Self Defense Tip #43
Think Like a Commander—Know Your Enemy's Weapons

by Thomas Kurz, co-author of Basic Instincts of Self-Defense and author of Stretching Scientifically, Secrets of Stretching, and Science of Sports Training.

To read the previous installment click here.

Another lesson from an old battle.... In the initial clash in the battle for Vienna (1683), a few well-trained German musket regiments were cut nearly by half by lightly armed Tatars. As Jan Pasek relates: Their fiery muskets and even great artillery guns were for naught.

Why? Because the German musketeer infantry had no experience with Tatar tactics, but the Tatars were thoroughly familiar with both the musketeer infantry and dragoons (mounted musketeers). The Tatars were masters of horse, bow, and sabre, but they also knew the range of the musket, the reload times, and the musketeer tactics, so in this contest of bullets against bows and blades, the bows and blades won.

The Lesson

• It is not the more advanced technology, even if supported by state-of-the-art tactics, that wins, but the superior knowledge of both the enemy's weapons and of one's own.

• The winner is not the one who has a better weapon, but the one who uses his weapon better.

• Seemingly superior opponents can be defeated if one acts decisively, with well-earned confidence in one's skill and knowledge of the enemy.

• Decisiveness comes from confidence. Confidence comes from practice.

How does this lesson apply to self-defense in current times? Well, it most obviously applies to gun-versus-knife fights (see self-defense tips number 11 and number 27), and an intelligent reader sees the implications for both sides of such a conflict. Other than that, the lesson applies to any type of weapon, including unarmed fighting. Here is how: Far away and long ago, a group of accomplished combat-sport coaches were asked this question: Who would win a match between fighters from different combat sports? Would it be a boxer, a judoka, a karateka, a wrestler? The coaches gave an insightful answer: The winner will be the fighter who first applies his technique successfully..

Now, to do that, the fighter better be familiar with the opponent's techniques and tactics—just as the Tatars were familiar with the musket regiment's weapons and tactics.

Conclusion

Master your weapons, and know your enemy's weapons

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.—Sun Tzu

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