Quote from "Arthashastra"

To begin with, I'd like to quote a translated passage from "Arthashastra" authored by Chanakya (a.k.a Kautilya), no later than 150 BCE. This book's title (like Sun Tzu's "Art of War") is best translated as Chanakya's "Science of Governance".

The would-be conqueror shall judge the relative strengths and weaknesses of the following aspects [of waging a war], as applicable to him and to his enemy, before starting on a military expedition:

• power;
• the place [of operations];
• the season for marching [toward the battle ground];
• when to mobilise different types of forces;
• the possibility of revolts and rebellions in the rear;
• the likely losses and expenses and gains and
• the likely dangers.

If [on balance, after giving due weight to the different factors], the conqueror is superior, the campaign shall be undertaken, otherwise not.

Shloka 9.1.1

The above translation is from a brilliant piece of work by L.N.Rangarajan [ISBN 0-14-044603-6], former Indian Ambassador to Greece, Sudan, Tunisia, Norway and Iceland. The book goes on to explain each of the issues in particular. It even goes further to describe "Open War", "Secret War" and "Undeclared War" and means to address them. In this sense, it is a definite predecessor to modern military academic text.