What do you think?
Rate this book
A Short Guide To Clausewitz On War
. with dw, 1967, 237pp
237 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1967
1 person is currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Carl von Clausewitz
376 books408 followersCarl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier, military historian and military theorist. He is most famous for his military treatise Vom Kriege, translated into English as On War.
Clausewitz has served in the Rhine campaign (1793–1794), when the Prussian army invaded France during the French revolution and in the Napoleonic Wars from 1806 to 1815.
Clausewitz helped negotiate the Convention of Tauroggen where Russia, Prussia and the United Kingdom formed an coalition that later defeated Napoleon Bonaparte.
Clausewitz has served in the Rhine campaign (1793–1794), when the Prussian army invaded France during the French revolution and in the Napoleonic Wars from 1806 to 1815.
Clausewitz helped negotiate the Convention of Tauroggen where Russia, Prussia and the United Kingdom formed an coalition that later defeated Napoleon Bonaparte.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 21, 2015
The famous very-long book by Clausewitz, written near the end of his life, still relevant and interesting, was used as a bible of military thought worldwide up to World War II. (It has been said that he derived the bulk of his principles from the example of Napoleon.) His massive book, an intricate and complex philosophy of war, is here given as a distillation from this famous book of circa 1830, compiled and edited and introduced by Roger Ashley Leonard, with a host of extracts from the original Clausewitz as translated by J.J. Graham.
Overall, this is a very useful summation of Clausewitz' theories, principles, and ethics, to a military mind probably easy to read. It is a well designed 1967 book.
I do not think the translated portions were put into consistently good clear logical English. Or is that Clausewitz? E.g. of his 6 principles of war, the 4th is "The doctrine that the moral [i.e. psychological] force of violent shock, rather than geometrical manoeuver, is the primary means to the end." Another point, Clausewitz stresses the importance given to moral and psychological factors which are the most valuable of his main contributions to military theory. He was most concerned with the psychological factors of shock and surprise. Chapter 11 on Suspension of the Act in War requires several readings to understand his meanings of what seems a very important chapter.
Is it Clausewitz' language, or the translator's, which at times results in rather uneven language (lacking a sound editor provided by the publisher G. Putnam's Sons? or is it my own density?), yet organized as a practical book into chapters on, e.g., strategy, battle, defense, offense, war and politics, and a useful though quite short final chapter on guerrilla warfare which end with another very sound statement about the "natural weakening which every offensive undergoes with time."
Reading this brings back what little I know about our Civil War, about the Revolutionary War campaigns, of the WW I stalemate of trench warfare, about WW II and Patton's methods, and Napoleon and Alexander the Great. The major influence of repeating weapons, of tanks, of airplanes, of submarines, and of course the dread of atomic weapons. (I'd like to repeat my Harvard graduate course under Prof. Robert Albion on naval history.)
This book prompts me to realize that my service in WW II was not well guided - should not ever been trained in bayonet combat, and put into action when my radio was ineffective and in a situation when we moved too fast for telegraph connections to be made. I was a worthless ill-trained encumbrance.
Overall, this is a very useful summation of Clausewitz' theories, principles, and ethics, to a military mind probably easy to read. It is a well designed 1967 book.
I do not think the translated portions were put into consistently good clear logical English. Or is that Clausewitz? E.g. of his 6 principles of war, the 4th is "The doctrine that the moral [i.e. psychological] force of violent shock, rather than geometrical manoeuver, is the primary means to the end." Another point, Clausewitz stresses the importance given to moral and psychological factors which are the most valuable of his main contributions to military theory. He was most concerned with the psychological factors of shock and surprise. Chapter 11 on Suspension of the Act in War requires several readings to understand his meanings of what seems a very important chapter.
Is it Clausewitz' language, or the translator's, which at times results in rather uneven language (lacking a sound editor provided by the publisher G. Putnam's Sons? or is it my own density?), yet organized as a practical book into chapters on, e.g., strategy, battle, defense, offense, war and politics, and a useful though quite short final chapter on guerrilla warfare which end with another very sound statement about the "natural weakening which every offensive undergoes with time."
Reading this brings back what little I know about our Civil War, about the Revolutionary War campaigns, of the WW I stalemate of trench warfare, about WW II and Patton's methods, and Napoleon and Alexander the Great. The major influence of repeating weapons, of tanks, of airplanes, of submarines, and of course the dread of atomic weapons. (I'd like to repeat my Harvard graduate course under Prof. Robert Albion on naval history.)
This book prompts me to realize that my service in WW II was not well guided - should not ever been trained in bayonet combat, and put into action when my radio was ineffective and in a situation when we moved too fast for telegraph connections to be made. I was a worthless ill-trained encumbrance.
November 17, 2010
I am a fan of military history, and this is supposedly a classic; but it was a failure for me-a sort of philosophical deduction of strategy based on the analysis of concepts. Not worth reading, even in this shortened edition.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews