Reading Clausewitz

By: Beatrice Heuser

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Paperback | 15 May 2002 | Edition Number 1

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256 Pages

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23.4 x 15.5 x 1.9

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A comprehensive examination of the most important figure in the history of military theory and of his great classic work.

Clausewitz's On War, first published in 1832, remains the most famous study of the nature and conditions of warfare. Contemporaries found him 'endearing' or 'totally unpalatable', while later generations called him 'the father of modern strategical study', whose tenets have 'eternal relevance', or dismissed him as outdated. Was it really he who made the discovery that warfare is a continuation of politics? Was he the 'Mahdi of mass and mutual massacre', in part responsible for the mass slaughter of the First World War, as Liddell Hart contended? Can the idea of total war be traced back to him? Complex and often misunderstood, Clausewitz has fascinated and influenced generations of politicians and strategic thinkers.

Beatrice Heuser's study is the first book, not only on how to read Clausewitz, but also on how others have read him - from the Prussian and German masters of warfare of the late nineteenth century through to the military commanders of the First World War, through Lenin and Mao Zedong to strategists in the nuclear age and of guerrilla warfare. The result is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the work and influence of the greatest classic on the art of war.

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A useful...guide to the great man's writings * Foreign Policy *

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Foreword
The Story of the Man and the Book	p. 1
Clausewitz's Early Life	p. 1
Writing On War	p. 4
The Reception of On War	p. 12
Clausewitz the Idealist vs Clausewitz the Realist	p. 24
Clausewitz the Idealist	p. 25
The Turning Point of Clausewitz's Thinking	p. 30
Clausewitz the Realist	p. 33
The Two Clausewitzes	p. 41
Politics, the Trinity and Civil-Military Relations	p. 44
War as a Tool of Politics	p. 44
The Importance of Politics to Clausewitz's Followers	p. 45
Clausewitz's World-View	p. 49
Clausewitz's Ideas of Society	p. 50
The Trinity: Violence, Chance, Political Purpose	p. 52
The Commander-in-Chief and the War Cabinet: Supremacy of Politics or of Military Strategy?	p. 56
Civil and Military Command: The Clash between Bismarck and Moltke	p. 59
Military Planning and the Lack of Civilian Guidance	p. 62
World War I: The War of the Generals	p. 64
Beyond Numbers: Genius, Morale, Concentration of Forces, Will and Friction	p. 72
Genius: The Personality of the Commander	p. 72
Centre of Gravity	p. 74
Concentration of Forces	p. 76
'Moral Force' and Will-Power	p. 80
Economy of Forces	p. 86
Friction and Chance	p. 88
The Defensive-Offensive Debate, the Annihilation Battle and Total War	p. 90
Defence and Offensive	p. 90
Clausewitz: Defence as the Stronger Form	p. 90
Defence and Offensive in Prussia and Germany	p. 93
France and the 'Offensive a outrance'	p. 97
The Offensive in Other Countries	p. 101
Annihilation or Decisive Battle	p. 103
Clausewitz the Idealist and his Contemporaries	p. 103
The German Reception of the Decisive or Annihilation Battle	p. 104
Delbruck and the Strategy of Exhaustion	p. 108
Clausewitz in the English-Speaking World	p. 112
The Annihilation Strategy in France	p. 113
The Ghost of Clausewitz	p. 114
Clausewitz and Total War	p. 116
Taking Clausewitz Further: Corbett and Maritime Warfare, Mao and Guerrilla	p. 124
Clausewitz Gone to Sea: Sir Julian Corbett	p. 124
Clausewitz on the 'Small War' or Guerrilla	p. 133
Mao and Clausewitz	p. 138
Clausewitz in the Nuclear Age	p. 143
Soviet Strategy: Clausewitz and the Inevitability of War	p. 143
Clausewitz and Western Cold-War Strategy	p. 150
Western Cold-War Strategists and Clausewitz's Heritage	p. 152
Clausewitz and Escalation	p. 153
Policy Prescription or Contemplative Theory?	p. 159
Limited War and the Western Neo-Clausewitzians	p. 161
The Clausewitzian Critique of the Vietnam War	p. 168
From Vietnam to the Gulf War	p. 175
Clausewitz's Relevance in the Twenty-First Century	p. 179
Problems with Clausewitz	p. 180
Eternal War or Eternal Change?	p. 186
Clausewitz's Enduring Relevance	p. 190
Select Bibliography of Works in English	p. 195
Notes	p. 198
Index	p. 231
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Reading Clausewitz

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

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