Humanities

What is ploy? »Its definition and meaning

Anonim

The stratagem is a kind of clever and cunning maneuver, which acts through deception or surprise to achieve a goal, this type of action is very common in war situations. In this sense, the stratagem refers to military operations, used to deceive or confuse the enemy, to put him at a disadvantage.

There are no established rules for stratagems, since they can be modified depending on the situation, the facts and opportunities that arise, as well as the intelligence of whoever conceives them.

In ancient Greece, the generals were called strategos, since they were responsible for the military corps and therefore, they had to plan war actions as efficiently as possible.

Certain scholars of history and connoisseurs of military terms, consider that the stratagem is the ability to use force. And where this should have several elements: the number of existing men on opposing sides, the weapons available, the field of battle, prepare the rear and the front, food supply, etc. in short, all those elements that participate directly or indirectly in a military conflict.

While it is true that this term is very common in the military context, the application of this word can also be observed in the political and business sphere. In politics, each party has its own stratagems either to achieve victory or to weaken the adversary. The same happens in the business world, where each company must compete with others, for this it needs to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.

One of the most famous stratagems in Greek literature was that of the Trojan horse. The story tells of how the Greeks cunningly deceived the Trojans by giving them an immense wooden horse, which was accepted by the Trojans as a symbol of their victory. however, within it the Greek warriors were hidden. As night fell, these warriors got out of the horse and opened the gates of Troy, which meant the defeat of her.