A review of the book 'On War' (originally in German as 'Vom Kriege') written by Carl von Clausewitz which has been edited, translated and introduced by Michael Howard and Peter Paret with a commentary by Bernard Brodie.
Carl von Clausewitz's On War is the most substantial pursuit in Western history to understand war, both in its internal dynamics and as an instrument of policy. Since the title's first existence in 1832, it has been read throughout the world, and has enlivened generations of soldiers, intellectuals and political leaders. This book is one of the most important treatises on political-military analysis and strategy ever written, and remains both controversial and an influence on strategic thinking.
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Coming up: A review of the book 'On War' written by Carl von Clausewitz.
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
Before I proceed, a full disclosure: This book was bought with my own money and not been provided to me by the publisher.
Little bit about the author:
Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831) was a Prussian military officer and theorist, best known for his influential work On War (Vom Kriege), which explores the complexities and dynamics of war, strategy, and military theory. Born in Prussia, Clausewitz served in the Napoleonic Wars and later became a professor at the Prussian War Academy.
This book has been edited, translated and introduced by Michael Howard and Peter Paret with a commentary by Bernard Brodie.
About the editors:
Peter Paret (1924-2020) held academic appointments at the University of California and Stanford University before becoming Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, in 1986 (Professor Emeritus, 1997). His publications include Clausewitz and the State and Art as History: Episodes in the Culture and Politics of Nineteenth-Century Germany.
Sir Michael Howard (1922-2019) was Professor of War Studies at King’s College, London, before moving to Oxford, where in 1980 he was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History. Between 1989 and 1993 he was Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale. His published works include The Franco-Prussian War, War and the Liberal Conscience and Strategic Deception.
About the commentator:
Bernard Brodie (1910-78) was Professor of Political Science and International Relations at UCLA, and author of The Absolute Weapon: Atomic Power and World Order.
Let me read a brief description of the book:
QUOTE
War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means. On War was written by Carl Von Clausewitz, mostly after the Napoleonic wars, between 1816 and 1830, and published posthumously in 1832 by his wife Marie von Brühl. Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier, a military theorist and a military historian. He is known for his military memoir Vom Kriege, translated into English as On War. Carl von Clausewitz's On War is the most substantial pursuit in Western history to understand war, both in its internal dynamics and as an instrument of policy. Since the title's first existence in 1832, it has been read throughout the world, and has enlivened generations of soldiers, intellectuals and political leaders. This book is one of the most important treatises on political-military analysis and strategy ever written, and remains both controversial and an influence on strategic thinking.
UNQUOTE
This mammoth, almost 800 pages book, shows the author's insights into the nature of war which remains deeply relevant, offering both timeless wisdom and a complex, nuanced view of conflict.
I would like to mention a few extracts of the many that I found very interesting:
1. To a friend who had sent him the problem for comment, Clausewitz replied that it was not possible to draft a sensible plan of operations without indicating the political condition of the states involved, and their relationship to each other: ‘War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means. Consequently, the main lines of every major strategic plan are largely political in nature, and their political character increases the more the plan applies to the entire campaign and to the whole state. A war plan results directly from the political conditions of the two warring states, as well as from their relations to third powers. A plan of campaign results from the war plan, and frequently ─ if there is only one theater of operations ─ may even be identical with it. But the political element even enters the separate components of a campaign; rarely will it be without influence on such major episodes of warfare as a battle, etc. According to this point of view, there can be no question of a purely military evaluation of a great strategic issue, nor of a purely military scheme to solve it.’
2. The commander of the United States forces in the Far East, General Douglas MacArthur, was a firm believer in the creed which had animated European military thinkers in 1914, and he set out in terms reminiscent of Moltke himself:
QUOTE
A theater commander (he informed the Senate after his dismissal) is not merely limited to the handling of his troops; he commands the whole area, politically, economically, and militarily. At that stage of the game when politics fails and the military takes over, you must trust the military…. I do unquestionably state that when men become locked in battle, that there should be no artifice under the name of politics which should handicap your own men, decrease their chances for winning, and increase their losses.
UNQUOTE
3. The ultimate outcome of a war is not always to be regarded as final. The defeated state often considers the outcome merely as a transitory evil, for which a remedy may still be found in political conditions at some later date. It is obvious how this, too, can slacken tension and reduce the vigour of the effort.
4. A general who allows himself to be decisively defeated in an extended mountain position deserves to be court-martialled.
5. A government that after having lost a major battle, is only interested in letting its people go back to sleep in peace as soon as possible, and, overwhelmed by feelings of failure and disappointment, lacks the courage and desire to put forth a final effort, is, because of its weakness, involved in a major inconsistency in any case. It shows that it did not deserve to win, and, possibly for that very reason was unable to.
We find ourselves with at least two reasons why Clausewitz continues to be worth the most careful study: first, he was striving always, with a success that derived from his great gifts as well his intense capacity for work, to get to the fundamentals of each issue he examined, beginning with the fundamental nature of war itself; and second, he is virtually alone in his accomplishment. His is not simply the greatest but the only truly great book on war. Where various other writers on that subject seek to be analytical rather than simply historical, they may be highly respectable in their achievements but as compared with Clausewitz the invariable conclusion has to be that they do not come close.
Conclusion:
“On War”, though not easy to read, is not just a military manual; it’s a work of philosophy about the violent, complex, and often tragic nature of human conflict. It is profoundly rewarding for those interested in military strategy, history, or political science even after almost 200 years since being published for the first time. It's an enduring testament to Clausewitz's intellectual rigor and foresight.
I give this book 4.75/5.
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