How to Study the Art of War

The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu in sixth-century China, has long been regarded as the definitive work on military tactics. With 13 chapters each dedicated to one aspect of warfare, it has influenced Napoleon, General Douglas MacArthur and even the planners of Desert Storm. But war produces other art, as intrinsically tied to the battlefield as schematics and ballistics. Whether soldier or civilian, you can learn a lot about war and those who have fought it by studying the art they left behind.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Library access
• Museum access

1. Read the poetry. Many poets served in the early wars, so many in fact that war poetry became a genre during World War I and II. While other poets wrote about valor and bravery, the soldier poets wrote about disillusionment and faithlessness. Poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and John McRae survived to write about their experiences, but other poets, including Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke and Charles Sorley died in the trenches. Their poems have lived on, however, and remain testaments to the horrors, but also the delicate humanity, of warfare.
2. Read the memoirs. While poetry was the popular medium of the early twentieth century soldiers, the autobiography has been favored by the new generation. Since World War II, soldiers have chosen to recount their military experiences detail by bloody detail. "We Were Soldiers Once…And Young," "Black Hawk Down" and "Band of Brothers" offer such insights into the role of the modern soldier that the United States Marine Corps has included these titles on its Official Reading List.
3. Watch the movies. While the words of the soldiers themselves are touching, those words brought to life can be downright unnerving. War movies, while not directly born on the battlefield, do embody the emotions of war. For those who will never serve in the military, movies are the closest they will ever be to the trenches, a source of intensity, empathy and camaraderie.
4. Study the paintings. From Roman conquests to World War II, artists have painted the images of the wars they have witnessed. Many of these paintings hang in art galleries around the world, mingling with portraits and landscapes. However, while Lady Butler’s "Scotland for Ever" depicts a valiant charge, John Singer Sargent’s "Gassed" portrays a completely different side of war. Paintings, like poems and memoirs, are rarely objective, and are as much colored by the artist’s attitudes as they are by the scenes they immortalize.
5. Study the photography. Eternally tied to journalism, war photographs have existed since the invention of the camera. T. H. O’Sullivan’s “A Harvest of Death” remains the quintessential image of the American Civil War, showing the fields of Gettysburg littered with bodies, both Union and Confederate. War photography has fallen prey to censorship throughout history; for example, only official military photographers were allowed on the British front lines during World War I, limiting the amount of pictures that reached the public. However, modern military operations are documented by the minute, and the photographs that have survived Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq are brutal in their honesty.
6. Appreciate propaganda. Whether used to promote a war or oppose a war, propaganda has earned a place of importance in art history. Some films humanized Hitler while others portrayed him as a monster; some illustrations idealized war while others uncovered the hidden atrocities. Propaganda increased enlistment, raised awareness of civilian waste and boosted the morale of entire nations, but it also fueled rebellion and protest. Regardless, propaganda will always remain art long after its initial intentions fade.

Tips & Warnings

• Always research an artist’s past. Sometimes art, while not explicitly about battle, has a foundation in war. Many artists and authors were soldiers once but chose not to write about their experiences. However, they are often unable to escape what they saw and what they did and their works are tinged with loss.
• While art can humanize soldiers, it can also romanticize war. Many young men and women have been driven to enlist based on stories of glory and heroism; however, when they step on the battlefield, they realize war is a frightening machine.