon. Both in its respective time of history.

considering even today its the extreme minority that have even heard of the guy, its impossible for most any commander or stratgist in the west, and near east before the 20th century to have even been able to get a reral copy of the book, let alone show any interest it, not to mention if ytou ever read his books, her covers all the basics, every thing that a merelly proficient commander would be doing anyway...

 

[Sarevok]

it is a good book, Sun Tzu is definetly up there as one of the best strategists.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Xen
considering even today its the extreme minority that have even heard of the guy, its impossible for most any commander or stratgist in the west, and near east before the 20th century to have even been able to get a reral copy of the book, let alone show any interest it, not to mention if ytou ever read his books, her covers all the basics, every thing that a merelly proficient commander would be doing anyway...

Considering that this guy lived in the 5th century BCE, the very fact that his treatise survived until modern times is a testimony to its utility value.

And in those days, how much high strategy can you get, apart fr the basics? Even basic strategy is crucial - it doesn't do you any good if you've a grand strategic plan, but miss out on a few crucial basics. The greatest of plans are built on strategic basics.

And finally, how good a strategist is has almost nothing to do with how widely his work is spread... Besides, being a standard military text for the Chinese, it's widely distributed enough, considering that the Chinese, up until the 19th century, consisted of a goodly 1/2 to 1/3 of humanity.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

I also have a lot of personal respect for Sun Zi. Sun Zi left his native state of Wu, for another (either Chu or Yue; I think it's Chu) to become a strategist or military planner; under the influence of an ex-fellow student. This 'friend' of his claimed all the glory from his work, and had him crippled and blinded (IIRC). He was close to killing him, seeing how dangerous Sun Zi would be if he ever return to his native state.

Sun Zi managed to survive by pretending to have gone mad, tearing his hair and eating dog faeces in the public streets. Until one day, he saw a native of Wu he recognized and managed to get help to escape back to Wu.

He rose to command Wu's armies, and soon whipped the Chu army and subdued the enemy state (for awhile).