An act of policy to use violence to impose one’s will upon another.
Duel or act of human interaction directed against an animate object that reacts.
Uncertainty of information acts as an impediment to vigorous activity.
Psychological/moral forces and effects (danger, intelligence, emotional factors, …) either impede or stimulate activity.
Friction (interaction of many factors, including those above) impedes activity.
Genius (harmonious balance of mind/temperament that permit one to overcome friction and excel at the complex activity of war) changes the nature and magnifies the scope of operations.
Strategy
Exhaust enemy by influencing him to increase his expenditure of effort.
Seek out those centers of gravity upon which all power/movement depend and, if possible, trace them back to a single one.
Compress all effort, against those centers, into the fewest possible actions.
Subordinate all minor, or secondary, actions as much as possible.
Move with the utmost speed.
Seek the major battle (with superiority of number and conditions) that will promise a decisive victory.
Aim
“Render enemy powerless”—with emphasis on “the destruction of his armed forces.”