Sun Tzu's The Art of War
'All warfare is based on deception': the oldest book on strategy
The 13-chapter treatise is attributed to Sun Tzu, a general of the state of Wu; most scholars think the text took shape in the 5th–4th centuries BC. Its core idea is that the best victory is won without battle, through cunning and knowing the enemy. Translated into French in 1772, it is still studied by soldiers and executives.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 5th century BC
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- c. 509 BC Founding of the Roman Republic — 9 years earlier
- 508 BC Cleisthenes' reforms and the birth of democracy — 8 years earlier
- 490 BC Battle of Marathon — 10 years later
- 480 BC Battle of Thermopylae — 20 years later
- 480 BC Battle of Salamis — 20 years later
Middle East
- c. 520 BC The Behistun inscription — 20 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Pythagoras (aged 70)
- Gautama Buddha (aged 63)
- Confucius (aged 51)
- Darius the Great (aged 50)
- Sun Tzu (aged 44)
- Leonidas I (aged 40)
- Xerxes I (aged 18)
- Heraclitus (aged 35)
- Themistocles (aged 24)