Warfare as a Psychological Contest Sun Tzu understood that warfare is fundamentally a psychological contest. Physical battles are surface manifestations of deeper psychological warfare. Victory comes from breaking the enemy’s will before breaking their army. A defeated army can recover with time and resources. A broken will rarely recovers. Understanding the psychological dimensions of conflict enables winning battles in the opponent’s mind before they are fought on the ground. Every conflict has psychological and material dimensions. The material dimension is resources, capabilities, and positions. The psychological dimension is perceptions, beliefs, emotions, and will. Most combatants focus on the material dimension...