33 strategies of war.

I have just completed reading the book 33 strategies of war by Robert Greene and wanted to reccomend it here to any interested in this type of book. I thought it was a great source of information, though boring at times. Full of history to support his theory the reader sometimes gets bogged down in that alone losing track of the point that the historic story was ment to illustrate.

Overall a good (and long) read. Below are points and strategies covered in the book.



Self-Directed Warfare
1 - Declare war on your enemies: The polarity strategy
2 - Do not fight the last war: The guerilla-war-of-the-mind strategy
3 - Amidst the turmoil of events, do not lose your presence of mind:
The counterbalance strategy
4 - Create a sense of urgency and desperation: The death-ground
strategy

Organizational (Team) Warfare
5 - Avoid the snares of groupthink: The command-and-control
strategy
6 - Segment your forces: The controlled-chaos strategy
7 - Transform your war into a crusade: Morale strategies

Defensive Warfare
8 - Pick your battles carefully: The perfect-economy strategy
9 - Turn the tables: The counterattack strategy
10 - Create a threatening presence: Deterrence strategies
11 - Trade space for time: The nonengagement strategy

Offensive Warfare
12 - Lose battles but win the war: Grand strategy
13 - Know your enemy: The intelligence strategy
14 - Overwhelm resistance with speed and suddenness: The blitzkrieg strategy
15 - Control the dynamic: Forcing strategies
16 - Hit them where it hurts: The center-of-gravity strategy
17 - Defeat them in detail: The divide-and-Conquer strategy
18 - Expose and attack your opponent's soft flank: The turning strategy
19 - Envelop the enemy: The annihilation strategy
20 - Maneuver them into weakness: The ripening-for-the-sickle strategy
21 - Negotiate while advancing: The diplomatic-war strategy
22 - Know how to end things: The exit strategy

Unconventional (Dirty) Warfare
23 - Weave a seamless blend of fact and fiction: Misperception strategies
24 - Take the line of least expectation: The ordinary-extraordinary strategy
25 - Occupy the moral high ground: The righteous strategy
26 - Deny them targets: The strategy of the void
27- Seem to work for the interests of others while furthering your own: The alliance
strategy
28- Give your rivals enough rope to hang themselves: The one-upmanship strategy
29 - Take small bites: The fait accompli strategy
30 - Penetrate their minds: Communication strategies
31 - Destroy from within: The inner-front strategy
32 - Dominate while seeming to submit: The passive-aggression strategy
33 - Sow uncertainty and panic through acts of terror: The chain-reaction strategy

It would be nice if you could give us a short synopsis on some of these tactics: how they are employed, expected responses, eventual outcomes, maybe even some illustrative examples. I would especially be interested in the UW strategies as I think this is most current and on-going at this time. Thank you.

reply to post by Alethea


I was working on that and I will add latter and also give some experiences of my own as it relates to the book

Originally posted by alyosha1981
reply to post by Alethea

 

I was working on that and I will add latter and also give some experiences of my own as it relates to the book

I shall be looking forward to keeping up with this thread.
I have found many biblical scriptures that reveal battle strategies and tactics as well. So this is of interest to me.

Disclaimer: I'm a theist but not of the Abrahamic faiths. I have minor biblical scholar and scriptural skills. Also I am not a scientific/legal or medical expert in any field. Beware of my Contagious Memes! & watch out that you don't get cut on my Occams razor.All of this is my personal conjecture and should not be considered the absolute or most definitive state of things as they really are. Use this information at your own risk! I accept no liability if your ideology comes crashing down around you with accompanying consequences.

Explanation: S&F!

Personal Disclosure: I only employ 3 strategies....

1] Kill the enemy and REPLACE them! [nature abhores a vaccume ]
2] Carrot and the Stick! Force the enemy thru incentives and punishments to do thy bidding!
3] Wait for the best time and place to bring into effect either No#1 or No#2!

P.S. None of the above ways to deal with ANYTHING comes from a victim mentality or a victimised attitude! Basically state to existence that you have ALREADY WON and you are just convincing it that THIS IS SO! If your destroyed in the process then not to mind as its survival of the fittest and obviously if this occurs then your enemy was more fit and more deserving therefor of occupying existence! Survival of the fittest trumps any survival of the self! As far as the universe is concerned MIGHT IS RIGHT!

Disclaimer: As above!

Explanation: The 3 tactics I employ are as follows...

1] I start out using stratagy No#2 and I be quite generous with incentives and the punishments lead directly to me using strategy No#1.
If they capitulate then my MEME has KILLED their MEME and the enemy no longer exists. so my A PRIORI of war is "I'm going to kill you!"
2] If the incentives are not enough to convince the enemy to capitulate then I immediately imploy strategy No#1 but with a slight twist....I'm NOT just going to kill them and replace them! This should strike terror into their hearts as it means I've stopped being a "nice guy" and will deal with them in a totally ambiguous , cruel and unusual way! so my 2nd A PRIORI of war is "So you won't die...cool because now I'm NOT just going to kill you!"
3] If there are no more current enemies then I default to using the 3rd strategy of waiting for them to manifest as nature abhores a vaccume and will always provide a new target to be OVER RULED by me at some point in the future! My War is never ending as existence is most likely infinite and that will always mean I have something to kill.

Personal Disclosure: Draw a line in the sand and defend it to the death vs all comers! Who is in charge? You or them? War is all about POWER OVER! If your not in charge then you have ALREADY LOST!

Edited to add a prime example of these tactics and strategies being employed.....RE: GOLDFINGER! As Bond lies strapped to a table and the laser cutter is turned on he questions Goldfinger with "Do you expect me to talk?" and Goldfinger scoffs at Bond with "NO! I expect you to die!"!

[edit on 11-10-2009 by OmegaLogos]

The Robert Greene books always makes me fall asleep;

Paladin press has alot of good books you should check out

From the 33 strategies, it feels too much like The Art of War to me with some minor modifications here and there.