On War (Oxford World's Classics) | Carl von Clausewitz, Beatrice Heuser

On War (Oxford World's Classics) | Carl von Clausewitz, Beatrice Heuser | Diplomacy By Other Means

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On War (Oxford Wor...

	On War (Oxford World's Classics) Carl von Clausewitz, Beatrice Heuser Oxford University Press, USA, 2008 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 69 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

To know why...

...leaders do what they do, read what they read.

I sought this book out because a mentor told me that it was required reading in virtually all military schools and war colleges. Many leaders have military experience, and are likely to have read this at some point. Moreover, those that give military advice to people like the President of the United States are going to have read this, and it will have an impact on their decisions and thinking.

As others have noted, this book is not an easy read. This book is the kind that one should read from start to finish, and then read it again, because even those of us with high retention will learn more the second time through.

If one enjoys reading history, this book should be on the short list to read, because war has been a very important part of world history, and if the news are any indicator, wars aren't about to stop any time soon.

While I'm thinking about it, please make sure you thank those that fight for the cause of freedom and liberty, at every opportunity.

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Diplomacy By Other Means

Carl Von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was a Prussian aristocrat who served as an officer during the Napoleanic Wars and who began writing this treatise on warfare upon the conclusion of the conflict. Although primarily philosophical, Clausewitz' efforts are to explain the nature and the dynamics of war. Unlike Sun-Tzu's "The Art of War" which is primarily a work of maxims or dictums, Clausewitz tried to put such concepts into a theoretical and empirical framework.

This edition does a fine job at clarifying the historical context in which Clausewitz was writing his work as well as what issues he was trying to address. Clausewitz never found his works to be ready for publication but his wife had them published shortly after his death. One can see Clausewitz' efforts to categorize his concepts were strongly influenced by Emmanuel Kant's philosophy. This factor,in addition to his work being mostly rough drafts, can make Clausewitz a difficult writer to follow.

Clausewitz' most important and relevant concepts to the world today would be his "Books" 1-4 and 8 which deal with the theoretical and philosophical aspects of war: his most famous phrase being that war is the execution of a state's diplomatic policies by other means (i.e. organized military force.)The objective of war is to make the enemy do your will (ideally with unrestricted force) which is to make him surrender unconditionally to achieve a specific political objective. The question then being who has the means and methods to put those principles into effect successfully. The success of such actions depends on sound planning as well as trying to avoid what he termed 'the fog of war' or simply the uncertainties arising out of conflicts such as supply problems, unanticipated terrain and weather, human error and morale. Clausewitz then goes into the concepts of leadership and strategy that are important towards limiting the fog of war and achieving the desired objectives of the war. Clausewitz' remaining works on offense, defense, and military forces are less relevant as they are more products of the Napoleanic War: their tactical and strategic insights are of limited use in the context of modern mechanized warfare.

This is a great edition as it is accompanied by a very detailed preface and introductory essays that clarify Clausewitz' convoluted manuscripts. The essays bring his work into modern perspective and discuss its important contributions to modern political and military thinking. I strongly recommend this edition and translation over other works as the reader will simply get more bang for their buck compared to publications by Penguin or others.

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The bible of warfare

The translation leaves something to be desired, but Clausewitz's book itself really is the bible of modern warfare and ought to be the first book anyone reads on the subject. The translation would get 2 stars but Clausewitz's work definitely gets 5.

Caveat Emptor

"Buyer Beware!" The Penguin edition of On War is abridged and is missing Chapters Five, Six, and Seven (actually Books Five, Six, and Seven). The Princeton edition and the Everyman edition are edited by Peter Paret and Michael Howard and are complete and unexpurgated. For some strange reason, the reviews of the Everyman edition of On War and the Penguin edition are combined giving readers the idea that reviewers are discussing one edition when they are actually talking about another. The only thing the Penguin edition has going for it is that it is cheaper, so it might be useful for college students taking a course during 1 semester. Otherwise, get the Everyman edition.

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