I am just starting my next M.A. class in strategy at AMU and this one looks to be the most challenging yet. Our first assignment was to read Masters of War, an exhaustive comparison of Clausewitz and Sun Tzu and their theories of warfare. Then, for our first case study we are to analyze and decide if Thucydides, in his classic The Peloponnesian War agrees more with Clausewitz or Sun Tzu. It is my analysis that Sun Tzu, who wrote The Art Of War at nearly the same time as Thucydides wrote his tome is very much in agreement on the issues of strategy, politics and warfare.
What's interesting to note is that almost 2,000 after the Peloponnesian War, the issues of alliances, strategy, misunderstandings and military blunders are still as relevant today. I remember some talking head during the run-up to the Iraq War blathering about how the U.S. was like Athens and we were going to overreach on some foreign adventure which would lead us to disaster. Anyway, I guess a little knowledge about history can be a dangerous thing.
I am looking forward to examining 2,000 years of warfare and strategy through the prism of Clausewitz and Sun Tzu.
I can only hope President-elect Obama and his gang are reading something besides the latest BCS rankings......
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