Beyond "Vom Kriege": The Character and Conduct of Modern War

Abstract

Political and military leaders are notoriously averse to theory, but if there is a theorist about war who matters, it remains Carl von Clausewitz, whose Vom Kriege ("On War") has shaped Western views about war since the middle of the 19th century. While it goes too far to say, as John Keegan has, that "Clausewitz influenced every statesman and soldier interested in war for the past 100 years" -- most never actually read or grasped him -- Clausewitz endures, not because he is universally understood or accepted but because he is so often right about first principles. Much of what he wrote about the conduct of war in the pre-industrial era, about marches and magazines and the "war of posts," fits best with his own time. But his insights about the nature of war itself remain uniquely and enduringly prescient. Adapted from the source document.