The general and the sovereign: must expertise be free of the ruler's interference, and who then commands?

Sun Tzu, answered from the texts and cited to the page.

The position in brief

Once the general is entrusted with the army, his judgment in the field must not be overruled from the court, for he alone stands where the situation is read. There are commands of the sovereign that must not be obeyed. The ruler who hobbles his army by governing it from afar — advancing or retreating it in ignorance of the conditions — brings defeat upon himself.12

Sources

  1. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege. 6. Therefore the skilful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field. 7. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete.
    The Art of War
  2. If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler's bidding. [Cf. VIII. 3 fin.
    The Art of War

Where the argument is made

  • The Art of War, ch. III and ch. VIII: "there are commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed"
  • the three ways a ruler brings misfortune on his army by meddling in what he does not understand
  • the general's virtues and his responsibility for the army and the state

How the argument was received

Contested as elevating military expertise above political authority, and as unsettling the sovereign's control of the instrument of the state.