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The only problem with On War is that a lot of what you can gain from it is lost without guidance. It's best read in conjunction with a guide written by an academic or a curse (in school or online). On War can get dense and lots of the details can be misinterpreted.
Read Clausewitz. Read On War. Everything and anything Clausewitz ever wrote, and make sure to read it more than once. If you don’t get it or think it’s turgid and boring, try and speak to those who don’t and ask for clarity and insights. No soldier or officer was worse at his job for having engaged with Clausewitz. William F. Owen
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- Introduction. WE propose to consider first the single elements of our subject, then each branch or part, and, last of all, the whole, in all its relations—therefore to advance from the simple to the complex.
- Definition. We shall not enter into any of the abstruse definitions of war used by publicists. We shall keep to the element of the thing itself, to a duel.
- Utmost use of force. Now, philanthropists may easily imagine there is a skilful method of disarming and overcoming an enemy without causing great bloodshed, and that this is the proper tendency of the art of War.
- The aim is to disarm the enemy. We have already said that the aim of the action in war is to disarm the enemy, and we shall now show that this in theoretical conception at least is necessary.
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What Darwin accomplished for Biology generally Clausewitz did for the Life-History of Nations nearly half a century before him, for both have proved the existence of the same law in each case, viz., \"The survival of the fittest\"the \"fittest,\" as Huxley long since pointed out, not being necessarily synonymous with the ethically \"best.\" Neither...
Whether this state of equilibrium is in itself a good or desirable thing may be open to argument. I have discussed it at length in my \"War and the World's Life\"; but I venture to suggest that to no one would a renewal of the era of warfare be a change for the better, as far as existing humanity is concerned. Meanwhile, however, with every year th...
The case is identical with that of an ordinary steam boiler, delivering so and so many pounds of steam to its engines as long as the envelope can contain the pressure; but let a breach in its continuity ariserelieving the boiling water of all restraintand in a moment the whole mass flashes into vapour, developing a power no work of man can oppose. ...
This estimate of the influence of Clausewitz's sentiments on contemporary thought in Continental Europe may appear exaggerated to those who have not familiarised themselves with M. Gustav de Bon's exposition of the laws governing the formation and conduct of crowds I do not wish for one minute to be understood as asserting that Clausewitz has been ...
If this power of predetermined reaction to acquired ideas can be evoked successfully in a matter of internal interest only, in which the \"obvious interest\" of the vast majority of the population is so clearly on the side of the Socialist, it must be evident how enormously greater it will prove when set in motion against an external enemy, where t...
As regards the strictly military side of this work, though the recent researches of the French General Staff into the records and documents of the Napoleonic period have shown conclusively that Clausewitz had never grasped the essential point of the Great Emperor's strategic method, yet it is admitted that he has completely fathomed the spirit whic...
In the end, and with every improvement in science, the result depends more and more on the character of the Leader and his power of resisting \"the sensuous impressions of the battlefield.\" Finally, for those who would fit themselves in advance for such responsibility, I know of no more inspiring advice than that given by Krishna to Arjuna ages ag...
In Coblentz, where he was much occupied with duty, he could only give occasional hours to his private studies. It was not until 1818, after his appointment as Director of the General Academy of War at Berlin, that he had the leisure to expand his work, and enrich it from the history of modern wars. This leisure also reconciled him to his new avocat...
Thus he worked diligently on, until, in the spring of 1830, he was appointed to the artillery, and his energies were called into activity in such a different sphere, and to such a high degree, that he was obliged, for the moment at least, to give up all literary work. He then put his papers in order, sealed up the separate packets, labelled them, a...
The papers thus left are those now made public in the following volumes, exactly in the condition in which they were found, without a word being added or erased. Still, however, there was much to do before publication, in the way of putting them in order and consulting about them; and I am deeply indebted to several sincere friends for the assistan...
Besides this notice, amongst the papers left the following unfinished memorandum was found, which appears of very recent date:
The most authoritative and feature-rich edition of On War in English. Carl von Clausewitz’s On War is the most significant attempt in Western history to understand war, both in its internal dynamics and as an instrument of policy.
What Is War? I propose to consider first the various elements of the subject, next its vari- ous parts or sections, and finally the whole in its internal structure.
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This feature-rich edition includes an essay by Paret on the genesis of Clausewitz’s book, an essay by Howard on Clausewitz’s influence, and an essay by Bernard Brodie on the continuing relevance of On War.
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