The Art of War is divided into 13 Chapters of varying length. Chapter headings and quotations listed here are based on the Giles/Clavell edition.
Chapter 1. Laying Plans - This identifies five factors which govern the conduct of warfare: Moral Law (relationship of the government and the populace), Heaven (weather and environment), Earth (ground and terrain), The Commander (the character of the general in charge), and Method (the army infrastructure and level of discipline). One of the most widely-quoted sentences in this chapter: All warfare is based on deception.
Chapter 2. On Waging War - This chapter places a strong emphasis on logistics, and the need for thorough planning in this area. This chapter also advocates plundering enemy resources in order to sustain one's own troops.
Chapter 3. The Sheathed Sword - 'The Sheathed Sword' opens with another well-known quote: Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. This chapter contains some of the best known quotations from Sun-Tzu's text:
* He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
* If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Sun-Tzu here outlines the roles of both the army commander and his sovereign: the sovereign must not interfere with the conduct of warfare, and the commander must be skilled and knowledgeable about his assets, his adversaries and his circumstances.
Chapter 4. Tactics - This chapter emphasises the need for secrecy when planning both offensive and defensive operations.
Chapter 5. Energy - 'Energy' discusses the disposition and placement of troops for movements and manoeuvres, the purpose of which is to get the enemy to respond in ways of one's own choosing.
Chapter 6. Weak Points and Strong - This chapter highlights the principles of exploiting the enemy's weak points, while forcing the enemy to attack strong ones. The chapter also emphasises secrecy in manoeuvring troops, to keep the enemy confused.
Chapter 7. Manoeuvring - A chapter that discusses troop coordination and the need to understand terrain. In this chapter, Sun-Tzu advises against driving the foe to desperation: desperate people can upset the best-laid plans by throwing all caution to the winds.
Chapter 8. Variation of Tactics - This chapter cautions against conventional reactions to unfavourable circumstances. It also advises preparing for the enemy based on one's own advantage, rather than predicting what the enemy will do.
Chapter 9. The Army on the March - This contains general information about movement and encamping on various types of terrain. It also points out various details to look for when trying to identify enemy movements.
Chapter 10. Terrain - 'Terrain' describes the environments in which a general can find battle. It also discusses problems in army discipline which the general is responsible for, and which can cause an army to lose a battle.
Chapter 11. The Nine Situations (also known as The Nine Types of Ground) - This chapter describes situations corresponding to the stages of a battle campaign:
* Dispersive ground - fighting in one's own territory
* Facile ground - shallow penetration into hostile territory
* Contentious ground - of great advantage to either side
* Open ground - both sides can move freely
* Ground of intersecting highways - natural junctions or roads to three or more areas of interest
* Serious ground - deep into enemy territory, cities in rear are captured and fortified
* Difficult ground - natural terrain that is difficult to cross (i.e. forests, swamps)
* Hemmed-in ground - narrow gorges, requiring army to break up into smaller units to cross
* Desperate ground - the only way to escape is to fight and win
The chapter gives advice on how to exploit each situation, and highlights the need for proper management to take advantage of each situation.
Chapter 12. Attack by Fire - This describes the use of an unconventional technique of warfare. The modern application would be any unconventional tactic or stratagem; again, Sun-Tzu emphasises the need for careful planning when employing such a move.
Chapter 13. The Use of Spies - This chapter devotes a great deal of attention to the value of foreknowledge of the enemy. This is one of the rare passages that Sun-Tzu highlights: 'To remain in ignorance of the enemy's condition, simply because one grudges the outlay of [money], is the height of inhumanity.' The chapter describes the establishment, structure and proper use of an intelligence network, including military scouts and what we know today as 'double agents'. Sun-Tzu's emphasis on the value of espionage is certainly a factor in the establishment, by the Japanese, of the Shinobi or ninja class of spies and assassins.
Courtesy of the BBC review (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1124722)
Obviously each chapter is in much greater detail. I said 16 terrains, but I stand corrected and it looks like its 9 grounds. In the book some are broken down further, so it might be considered more than nine situations. The main idea though it that it allows a fuzzy logic system of terrain definition.
