01.015 If they have advantage, entice them...

[sonshi]

If they have advantage, entice them; if they are confused, take them, if they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong, avoid them, if they are angry, disturb them, if they are humble, make them haughty, if they are relaxed, toil them, if they are united, separate them.

Although when it comes to love on the battlefield one should always leave there family behind for something to come back to in any circumstances this is not always possible Sun Tzu may realize this as a fault in designs but more of a Base for Enlistment processes such as it is with todays modern armies except for now with peace we now have this option. This peace becomes a target for all whom hate the word itself and so the need for an army remains as long as mankind is intent on the need for Emotions.

[willatlasshrug]

In competition, be like water - respond to your opponent. Avoid the strong and attack the weak. Take advantage of the opportunities the opponent provides you to advance, but do so with deception so he doesn't know what to expect.

Using the same example, if you can shape your opponent's view of the situation, he will also become like water, and you can influence his movements and ability to respond to you. When you can make your opponent respond to you, he will have lost the initiative, while you have gained it.

Try to keep your opponent off balance so they become disoriented (or less focused on important details), and are responding to your wishes - you can choose the time and place of the battle ground most advantageous to you.

The excerpt drives home the point that victory in warfare goes to the person who knows when to fight and when not to fight.

Moreover, the quote seems to sum up quite nicely some important axioms of 'unconventional warfare.'

Certainly, the Chinese Communists, led by Mao, used this strategy when he was fighting against Chiang Kai Check's Nationalists. And when the Japanese invaded mainland China, Mao had the foresight to unite his forces with the Nationalists against the common foe, the Japanese. At the same, Mao held back and resupplied and regrouped the bulk of his Army while the Nationalists, his former foe, directly engaged the Japanese in defense of China.

Mao knew that the strength and vigor of the Nationalist's would begin to subside after challenging the Japanese so often. Hence, after the Japanese we kicked out of China, Mao's well rested and resupplied Army was able to chase the Nationalists off the mainland an in to what became Taiwan.

Likewise, during the Vietnam War the NVA tactic of setting up hit and run ambushes against the superior American forces reveals how one can win a battle or a war by knowing when to fight and when not to fight.

At the same time, the Communist fueled propoganda in the Western Media served to create a very divisive American public opinion and this undermined the leadership ability of Westmoreland and President Johnson while fracturing The Way.

-BingFa

[markb287]

"If they have advantage, entice them; if they are confused, take them, if they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong, avoid them, if they are angry, disturb them, if they are humble, make them haughty, if they are relaxed, toil them, if they are united, separate them."-Sun-tzu.

This quote, more or less, doesn't deal with deception emphasized. If the enemy has advantage, then lure him out of it. If the enemy is confused, then it is easy for us to attack because then he will be surprised and not know what to do. If the enemy is strong in material and ready, then we must always be ready to be on the defense. We must watch them closely. If the enemy is strong, then we can't fight them, because they are stronger and would win. If they are angry, if we anger them more, then it may cloud their judgement and therefore they may move just to attack, instead of moving strategically. If they are humble and recognize their superior, then they will not fight, and we can't win. Therefore you must make them feel like they have a chance and then they will fight. If they are relaxed, then they are full of energy. Tire them so that they don't have enough energy to fight well. If they are all together, then they will have eyes and ears in one place and cannot be surprised. Therefore, we must divide them so that they must always look around not knowing what is next.

[MonteChristo]

To win a battle you need an advantage. Maybe even few advantages. Sometimes one is given them and sometimes he/she has to create them. Advantage to me, is a situations one’s strength is opposed by the opponent’s weakness sufficient to achieve victory.

The advantage does not need to be absolute in terms of time and space. Sometimes it is enough to have local advantage. In a given time-space frame you can be stronger although opposing army can have more soldiers, however being unable to mobilize them all in the given time.

To achieve this kind of situation you need to cause them make mistakes. Those mistakes happen when decisions are strongly influenced by emotions, when the opposing army leader’s is not thinking in the rational way.

[gonzo]

This passage basically advises one to take away the advantage that the opponent has. Any advantage that you opponent has, should be removed swiftly and effectively.

Gonzo

Originally posted by sonshi
[B]If they have advantage, entice them; if they are confused, take them, if they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong, avoid them, if they are angry, disturb them, if they are humble, make them haughty, if they are relaxed, toil them, if they are united, separate them.

Different ways of baiting and switching.

Remember this is the preliminary stage, the obj of the wise strategist want to do is to study the other side's reactions. And use those reactions as a lead for other offensive maneuvers.

[Theo17]

break down whatever strength the enemy has, and attack his weakest points. if they have a strong navy, put watermines all over there oceans, if they have a strong air force, increase you anti aircraft guns.

[Sr_Tokes_Alot]

If they have advantage, entice them; if they are confused, take them, if they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong, avoid them, if they are angry, disturb them, if they are humble, make them haughty, if they are relaxed, toil them, if they are united, separate them.

I must admit, I don’t understand why Sun Tzu says the first statement “If they have advantage, entice them”. I don’t know why you would want to lure an enemy with a clear advantage. Perhaps this is to say “tempt them” and hope that they will make a mistake. It could also be referring to an enemy with advantage being lured into ambush.

Obviously, if your enemy is disoriented, it is a good time to strike. A confused enemy is easy prey for the calm, organized force. This also implies that anything we can do to cause confusion in the enemy is beneficial to our cause.

If an hostile imperial power exists on the other side of the world and is increasing the measure of their substantial armies and weapons, increase your armies and weapons even more and decide what you will do if they invade western Europe. The cold war was all about preparing for a substantial enemy.

If there are 150,000 troops, carrying superior weapons, massing on your borders for an invasion, avoid them. Run away to the capital and dig in. Or, if you are actually a strategist, make them think you have run to the capital and then become formless and untraceable. It can also be said “hide, and live to fight another day”. Perhaps that other day, you will have advantage.

If an enemy is angry, or prone to becoming angry, use this against them. Make them as angry as possible. The angry are rash and quick to take action. The actions of an angry enemy are usually uncalculated.

For the next set, I went to Merriam Webster.
“Haughty”
Blatantly and disdainfully proud.

An enemy that acts in such a fashion may be over confident and slow to calculate. They may also find it hard to make or keep allies.

If the enemy is relaxed, then they also have clarity of mind. Distract them, so that they can not calculate. This can also be likened to troops in the field. If an enemy prevents you from relaxing or sleeping for long periods of time, your forces will be slow and fatigued.

Finally, the power of ten people working together as a team is much greater than the power of ten individuals. One of the most basic strategic principals is “divide and conquer”. The division of a team weakens it, and the loss of strength is not proportional to the loss of team members – it is much greater because the team is broken.

Toker

Sun Tzu said, "If they have advantage, entice them; if they are confused, take them, if they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong, avoid them, if they are angry, disturb them, if they are humble, make them haughty, if they are relaxed, toil them, if they are united, separate them."

Find the oppositions weakness by using wisdom to make accurate approximations of the form and function of the people that are involved and the context that surrounds them. Create and seize advantages as they appear. Use any tool that works.

Originally posted by sonshi
If they have advantage, entice them; if they are confused, take them, if they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong, avoid them, if they are angry, disturb them, if they are humble, make them haughty, if they are relaxed, toil them, if they are united, separate them.

In this passage I think the message is use your enemie's greatest advantages and diadvantages against him. Such as if the enemy has the support of the people plunder their villages dressed as barbarians and make them feel uprotected and they will turn on their leader and except the new leadership of yourself.

"If they have advantage, entice them; if they are confused, take them, if they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong, avoid them, if they are angry, disturb them, if they are humble, make them haughty, if they are relaxed, toil them, if they are united, separate them. "

In the typical conciseness of the AoW, we have a list of good tactics. the main goal is to disrupt the enemy and strike him when and where he is weak. Many tactics are based on a deceptive attitude: the objective is to let the enemy to do the wrong move.

[Dan]

Sun-Tzu now moves from deception to general principles of war that are to be followed.

If they have advantage, entice them;

Now this one kind of stumps me. Enticing the enemy who is larger to fight seems rather stupid and contradictory to the fourth of the proverbs. But maybe the entice means to try to get them to do something stupid, or to attack in a place where you aren't weak.

if they are confused, take them,

If they are confused they will not know what to do, or who to fight. This can only be an advantage as your enemy won't be organized and won't have one of the five factors Law with them.

if they are substantial, prepare for them,

Prepared defences can easily readdress a disparity of forces. So make defences to lower losses and increase enemy losses which may turn the balance of power in your favor.

if they are strong, avoid them,

As I once read "Soldiering is the cowardly art of attacking when you are strong and running if your are weak." You don't want to fight an enemy bigger than you for probability dictates you will probably lose. So if the enemy is bigger than you and you have the chance to run do it. "Those who fight and run away live to fight another day."

if they are angry, disturb them,

An angry person doesn't think rationally and will do stupid things. So make them angry and there calculations may not be as thorough or as well done as might have otherwise have been.

if they are humble, make them haughty,

A haughty person will think he has an advantage where none exists. This will cause his calculations to be off and will hinder himself and his troops. Make them proud, because "Pride comes before the fall."

if they are relaxed, toil them,

If they are relaxed that probably means they are well rested. Tire them out so they're weary. Which gives you an advantage.

if they are united, separate them.

"A house divided against itself can not stand." Alliances that are seperated will not help eachother. A force that is seperated can be dealt with one section at a time while a united front will have to be destroyed all at the same time, which is a lot harder and more costly. Cause dissension and so seeds of disunity. If they expand effort fighting eachother that is less effort expended fighting you.

[dej2]

• "Display profits to entice them. Create disorder in their forces and take them.
• If they are substantial, prepare for them; if they are strong avoid them.
• If they are angry, perturb them; be deferential to foster their arrogance.
• If they are rested, force them to exert themselves.
• If they are united, cause them to be separated.

“Display profits to entice them.” This statement most obvious meaning is to bribe the enemy, possibly hire the general that commands one of the enemy’s armies. In ancient China during the “Spring and Autumn” period Philosophers, Advisors and possibly some Generals worked as free agents for different kingdoms. Confucius, practiced this regularly, Sun Tzu himself hired by King of Wu, though he didn’t make a practice of selling his talents after being hired by Wu.
The second sentence “Create disorder in their forces and take them.” Once they have lost a General by bribery or defection (in this case by profit) their forces will become unorganized and you must seize the opportunity to attack before a new they reorganize and appoint a new general to command their armies. (The statement does not specify a General, but any person is a command position that is critical in attacking your nation. High ranking field commanders should also be targets of such enticements.)

“If they are substantial, prepare for them” Because an offensive strategy will take more energy than a defensive strategy. Sun Tzu, states that if the force is slightly greater in force than yours “substantial”, then you may be better off preparing a defensive strategy. Position your archers on hills and towers, dig trenches and spiked pits to slow down the enemies advances. Conceal flanking forces, and strike where not expected. It is much easier to defend a position than to take the offensive and attack.
“If they are strong avoid them” In this case Sun Tzu realizes at times the enemy may be unstoppable with your current strength, and it would be a waste of lives and resources to stay and fight. In this case it may be much smarter to withdraw and reevaluate your situation. You may have to strengthen your army, with more men, training, and resources. You may have to try to split his forces to take them on in smaller pieces, maybe request the aid of a allied nation.

“If they are angry, perturb them” Try to cause them to make a mistake, by making an angry person more angry to the point of being enraged. This is much easier done in person than on a battlefield, where on is not in direct contact with the enemies general, it may be hard to verbally insult him. But during Sun Tzu’s time banners and kites and other types of signals where used to communicate with officers and soldiers in the field. A large banner or kite could also be used to communicate with the enemy… displaying insults and other messages to make them angry. (Note that one character in Chinese usually equals one word… a whole statement could be convey in very little space.) Also burning the enemies flag is pretty much a universal statement that has the same meaning around the world.
“Be deferential to foster arrogance.” Showing the enemy respect to promote arrogance. In this case you may be able to mislead the enemy into a false sense of confidence. My personal opinion this may be one of the most difficult of Sun Tzu’s strategies to invoke. For if your force is substantial and their force is also substantial, though you great them with open arms and bow in submission, they will still be weary. I do not think two forces of equal size no matter how cordial, will be of any consequence and will erupt into a large bloody battle. On the other hand if your armies are of overwhelming force, and the enemies force is small but well defended. You may be able to trick them and use their arrogance to think they are greater once their armies are in open terrain, you encircle, the enemy army and display overwhelming force… at this point you will be able to attain a victory without even spilling any blood at all.

“If they are rested, force them to exert themselves.” Nighttime raids to disturb their sleep. Send a small force to the enemies camp, set off the alarm and have your men return. Repeat night after night, they will become angry, they may prepare for your nighttime raids… but in doing so they keep themselves up and alert during the night. Harass supply lines or small outposts, cause them to exert energy, resources and men to tire them. If an army is fatigued it will most certainly affect their ability to fight.

“If united, cause them to be separated.” In most cases your forces may want this because the enemies force is larger than that of your own. Sometimes you can divide their forces by raiding different enemy towns or outposts. If the enemy doesn’t know where or what you’re going to attack, they will have to divide their forces, the more assets they have in the vicinity the easier it will be to divide them. If a large force is about to attack you may still want to attack the nearest undefended enemy town. The attacking force may need to be split to protect that town. (Possibly ask an allied nation to attack your enemy, causing him to battle armies on two fronts.)