Part One: Self-Directed Warfare
1) Declare War on Your Enemies: The Polarity Strategy.
Life is endless battle and conflict, and you cannot fight effectively unless you can identify your enemies. Learn to smoke out your enemies, to spot them by the signs and patterns that reveal hostility. Then, once you have them in your sights, inwardly declare war. Your enemies can fill you with purpose and direction.
2) Do Not Fight the Last War: The Guerrilla-War-of-the-Mind Strategy.
What most often weighs you down and brings you misery is the past. You must consciously wage war against the past and force yourself to react to the present moment. Be ruthless on yourself; do not repeat the same tired methods. Wage guerrilla war on your mind, allowing no static lines of defense--make everything fluid and mobile.
3) Amidst the Turmoil Don't Lose Presence of Mind: The Counterbalance Strategy.
In the heat of battle, the mind tends to lose its balance. It is vital to keep your presence of mind, maintaining your mental powers, whatever the circumstances. Make the mind tougher by exposing it to adversity. Learn to detach yourself from the chaos of the battlefield.
4) Create a Sense of Urgency and Desperation: The Death-Ground Strategy.
You are your own worst enemy. You waste precious time dreaming of the future instead of engaging in the present. Cut your ties to the past; enter unknown territory. Place yourself on "death ground," where your back is against the wall and you have to fight like hell to get out alive.
Part Two: Organizational (Team) Warfare
5) Avoid The Snare of Groupthink: The Command-and-Control Strategy.
The problem in leading any group is that people inevitably have their own agendas. You have to create a chain of command in which they do not feel constrained by your influence yet follow your lead. Create a sense of participation, but do not fall into groupthink--the irrationality of collective decision making.
6) Segment Your Forces: The Controlled-Chaos Strategy.
The critical elements in war are speed and adaptability--the ability to move and make decisions faster than the enemy. Break your forces into independent groups that can operate on their own. Make your forces elusive and unstoppable by infusing them with the spirit of the campaign, giving them a mission to accomplish, and then letting them run.
7) Transform Your War into a Crusade: Morale Strategies.
The secret to motivating people and maintaining their morale is to get them to think less about themselves and more about the group. Involve them in a cause, a crusade against a hated enemy. Make them see their survival as tied to the success of the army as a whole.
8) Pick Your Battles: The Perfect Economy Strategy.
We all have limitations--our energies and skills will take us only so far. You must know your limits and pick your battles carefully. Consider the hidden costs of a war: time lost, political goodwill squandered, an embittered enemy bent on revenge. Sometimes it is better to wait, to undermine your enemies covertly rather than hitting them straight on.
9) Turn the Tables : The Counterattack Strategy.
Moving first--initiating the attack--will often put you at a disadvantage: You are exposing your strategy and limiting your options. Instead, discover the power of holding back and letting the other side move first, giving you the flexibility to counterattack from any angle. If your opponents are aggressive, bait them into a rash attack that will leave them in a weak position.
10) Create a Threatening Presence: Deterrence Strategies.
The best way to fight off aggressors is to keep them from attacking you in the first place. Build up a reputation: You're a little crazy. Fighting you is not worth it. Uncertainty is sometimes better than overt threat: If your opponents are never sure what messing with you will cost, they will not want to find out.
11) Trade Space for Time: The Nonenagement Strategy.
Retreat in the face of a strong enemy is a sign not of weakness but of strength. By resisting the temptation to respond to an aggressor, you buy yourself valuable time--time to recover, to think, to gain perspective. Sometimes you can accomplish most by doing nothing.
12) Lose The Battles But Win The War: Grand Strategy.
Grand strategy is the art of looking beyond the battle and calculating ahead. It requires that you focus on your ultimate goal and plot to reach it. Let others get caught up in the twists and turns of the battle, relishing their little victories. Grand strategy will bring you the ultimate reward: the last laugh.
13) Know Your Enemy: The Intelligence Strategy.
The target of your strategies should be less the army you face than the mind of the man or woman who runs it. If you understand how that mind works, you have the key to deceiving and controlling it. Train yourself to read people, picking up the signals they unconsciously send about their innermost thoughts and intentions.
14) Overwhelm Resistance With Speed and Suddenness: The Blitzkrieg Strategy.
In a world in which many people are indecisive and overly cautious, the use of speed will bring you untold power. Striking first, before your opponents have time to think or prepare, will make them emotional, unbalanced, and prone to error.
15) Control the Dynamic: Forcing Strategies.
People are constantly struggling to control you. The only way to get the upper hand is to make your play for control more intelligent and insidious. Instead of trying to dominate the other side's every move, work to define the nature of the relationship itself. Maneuver to control your opponents' minds, pushing their emotional buttons and compelling them to make mistakes.
16) Hit Them Where it Hurts: The Center of Gravity Strategy.
Everyone has a source of power on which he or she depends. When you look at your rivals, search below the surface for that source, the center of gravity that holds the entire structure together. Hitting them there will inflict disproportionate pain. Find what the other side most cherishes and protects--that is where you must strike.
17) Defeat Them in Detail: The Divide and Conquer Strategy.
Never be intimidated by your enemy's appearance. Instead, look at the parts that make up the whole. By separating the parts, sowing dissension and division, you can bring down even the most formidable foe. When you are facing troubles or enemies, turn a large problem into small, eminently defeatable parts.
18) Expose and Attack Your Enemy's Soft Flank: The Turning Strategy.
When you attack people directly, you stiffen their resistance and make your task that much harder. There is a better way: Distract your opponents' attention to the front, then attack them from the side, where they least expect it. Bait people into going out on a limb, exposing their weakness, then rake them with fire from the side.
19) Envelop The Enemy: The Annihilation Strategy.
People will use any kind of gap in your defenses to attack you. So offer no gaps. The secret is to envelop your opponents--create relentless pressure on them from all sides and close off their access to the outside world. As you sense their weakening resolve, crush their willpower by tightening the noose.
20) Maneuver Them Into Weakness: The Ripening For the Sickle Strategy.
No matter how strong you are, fighting endless battles with people is exhausting, costly, and unimaginative. Wise strategists prefer the art of maneuver: Before the battle even begins, they find ways to put their opponents in positions of such weakness that victory is easy and quick. Create dilemmas: Devise maneuvers that give them a choice of ways to respond-all of them bad.
21) Negotiate While Advancing: The Diplomatic-War Strategy.
Before and during negotiations, you must keep advancing, creating relentless pressure and compelling the other side to settle on your terms. The more you take, the more you can give back in meaningless concessions. Create a reputation for being tough and uncompromising, so that people are back on their heels before they even meet you.
22) Know How To End Things: The Exit Strategy.
You are judged in this world by how well you bring things to an end. A messy or incomplete conclusion can reverberate for years to come. The art of ending things well is knowing when to stop. The height of strategic wisdom is to avoid all conflicts and entanglements from which there are no realistic exits.
Part Five: Unconventional (Dirty) War
23) Weave a Seamless Blend of Fact and Fiction: Misperception Strategies.
Since no creature can survive without the ability to see or sense what is going on around it, make it hard for your enemies to know what is going on around them, including what you are doing. Feed their expectations, manufacture a reality to match their desires, and they will fool themselves. Control people's perceptions of reality and you control them.
24) Take The Line of Least Expectation: The Ordinary-Extraordinary Strategy.
People expect your behavior to conform to known patterns and conventions. Your task as a strategist is to upset their expectations. First do something ordinary and conventional to fix their image of you, then hit them with the extraordinary. The terror is greater for being so sudden. Sometimes the ordinary is extraordinary because it is unexpected.
25) Occupy the Moral High Ground: The Righteous Strategy.
In a political world, the cause you are fighting for must seem more just than the enemy's. By questioning your opponents' motives and making them appear evil, you can narrow their base of support and room to maneuver. When you yourself come under moral attack from a clever enemy, do not whine or get angry; fight fire with fire.
26) Deny Them Targets: The Strategy of the Void.
The feeling of emptiness or void--silence, isolation, nonengagement with others--is for most people intolerable. Give your enemies no target to attack, be dangerous but elusive, then watch as they chase you into the void. Instead of frontal battles, deliver irritating but damaging side attacks and pinprick bites.
27) Seem to Work for Interests of Others While Furthering Your Own: Alliance Strategy.
The best way to advance your cause with the minimum of effort and bloodshed is to create a constantly shifting network of alliances, getting others to compensate for your deficiencies, do your dirty work, fight your wars. At the same time, you must work to sow dissension in the alliances of others, weakening your enemies by isolating them.
28) Give Your Rivals Enough Rope To Hang Themselves: The One-Upmanship Strategy.
Life's greatest dangers often come not from external enemies but from our supposed colleagues and friends who pretend to work for the common cause while scheming to sabotage us. Work to instill doubts and insecurities in such rivals, getting them to think too much and act defensively. Make them hang themselves through their own selfdestructive tendencies, leaving you blameless and clean.
29) Take Small Bites: The Fait Accompli Strategy.
Overt power grabs and sharp rises to the top are dangerous, creating envy, distrust, and suspicion. Often the best solution is to take small bites, swallow little territories, playing upon people's relatively short attention spans. Before people realize it, you have accumulated an empire.
30) Penetrate Their Minds: Communication Strategies.
Communication is a kind of war, its field of battle the resistant and defensive minds of the people you want to influence. The goal is to penetrate their defenses and occupy their minds. Learn to infiltrate your ideas behind enemy lines, sending messages through little details, luring people into coming to the conclusions you desire and into thinking they've gotten there by themselves.
By infiltrating your opponents' ranks, working from within to bring them down, you give them nothing to see or react against--the ultimate advantage. To take something you want, do not fight those who have it, but rather join them--then either slowly make it your own or wait for the moment to stage a coup d'etat.
In a world where political considerations are paramount, the most effective form of aggression is the best hidden one: aggression behind a compliant, even loving exterior. To follow the passive-aggression strategy you must seem to go along with people, offering no resistance. But actually you dominate the situation. Just make sure you have disguised your aggression enough that you can deny it exists.
33) Sow Uncertainty and Panic Through Acts of Terror: The Chain Reaction Strategy.
Terror is the ultimate way to paralyze a people's will to resist and destroy their ability to plan a strategic response. The goal in a terror campaign is not battlefield victory but causing maximum chaos and provoking the other side into desperate overreaction. To plot the most effective counterstrategy, victims of terror must stay balanced. One's rationality is the last line of defense.
The 33 Strategies of Warfare
http://www.wikisummaries.org/The_33_Strategies_of_War
The 33 Strategies of War Summary - WikiSummaries
All chapters end with a "Reversal" to give a brief discussion of where the strategy may not apply, a contrary view or defense. Throughout the book Greene includes quotes from a variety of sources. These are incorporated in the margins and between sections.
Synopses of the Strategies
Part One: Self-Directed Warfare
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Identify and fight your opponents, but when you have won act conciliatory. |
- The Inner Enemy. Hired to fight the Persians in 401bce, Xenophon had to turn a mercenary band of Greeks into a unified group fighting for self-preservation. They had to identify the opponent, determine the reasons for their fight and battle their own issues.
- The Outer Enemy. Margaret Thatcher, defined her fight and her opponent. She fought relentlessly for what she felt was right not backing down in the face of opposition driving her tasks to completion.
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| No complete reversal, do not fight the last war, learn from it. |
- The Last War. In 1806 Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen fought Napoleon, but his strategies were those of Frederick the Great and were old and tired. Napoleon's innovative strategies outwitted him.
- The Present War. In 1605 Miyamoto Musashi, a samurai, had series of defining duels. He developed a pattern for his fighting, but would regularly change his tactics to confound and confuse his opponents. His continual adaptation of his tactics afforded his opponents no comfort.
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| The only reversal is to use this against others, intimidate them and raise their paranoia to allow them to intimidate themselves. |
- Hyper-Aggressive Tactic. Lord Nelson in the 1801 battle at Copenhagen disobeyed orders from a self-concern superior (Sir Hyde Parker). His confidence and leadership defeated the Danish navy.
- Detached Buddha Tactic. Film director Alfred Hitchcock always had a complete understanding and plan for his movies. He knew the look and feel that he wanted to achieve. His methodical approach, though confusing to others, gave him a calm demeanor on the set.
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| Be aware that when you are the aggressor and your opponent has nothing to lose, this strategy will work for them. |
- No Return Tactic. In 1504 Hernán Cortés used this tactic as he removed the ability of his 500 men to return to Cuba. They had to fight the Aztecs even though grossly out numbered.
- Death at Your Heals. Fyodor Dostoevsky's near execution fortified his resolve to make each work as if it were his last. The intimate experience with his mortality allowed him to rise above life's trivialities.
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Part Two: Organizational (Team) Warfare
| It is never good to give up authority. Look at your opponents that are allied and determine ways to split them based on the weaknesses in their alliance. |
- The Broken Chain. In early World War I (1915) the British attacked Constantinople attempting to open access to the Black Sea to supply Russia and to facilitate attacking the Germans from the East. But General Ian Hamilton led his command by delegating details to subordinates. This resulted in lack of understanding of the tactical objectives of securing Tekke Tepe, hence losing the battle.
- Remote Control. Throughout his career General George Marshall established a set of protégés carefully teaching them his philosophy of command. This created the ability for him to know and trust the actions of his subordinates. Eventually allowing him to place generals, like Dwight Eisenhower, in positions of extreme authority knowing the situation would be run according to his beliefs and style.
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| At times, especially when change of tactics is required, the team may need to be tighten, brought together to become one again. |
- Calculated Disorder. In 1805 Napoleon was being attacked by the Austrian troops under Karl Mack. The former divided his troops and supplied them with specific instructions. Surrounding the Austrian troops who surrendered at the Battle of Ulm with little fighting.
- Keys to Warfare
- Keep yourself in a position of force (Sun Tzu's Shih)
- Instill the philosophy of following commands "in spirit" not "by the letter"
- Create enmity in the troops so that when they are apart they follow the same philosophy
| Morale spreads, but so does discontent. At the first sign of discontent quell it. In 58 bce Julius Caesar actually arrested his rumormongers. |
- The Art of Man Management. Be a leader 1) fight for a cause, 2) provide for the team, 3) lead by example, 4) focus the team's energy, avoid idleness, 5) feed the emotions to feed the cause. 6) reward and punish sparingly, but let the team know they exist, 7) build team history and use it to bond, 8) remove the disaffected.
- Historical Examples.
- 1630: Oliver Cromwell, who had little British military background, joined the military to lead a crusade of the Puritans. He recruited like minded individuals and commanded a formidable unit.
- 1931: Lyndon Johnson kept his teams working hard by keeping praise illusive and fostering competition to get that praise.
- 281bce: Building spirit for the upcoming fight, Hannibal provided competitive war games for his troops to show them the lengths that people would go to join their army.
- 1950: North American football's Green Bay Packers hired Vince Lombardi who treated all players equally and made them all earn respect and praise. He used the fear of public reprimand to keep team members in line.
- 1796: Napoleon energized his troops with the "Spirit of the Republic" for their battles, often visiting troops or wounded so they would see his energy and build their morale.
Part Three: Defensive Warfare
| One can win an expensive battle, but it is usually not worth the risk. Try to spend your opponent's assets, draw them into the battle, bait them to fight the expensive fight. |
- Spiral Effect. In 280bce Pyrrhus of Epirus acted as a mercenary to the city of Tarentum about to go to war with Rome. He was drawn into a series of battles by his ego and guided by inadequate intelligence. He won the battles, but his army was decimated. The final war, the Pyrrhic War, ruined him forever and was the genesis of the term "pyrrhic victory".
- Strengths and Weaknesses. Queen Elizabeth I ascended to the thrown of England in 1558, at that time a secondary military power. Against her advisors she waited and did not engage Philip II of Spain. Instead she looked for more subtle ways of damaging him, she enlisted the royal Navy to run pirate raids on his ships returning from the New World and using other less conventional techniques to destroy the Spanish Armada. Queen Elizabeth I carefully picked her battles to conserve resources and slowly decimate and superior force.
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| There are times when one needs to strike first, but try to draw your opponent into the first strike, on your terms. If this does not work re-assess your options for an offensive approach. |
- Disguise Aggression. Prior to the Battle of Austerlitz (1805), Napoleon played scared and panicky. Czar Alexander I of Russia, anxious for revenge, decided to lead the allies into battle. Napoleon drew the opposing forces forward to expose their weak center and defeat them.
- Jujitsu. In the 1944 Democratic Presidential race, the Republican Party, trying to elect Thomas Dewey, made continual slanderous remarks about Franklin Roosevelt (FDR). FDR waited and did not respond until they made comments on his dog, Fala. FDR delivered a satirical speech defending his dog, humiliating Dewey.
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| Risk is inherent in making yourself look foolish and threatening. Without action you will condition people to ignore you. You need to take action on occasion. |
- Reverse Intimidation. 1) Make bold maneuvers and bluff wisely, 2) be a threat, make sudden moves, imply aggression, 3) move irrationally, create unpredictability, act crazy, 4) Feed your opponent's paranoia by indicating capabilities that they are afraid of, 5) maintain a bad reputation, mean, nasty and non-negotiable.
- Deterrence and Reverse Intimidation in Practice
- 1862 in the American Civil War Stonewall Jackson acted strong and played to George McClellan's weak points focusing on his anxiety and timid nature.
- In the 13th century, Robert the Bruce made great strides with a ragtag army against the British armies and King Edward II. His efforts eventual brought him recognition (from King Edward III). Most of the gains by Robert the Bruce were through bold raids, swift incursions and combination of offensive and defensive actions.
- In 1874 Louis XI of France used Duke of Milan's ambassador to France, Christopher Bollate, to carry fabricated rumors about France's suspicions of the Duke's intentions, threatening attack and irrational actions. This helped maintain a peaceful alliance.
- John Boyd was assigned to work in The Pentagon to design a new fighter and found the politics difficult. He used a strategy of playing dumb, but heavily researching issues purposed by others and plotting tactics to kill the initiatives.
| Retreat is not an end, unless your goal is martyrdom. Your plan must include an attack. Fighting for martyrdom has a grander cause you will never see. |
- Retreat to Advance. Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist party forced Mao Tse-tung's communists to retreat in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. This action had the effect of strengthening support for the Communists by uniting and galvanizing the peasants. In 1949 the communists defeated the nationalists.
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Part Four: Offensive Warfare
| Having a grand strategy can result in success that creates 1) too many options and resulting indecision, and 2) a "drunkenness" on success and reckless behavior. |
- Great Campaign. Alexander the Great developed a new strategy of looking far forward, differentiating him from other leaders. He first gained the ground he needed (territorially and emotionally) but did not increase his holdings to a point that they could not be governed. He did not fight battles he could not win, for instance devising plans to capture the major Mediterranean ports; effectively nullifying the Persian navy.
- Total Warfare . In 1968 during the Viet Nam war Vo Nguyen Giap executed a country-wide offensive on the Tet holiday. Although having to retreat from their gains, the offensive was designed confuse the US and South Vietnamese armies and to play to the US media. It was quite successful.
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| You must be formless and difficult to read, spread false information to lead other's astray. |
- The Mirrored Enemy. In 1838 the British invasion of Afghanistan (led by Lord Auckland) was to reinstate western friendly Shuja Shah Durrani, deposing the current leader Dost Mohammad Khan. But Auckland did not understand the Afghan people or their culture, making numerous mistakes. The result was his death and the return of Dost Mohammad to power.
- Close Embrace. Between 1806 and 1813 Prince Metternich met with Napoleon in hopes of understanding him and finding points of weakness that he could exploit. Eventually he assisted in orchestrating Napoleon's marriage to Marie Louise. Metternich used this and other knowledge to the advantage of Austria allowing them to build an army and join a greater alliance in Europe eventually leading to the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
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| Slow erratic start that is non-predictive, speed is imperative. |
- Slow-slow-quick-quick. In 1218 Genghis Khan attacked and defeated the more powerful Muhammad II of Khwarezm starting with a series of small deliberate attacks that looked like losses. He then made more serious and speedy attacks to defeat Muhammad II.
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| There is no reversal, you must have control, although you may not want to show it. |
- The Art Of Ultimate Control. Make the first move, fight on your territory where you are comfortable, look for your opponent's weakness and draw them into it, deceive your opponent to make them think they are in control.
- Historical Examples
- In 1942 during World War II, Rommel used smaller units on the North Africa deserts to strike the British. He kept the units moving continuously, like ships at sea, reducing the ability to attack them. Often he rode with the front line of attack in order to shorten the information chain.
- While working on the Paramount Pictures film Night After Night, in 1932, Mae West slowly made moves to change the dynamic of power into her court. Eventually she took over significant portions of the films writing.
- During the American Civil War, General Sherman faced off with General Johnston in battles over Richmond, Virginia. He played to Johnston's paranoia and his overall defensive nature. He continued the tactics against General Hood in Atlanta, Georgia and took the city in a surprise move.
- The slave Frederick Douglass, originally owned by Thomas Auld, was sent to be "broken" by Edward Covey. After many battles, Douglass became openly defiant to Covey, fearing death and having nothing to lose Covey fought Covey and achieved victory simply by creating a situation where Covey would lose his reputation as a slave breaker.
- Psychiatrist Milton H. Erickson used, hypnotherapy among other techniques, to help his patients. Occasionally his patients would not cooperate with his therapy. He would gain control through various means including hypnosis, deception and reversal.
| No reversal, everyone regardless of structure has a center of gravity. |
- Pillars of Collapse. In 209 BC Publius Scipio attacked and captured New Carthage, Hannibal's main supply point and the Carthagian capital in Spain. This crippled Hannibal's supply routes. Scipio continued on to Carthage in 204 BC, capturing it in 203 BC recalling Hannibal from Italy and removing his threat.
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| Dividing your team can generate a deft and mobile force. |
- Central Position. In 490 BC the Persians planned an attack on ancient Athens they landed 24 miles north on Athens on the plains of Marathon. The Greeks traveled north blocking the pass between the two areas. The Persians split their troops at night and attempted an attack Athens directly by sea. The Greeks attacked the troops in what is known as Battle of Marathon and then ran back to Athens to prevent the Persians from disembarking (hence the running event).
- Attacking the Joints. Leading up to the American Revolution, Samuel Adams was continually fighting for the free representation for the colonies. For the most part he struggled, until the enactment of the Stamp Act by the British. In 1765 Adams was able to rally the colonists around the point of "No taxation without representation". Then with the Tea Act, in 1773, Adams rallied people to revolt, dumping tea into the Boston Harbor.
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| Occupying the opponent's position can reverse on you by making you look too much like them, losing differentiating factors. |
- Turning the Flank. In 1796 Baron Joseph Alvinczy attempting to dispel the French from Verona was drawn forward by Napoleon in the Battle of Arcola, exposing his flank and allowing Napoleon to surround and defeat him.
- Occupying the Flank. Julius Caesar perfected the art of indirect fighting. Although there were many times when he enlisted the direct method, there are many cases where he fought indirectly. Notably were the power struggles with Pompey. Much of his work was done by showing Pompey's men his kindness and honest treatment of his troops. This worked to get many of his opponent's troops to surrender.
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- Indirection is the key to modern day business battles (Victor Emmanuel II of Italy used the Countess de Castiglione) to influence Napoleon III (note: the book says Napoleon II, but this is in error) to place him as the King of Italy)
- Use charm and flattery to lure you opponent to drop guard
- Show your opponent's bad traits (Hernán Cortés' appointment of a treasurer to collect Velázquez's taxes)
| No reversal. Without 100% success you are left open to reprisal. |
- Horns of the Beast. In 1778 the British in Natal wanted to absorb the Zulu territories. In the Battle of Isandlwana the Zulu used their knowledge of the land to surround, surprise and rout the British.
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| There is no advantage of a direct attack. Maneuvering, though, can give you too many options and can paralyze your advance. |
- Maneuver Warfare .
- Create flexible plans with many options.
- Make plans that keep your opponent in check and always on a new defensive.
- Make plans that give you room to maneuver.
- Make plans with slight irrationality to puzzle your opponent.
- Examples
- In 1800 Napoleon had to defeat the Austrian armies in Italy. He made his plans and nearly everything went wrong. But Napoleon had made enough alternate plans and he kept maneuvering to the new situations at hand and he defeated them at Marengo where is original plans had predicted he would.
- In the 1936 US Presidential campaign the Republican Party nominated Alf Landon to run against incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt (D). Landon tried to defeat Roosevelt by supporting the New Deal but criticizing the creator (FDR). Roosevelt waited until Landon did not have enough time to move from this stance and attacked.
- In World War I the British tried to capture Aqaba from the Turks. T. E. Lawrence, fluent in Arabic and familiar with the tribes of the Syrian Desert, used a small army to move quickly through the desert and antagonize the Turks. His fast maneuvering denied the Turks a target and he was able to cut their supply lines resulting in the surrender of Aqaba.
- In 1937 Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures hired Leo McCarey to direct The Awful Truth The script was poor and McCarey had to figure out how to improve the script. He routinely made changes at the last minute and would wait to shoot until he felt it was right. This ploy gave the movie spontaneity and drove it to success.
- Tsukahara Bokuden, a master samurai, was challenged by a young unnamed swordsman. Bokuden practiced Mutekatsu-ryu and moved the challenge to an island. As his challenger stepped from the boat, Bokuden pushed the boat away from the shore, stranding (and out maneuvering) the young swordsman.
| Moving too far or being too aggressive came embitter your opponent and others creating animosity and prolonged resentment leading to retribution. |
- War by Other Means. Philip II of Macedonia came to power in 359 BC. The city-state of Athens did not support his ascent. In the negotiations between the Athenians and Philip II he continued to make promises of peace but continued to grow his empire. Eventually he formed the League of Corinth (Note: The book refers to this as Hellenic League which appeared 100 years earlier) to ally many Greek city-states to attack the Persians.
- Jade for Tile. At the onset of the Greek War of Independence (1821) the Russia's Greek born foreign minister Capo d'Istria felt it imperative that Russia support Greece. This would give Russia access to warm water ports in the Mediterranean. Wary of the desire of Austria's Prince Metternich to keep Russia from these ports, he cautioned his emissary to not let Metternich negotiate. This failed and Metternich played to the weaknesses of Czar Alexander I and he thwarted attempts of Russia assisting Greece.
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| No reversal, you must end an engagement positively. |
- No Exit. The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, and the resulting war, caused a no win situation for the Soviet Union primarily due to the lack of understanding of the Afghan people. Significant expense (monetarily, politically and in troop loss) caused Gorbachev to withdraw Soviet troops, completed in 1989. (Note: A potential error in the book where Greene refers to Afghanistan's "ports on the Indian Ocean", I can find no reference to alliances that would bring that.)
- Ending as Beginning. Lyndon Johnson fought a tough election for the Texas 10th Congressional seat in 1937. He had few friends in the party and soundly defeated the well-seasoned political veterans. Immediately after the election he amiably approached his opponents thanking them to the hard fight and successfully wooing them into his alliance.
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Part Five: Unconventional (Dirty) War
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Uncovered deception is a huge advantage to your opponent.
Maintain a cover story in case you are discovered. Don't rely only on deception; it is tool not a plan. |
- The False Mirror. During preparation for the invasion at Normandy in World War II, the allies developed a significant number of deceptive plans. These included a fake army in England (FUSAG) and a look alike of General Montgomery in the Mediterranean theater. A wealth of misinformation, paralyzed Hitler's decision making capabilities when the actual invasion started, slowed his reaction.
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| There is no advantage to attacking by the expected means and methods. |
- Unconventional Warfare
- Use tactics that your opponent does not know.
- Mix ordinary tactics with the unusual.
- Act crazy but calculated.
- Continue to think of new things.
- Historical Examples
- In 219 BC Rome decide to take the offensive with Hannibal. They chose to face him at the Trebia river. Hannibal exhibited erratic behavior drew the Roman army across the river and then shocked them with his use of elephants. The Romans made many other attempts to draw Hannibal into a fight but Hannibal did the opposite of what they expected giving him a great advantage.
- Cassius Clay challenged then Heavyweight champion Sonny Liston to the boxing in 1962. title. Clay's unorthodox behavior and fighting technique and his nonconformist behavior gave him a great advantage in the fight since his opponent did not know what to expect.
- In 1862 Ulysses S. Grant, American Civil War General led a battle to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi. He moved troops across the Mississippi River and sent them toward Jackson to cut the supply lines to Vicksburg. This move was not expected since it would mean that Grant's forces would not have their communication lines open. It surprised Confederate General John C. Pemberton; who was unable to predict the impact of the maneuver.
- The Ojibwa tribe had an elite band of warriors called the Wendigokan. This band would act crazy during battles, yelling the exact opposite of their intent. This caused confusion in their opponents and terrified them not to engage in battle.
- For the New York Society of Independent Artists' first exhibition, Marcel Duchamp chose a radical new format—anyone could exhibit a work of art. Duchamp under the pseudonym "R. Mutt" submitted a urinal laying on its back called the Fountain. There was outrage in the organization, but opened a new view and challenged the definition of art.
| Playing the high ground can make you look righteous and condescending. This can alienate and disgust your supporters. |
- The Moral Offensive. Pope Leo X wanted to complete construction of St. Peter's Basilica. To raise the funds for the church, he started the practice of selling indulgences. A German theologian and Priest named Martin Luther challenged the practices in the 95 Theses saying that only God could forgive one's sins. He argued his stand based solely on the Bible systematically refuting each of the Pope's retorts. This effort by Martin Luther was the genesis of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions.
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| You cannot use conventional means with a guerrilla you must deny them targets. If you do attack, attack strong and quick at any central point they have. |
- The Lure of the Void. Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia met with a retreating Russian army putting up little resistance and buying time. Cossacks sniped him, retreating Russian troops left behind burned out towns and fields and no food. The initial French force of 450,000 troops was reduced to 100,000 by the time they reached Moscow. The retreat lead to further decimation.
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| Be wary of people that come to your assistance. Other will use this against you, ensure that they do not use you negatively. Look to turn that alliance to your positive. |
- The Perfect Ally. 1467 Charles I, Duke of Burgundy expanded his empire by forming an alliance with Edward IV of England to attack Louis XI of France. But King Louis XI found out about the invasion and formed an alliance with Edward IV removing the threat from the Duke.
- False Alliances. Murray Bowen, a psychiatrist, used his clinical knowledge to resolve a personal family situation. He wrote a series of letters to family members in order to show concern for the person, but exposing a series on gossipy relations that were in the family. In this process he actually created a degree of autonomy for himself which gave him the power to control the situation and facilitate his siblings in creating a healthy family relationship.
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| This approach can raise suspicions and be politically costly; a direct approach will minimize that cost. Use this sparingly. |
- The Art of One-Upmanship . Look for the internal rival, find their weak spot and needle it to make them anxious. Employ others to work the anxiety and make it bigger. Get the rival to over-react and step back and let them do the rest. When they are near the end of their destruction offer help, not to rub in the defeat, but help show your innocence.
- Historical Examples
- John McClernand volunteered as a Brigadier General in the American Civil War. He wanted fame and ascension to the presidency. He tried using his influence with President Abraham Lincoln to try to take over the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi. General Grant, whose department Vicksburg fell under, caught wind of the plans and diverted troops head to McClernand for his own use. This and other actions infuriated McClernand, whom made numerous moves that alienated him from his allies.
- Académie Française was founded in 1635 to maintain the purity of the French language. In 1694 King Louis IV appointed the Bishop of Noyons to the counsel. Although qualified, he was arrogant and offensive. On inauguration day the abbé de Caumartin gave a subtly mocking speech that was seen as such by all but the Bishop. His eventual humiliation led to the Bishop leaving the Académie.
- Tsukahara Bokuden, renowned samurai, was challenged by an ambidextrous young samurai. Bokuden accepted the challenge, but focused challenger's attention on the "unfair" use of his left arm. In the fight, Bokuden attacked his right. Later, in 1605, the swordsman Genzaemon was challenged by Miyamoto Musashi. Musashi showed up late and in non-standard attire, this angered Genzaemon positioning him to make many errant moves.
- Bob Dole of Kansas challenged George H. W. Bush for the 1988 Republican's nomination for President. Lee Atwater, Bush's strategist, knowing of Dole's temper, spread rumors about his wife's, Elizabeth Dole, qualifications as Secretary of Transportation. Doles anger came through in the media severely damaging him.
- Joan Crawford had a continual rivalry with Norma Shearer and Bette Davis. She contrived two methods for steeling their thunder. With Shearer she worked to annoy her on set and got her to expose her nasty demeanor. While with Davis, she stole the spotlight while accepting Anne Bancroft's Oscar for The Miracle Worker.
| When being attacked by this method, stop it decisively. |
- Piecemeal Conquest. Upon the fall of France to the Germans in World War II, Charles de Gaulle received permission from Winston Churchill to broadcast to the Fighting French over the BBC. The broadcast was met with great public support. He continued to expand this small foothold by leading forces in Central Africa, building the French Resistance with Jean Moulin. When FDR's plotted to replace him with Henri Giraud, de Gaulle fought bitterly with Giraud and was able to fill his staff with de Gaulle loyalists.
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| Watch other people's communication for generalities that hide their intents or cliches that distract peoples focus. |
- Visceral Communication. In filming The 39 Steps in 1935, Alfred Hitchcock handcuffed the leads Madeleine Carroll and Robert Donat and then feinted losing the key and left them handcuffed for many hours. The ploy was to make them understand the script they were about to play. Hitchcock furthered his indirect communication by actions contrary to the situation—working his actor's minds.
- The Mastermind. Niccolò Machiavelli worked in Florence's Second Chancery. As Florence went in and out of Medici control between 1494 and 1512 Machiavelli was displaced from his job. In order to stay in touch with the Florentine government he wrote The Prince, on princely rule, and engaged his friend Francesco Vettori to show it to the Medici's. He later wrote Discourses on Livy. These unpublished works were a stepping stone for Machiavelli to return to favor. After his death the manuscripts were published in multiple languages. Eventually his works permeated the minds of many cultures having a greater communication power than Machiavelli could have ever imagined.
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| Look for the saboteur within, but do not be paranoid. Treat your troops fairly and they will police themselves. |
- The Invisible Enemy. Adolf Hitler assigned Wilhelm Canaris to set up the Abwehr (Germany's intelligence group for the General Staff) in late 1933. Hitler was impressed and trusted him for advice. During his tenure he advised against the invasion of the United Kingdom, advised against allying with Francisco Franco of Spain to use the island of Gibraltar to weaken the British and assured Hitler that Italy's Pietro Badoglio was not about to surrender in 1943. Only after the latter did the Germanic-SS determine he was working to subvert Hitler.
- Friendly Takeover. 1929 André Breton, creator of the Surrealist Manifesto, wanted to breathe more life into the surrealistic movement. He felt Salvador Dalí could provide that boost. It did. But Dali's affinity to Hitler and Lenin brought the group to a boil. Dali left for New York where he made a successful career and became synonymous with surrealism.
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| Intimidation is the reversal of the passive-aggressive behavior. Threaten but do not act. |
- The Guilt Weapon. To protest the Salt Tax imposed by the British Raj, Mahatma Gandhi stage a 200 mile march of to the ocean. The Governor-General of India, Lord Edward Irwin, was relieved at the seeming insignificant action Gandhi proposed. Lord Edward Irwin did nothing to stop the march. But the march attracted thousands. Irwin had limited his options since he had not acted early to stop the march and now it would be a big issue. Gandhi had chosen his protest wisely—benign to the British and poignant to the Indians.
- Passive Power. Czar Alexander I wanted to reform the monarchies of Europe. He used the 1820 revolts in Spain and Naples to solicit a meeting of the monarchs to address the issues. Austrian Prince Metternich used this to subtly move the Czar to a position of supporting the "old guard rule" over any form of liberalization.
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| Direct and symmetrical warfare, up-front and honest |
- The Anatomy of Panic. In 1092 death of Nizam al-Mulk was at first felt to be a reprisal for the attempts to suppress the growth of the sect Nizari Ismaili. The Nizari, a group cloaked in secrecy, had developed a new method of revolt where Assassins (derived from Arabic Hashshashin) would emerge from a seemingly calm crowd and kill their target with a dagger. This new form of warfare appeared to be able to manifest itself in an omnipresent form against its opponents.
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The 33 Strategies of Warfare
http://www.wikisummaries.org/The_33_Strategies_of_War
