Sun Tzu's work has been around for 2,500 years, but Sun Tzu's text has had a complicated history in China. A complete Chinese language version of the text wasn't available until the 1970s.
A Jesuit missionary, Father Amiot, first brought a version of The Art of War to the West in 1782. This first translation, which became associated with Napoleon's success, redefined our ideas of military strategy.