Sun Tzu, or Sunzi (544 BC–496 BC), was a Chinese philosopher and general, a native of Wu, as well as the author of one of the most important treatises on military strategy of all time, which would influence warfare throughout the world for centuries. "War is the Tao of Deception," Sun Tzu often repeated in his war treatise.

The Art of War (in Ancient Chinese: Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ, 孫子兵法) is not a literary work, but rather a true military manual containing rules for conducting a victorious war. Even before standing armies, professional soldiers, and great strategists and generals who skillfully moved thousands of soldiers, Sunzi wrote a text so functional that it was taken as an example by kings, emperors, and generals of eras completely different from the one in which he wrote (5th century BC). The treatise overturns the concept of brute force in battle, making ingenuity the key to victory. According to Tzu, the winner will be he who knows how to plan so that, when he enters the field, he obtains the maximum profit in the shortest possible time, preferably without fighting or with minimal losses. Planning, studying the opponent, the battlefield, and any unforeseen events were fundamental requirements for every good general who wanted to defeat the enemy, even when outnumbered, while losing as few men as possible. Fundamental, in this sense, is the use of cunning rather than strength: qualities that, according to Tzu Sun, only minds endowed with great wisdom (and not just brawn and skill with weapons) could possess. The great strategist, even if not necessarily a skilled warrior, could move his men in a way that was more effective for final victory than mere violence on the muddy battlefields. Tzu, in fact, said that "fighting and winning a hundred battles is not proof of supreme excellence: supreme skill consists in breaking the enemy's resistance (will) without fighting" and that "the skill of the commander consists in breaking the enemy's forces without any fighting, in seizing cities without attacking them, in conquering the enemy's state without protracted military operations."

As proof of its extraordinary relevance, the United States Army has included The Art of War among the works that must be present in the libraries of individual units, for the ongoing training of soldiers and the men under their command.