Fear of Battle

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

3.0

Word count: 263 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

As recorded in the ancient Chinese military classic Hundred Battles and Hundred Stratagems, "Fear of Battle" addresses how to handle troops who dread the enemy and flinch from combat. It holds that soldiers who shrink back in battle or desert before fighting must be dealt with by executing the worst offenders, so that one execution serves as a warning to many. But when fear of the enemy pervades the entire army, the problem cannot be solved by killing alone. It points out that in such circumstances only the commander's proper ideological education can steady the troops and strengthen their fighting spirit. Experience in war shows that, on the eve of battle, executing the most culpable of the cowardly and the despicable deserters who gravely undermine morale is essential to maintaining battlefield discipline and ensuring operations proceed. Yet this must be applied accurately and with restraint; killing must not be unleashed at will, lest it damage the army's prestige and morale. Fundamentally, the courage to face bloodshed and death is cultivated through the commander's strict peacetime training, and earnest, practical ideological education of the troops is the key to consolidating and raising morale. By proposing how to handle fear of battle, this chapter stresses the necessity of enforcing battlefield discipline and the importance of ideological education, and the complementary relationship between the two—surely a valuable idea in the ancient art of governing and employing troops.

Editor's review

Though only one chapter of Hundred Battles and Hundred Stratagems, "Fear of Battle" touches on one of the thorniest problems in ancient military governance: how to deal with troops who fear the enemy and flinch at the moment of battle. Its value lies in not stopping at the simple logic of "executing one to warn a hundred," but in distinguishing individual deserters from army-wide fear. The former, it argues, may be executed in the worst cases to uphold battlefield discipline; the latter must be steadied and inspired through the commander's ideological education. Courage, the text stresses, comes from strict peacetime training, and ideological education is the key to consolidating morale—an approach in which discipline and education reinforce each other. This standalone edition from Bashu Publishing House is concise and well suited as an entry point to ancient military thought, and easy to read alongside classics such as The Art of War. Readers should understand it in the context of ancient military institutions and penal practices, and avoid simple analogies with modern management ideas.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Beginning readers interested in ancient Chinese military thought
Scholars studying ancient military governance, discipline, and ideological education
Learners seeking short classical Chinese texts for close reading
Readers who like to apply military principles to thinking about organizational management

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking to read Hundred Battles and Hundred Stratagems in full
Readers who prefer modern military theory or case studies of military history
General readers with no interest in classical Chinese or military ethics

Reading tips

Read the original text once through, then go sentence by sentence with the notes to grasp key terms and the penal context.
Read it alongside other chapters of Hundred Battles and Hundred Stratagems to observe the overall thread of military governance thought.
After reading, try restating in your own words the distinction between handling individuals and educating the whole army.
Consult additional materials on ancient military law to deepen your understanding of how strictly battlefield discipline should be enforced.

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.

版权信息
畏战

FAQ

What is the main subject of this chapter, "Fear of Battle"?

It mainly discusses how to handle troops who fear the enemy and flinch at the moment of battle. It distinguishes between individual serious deserters and army-wide fear: the former may be executed in the worst cases as a warning, while the latter cannot be solved by killing alone and requires the commander to provide proper ideological education to steady the troops and strengthen their fighting spirit.

Why does the text stress that killing must not be unleashed at will?

Because when fear pervades the whole army, relying on killing alone damages the army's prestige and morale and worsens instability. The text advocates accurate and restrained punishment—using it only against the worst offenders who gravely undermine morale—while cultivating courage fundamentally through education and training.

What background is needed to read this chapter?

Basic reading ability in classical Chinese is enough, as the text is short. Familiarity with ancient military law, penal systems, and the background of Hundred Battles and Hundred Stratagems will make it smoother; beginners can first read through with the help of notes and translation.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.