The 33 Strategies of War

by Robert Greene

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. In a group in which people have truly bonded, moods and emotions are so contagious that it becomes easy to infect your troops with enthusiasm. Lead from the front: let your soldiers see you in the trenches, making sacrifices for the cause. That will fill them with the desire to emulate and please you. Make both rewards and punishments rare but meaningful. Remember: a motivated army can work wonders, making up for any lack of material resources.

the way to get soldiers to work together and maintain morale is to make them feel part of a group that is fighting for a worthy cause.

Morale is contagious:

Step 1: Unite your troops around a cause. Make them fight for an idea.

The cause can be anything you wish, but you should represent it as progressive: it fits the times, it is on the side of the future, so it is destined to succeed. If necessary, you can give it a veneer of spirituality. It

Step 2: Keep their bellies full.

paternalistic feeling that they are being taken care of, that you are thinking of their comfort, is more important.

Step 3: Lead from the front.

Step 4: Concentrate their ch’i.

Idleness has a terrible effect on ch’i. When soldiers are not working, their spirits lower.

keep your soldiers busy,

Step 5: Play to their emotions.

An emotional appeal needs a setup: lower their defenses, and make them bond as a group, by putting on a show, entertaining them, telling a story.

Step 6: Mix harshness and kindness.

Make your kindness rare and even an occasional warm comment or generous act will be powerfully meaningful. Anger and punishment should be equally rare; instead your harshness should take the form of setting very high standards that few can reach.

Make your soldiers compete to please you.

Step 7: Build the group myth.

Step 8: Be ruthless with grumblers.

Recognize them, cultivate their goodwill, and set them up as examples.

willpower is tied to what you believe possible; expand that belief and you try harder.

If morale is contagious, so is its opposite: fear and discontent can spread through your troops like wildfire. The only way to deal with them is to cut them off before they turn into panic and rebellion.

Appeal to their pride and dignity, make them feel ashamed of their moment of weakness and madness.

To fight in a defensive manner is not a sign of weakness; it is the height of strategic wisdom, a powerful style of waging war.

First, you must make the most of your resources, fighting with perfect economy and engaging only in battles that are necessary. Second, you must know how and when to retreat, luring an aggressive enemy into an imprudent attack. Then, waiting patiently for his moment of exhaustion, launch a vicious counterattack.

By seeming weaker than you are, you can draw the enemy into an ill-advised attack; by seeming stronger than you are—perhaps through an occasional act that is reckless and bold—you

We all have limitations—our energies and skills will take us only so far. Danger comes from trying to surpass our limits. Seduced by some glittering prize into overextending ourselves, we end up exhausted and vulnerable. 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. If battle cannot be avoided, get them to fight on your terms. Aim at their weaknesses; make the war expensive for them and cheap for you. Fighting with perfect economy, you can outlast even the most powerful foe.

the more you want the prize, the more you must compensate by examining what getting it will take.

attack their weaknesses with your strengths.

no person or group is completely either weak or strong. Every army, no matter how invincible it seems, has a weak point, a place left unprotected or undeveloped.

you must first assess their weak points:

Having their weaknesses exposed and preyed upon will demoralize them, and, as they tire, new weaknesses will open up.

The problem faced by those of us who live in societies of abundance is that we lose a sense of limit.

Abundance makes us rich in dreams, for in dreams there are no limits. But it makes us poor in reality. It makes us soft and decadent, bored with what we have and in need of constant shocks to remind us that we are alive.

warriors find it in reality, in awareness of limits, in making the most of what they have.

Warriors focus on what they do have, the strengths that they do possess and that they must use creatively.

Armies that seem to have the edge in money, resources, and firepower tend to be predictable.

But it’s not what you have that brings you victory, it’s how you use it.

Even if you are wealthy, act poor. The poor are more inventive, and often have more fun, because they value what they have and know their limits.

The next time you launch a campaign, try an experiment: do not think about either your solid goals or your wishful dreams, and do not plan out your strategy on paper. Instead think deeply about what you have—the tools and materials you will be working with. Ground yourself not in dreams and plans but in reality: think of your own skills, any political advantage you might have, the morale of your troops, how creatively you can use the means at your disposal. Then, out of that process, let your plans and goals blossom. Not only will your strategies be more realistic, they will be more inventive and forceful. Dreaming first of what you want and then trying to find the means to reach it is a recipe for exhaustion, waste, and defeat.

Perfect economy means finding a golden mean, a level at which your blows count but do not wear you out.

First is the use of deception,

Deception can be a great equalizer for the weaker side. Its arts include the gathering of intelligence, the spreading of misinformation, and the use of propaganda to make the war more unpopular within the enemy camp.

look for opponents you can beat.

Easy victories enhance morale, develop your reputation, give you momentum, and, most important, do not cost you much.

Think of it as finding your level—a perfect balance between what you are capable of and the task at hand. When the job you are doing is neither above nor below your talents but at your level, you are neither exhausted nor bored and depressed.

knowing your limits will expand your limits;

Authority: The value of a thing sometimes lies not in what one attains with it but in what one pays for it—what it costs us. —Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

A frustrated opponent exhausting energy on punches he cannot land will soon make mistakes and open himself up to a vicious counterattack.

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. Learn to use their impatience, their eagerness to get at you, as a way to throw them off balance and bring them down. In difficult moments do not despair or retreat: any situation can be turned around. If you learn how to hold back, waiting for the right moment to launch an unexpected counterattack, weakness can become strength.

when an attacking army suddenly has to go on the defensive, its spirit crumbles.