Science, Strategy and War The Strategic Theory of ... - Boekje Pienter

perfect information, so Chapter 9 reads, but does not have a penetrating understanding of itsmeaning, if one does not see the patterns, it is of no value. Information must be coupled tojudgment, and here we can see the parallels with Boyd’s emphasis on the element ofOrientation in the OODA loop. Orientation contains the element of experience, intuition,judgment, schemata, etc. Judgment is key, as in Boyd’s view. Without judgment, data meannothing. So it is not necessarily the one with more information who will come out victorious,it is the one with better judgment, the one who is better at discerning patterns.Moreover, it is a judgment of highly dynamic situation. Sun Tzu only claims thatone who excels at warfare can tell when a situation will offer chances for victory or defeat,realizing that this particular impression of shih is a snapshot from a distance on a particulartime. The closer war and battle approach in time and space, the finer becomes the detail ofSun Tzu’s investigations, all the way down to indicators of the actions of an army setting upcamp and the order of flags in tactical formations.Sun Tzu’s Strategems. In chapters 1 and 3 Sun Tzu reveals his ideas of how to conduct acampaign once the estimate of shih has indicated that it is both necessary and feasible toembark on war. These ideas would become very much Boyd’s own:Warfare is the Tao of deception. Thus although you are capable, display incapability to them.When committed to employing your forces, feign inactivity. When your objective is nearby,make it appear as if distant; when far away, create the illusion of being nearby. Display profitsto entice him. Create disorder (in their forces) and take them 67 . If they are substantial,prepare for them; if they are strong, avoid them. If they are angry, perturb them; bedeferential to foster their arrogance. If they are rested, force them to exert themselves. If theyare united, cause them to be separated. Attack where they are unprepared. Go forth wherethey will not expect it. These are the ways military strategists are victorious. They cannot bespoken of in advance 68 .Several related concepts are later further developed. These derive from the idea that strategyis about getting the enemy off balance, about creating disharmony and chaos. Sun Tzu focuses uponmanipulating, shaping the enemy, thereby creating an opportunity for an easy (as in lesscostly than in a direct set peace battle) victory by applying maximum power at theappropriate time and place(s). Through confusion about one’s own position, through thesubsequent dislocation of his forces and their state of disorder will the enemy be weakened.Sun Tzu offers a meriad of strategic and tactical factors, which span the mental, themoral and the physical dimensions, that together with the grand strategic factors such as thequality of the alliances of the opponent, combine to get the enemy off balance 69 . The aim isto get the opponent in a position or situation against which the all the potential energy ofnine changes, even though he is familiar with the topography, he will not be able to realize theadvantages of terrain…even though he is familiar with the five advantages, he will not be able tocontrol men.67 The idea that order and disorder are important notion in The Art of War is further substantiated atch.7, p.198-199, ‘in order await the disordered’, and ‘do not intercept well ordere flags, do not attackwell regulated formations; do not attack animated troops’.68 This comes from Sawyer, ch.1, p.168.69 Although it may seem that confusion is all that matters to Sun Tzu, numbers and physical aspectsfrequently appear in his deliberations. In ch. 3 he brings the relative strength of opponents in relationsto possible actions such as ‘if your strength is ten times theirs, surround them; if five then attack him,if double, then divide your force…if outmatched, you can avoid him’. Thus a small enemy that actsinflexible will become the captives of a large enemy.58