The 48 Laws Of Power

I12 LAW 15

wouldcrush

you.Ultimately

the

onlypeace

and

securityyou

can

hope

for

from

your

enemiesistheir

disappearance.

Mao

Tse—tung,

adevotedreaderofSun—tzuandofChinese

historygexr

erally,

knewthe

importance

ofthislaw.Ini934theCommunistleaderand

some

75,000

poorlyequipped

soldiersfledintothedesolatemountainsof

westernChinato

escapeChiang

K.ai—shek’smuch

largerarmy,

inwhathas

sincebeencalledthe

Long

March.

Chiang

wasdeterminedto

eliminate

every

last

Communist,

and

by

a

few

years

laterMaohadless

than

10,000

soldiers

left.

By

1937,

in

fact,

whenChinawasinvaded

byjapan,Chiang

calculatedthattheCommu-

nistswereno

longer

athreat.Hechoseto

giveup

thechaseandconceir

trateonthe

Japanese.

Ten

years

later theCommunists hadrecovered

enough

torout

Chia.ng’sarmy.Chiang

had

forgotten

the

ancientwisdomof

crushing

the

enemy;

Mao

hadnot.

Chiang

was

pursued

untilheandhisen-

tire

army

fledtotheislandofTaiwan.

Nothing

remainsofhis

regime

in

mainlandChinatothis

day.

Thewisdombehind

“crushing

the

enemy”

isasancientastheBible:

Itsfirst

practitionermay

have

been

Moses,

wholearned

itfrom

God

Him«

self,

whenHe

parted

theRedSeaforthe

Jews,

thenletthewater{lowback

overthe

pursuingEgyptians

so that“notsomuchasoneofthemre-

mained.”WhenMosesreturnedfromMountSinaiwiththe TenCorn-

mandmentsandfoundhis

peopleworshipping

theGolden

Calf,

hehad

every

last

offender

slaughtered.

And

just

before

he

died,

hetoldhisfollow-

ers,

finally

abouttoenterthePromised

Land,

thatwhen

they

haddefeated

thetribesofCanaan

they

should

“utterlydestroy

them... makeno

covenantwith

them,

andshowno

mercy

tothem.”

The

goal

oftotal

victory

isanaxiomofmodern

warfare,

andwascodi-

fiedas

such

by

Carlvon

Clausewitz,

the

premierphilosopher

ofwar.Ana»

lyzing

the

campaigns

of

Napoleon,

von

Clausewitz

wrote,

“Wedoclaim

thatdirectannihilationofthe

enemy’s

forcesmust

always

bethedominant

consideration....Oncea

majorvictory

isachievedtheremustbenotalkof

rest,

of

breathingspace

.. .but

only

of

the

pursuit,going

for

the

enemy

again, seizing

his

capital, attacking

hisreserves and

anything

elsethat

mightgive

his

country

aidandcomfort.”Thereasonforthisisthatafier

warsome

negotiation

andthedivisionof

territory.

If

you

have

only

wona

partial

victory, you

will

inevitably

losein

negotiation

what

you

have

gainedby

war.

Thesolutionis

simple:

Allow

your

enemiesno

options.

Annihilate

themandtheir

territory

is

yours

tocarve.The

goal

of

power

istocontrol

your

enemies

completely,

tomakethem

obeyyour

will.Youcannotafford

to

gohalfway.

If

they

haveno

options,they

willbeforcedtodo

your

bid-

ding.

Thislawhas

applications

far

beyond

thebattlefield.

Negotiation

isthe

insidious

viper

that

will

eat

away

at

yourvictory,

so

giveyour

enemies

nothing

to

negotiate,

no

hope,

noroomtomaneuver.

They

arecrushed

andthatisthat.

Realizethis:In

yourstruggle

for

poweryou

will

stir

up

rivalriesand