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Reading Clausewitz
Clausewitz's On War , first published in 1832, remains the classic study of the nature and conditions of warfare. Best remembered for his pronouncement that war is a continuation of politics by other means and for his observations on total war, he gave a new philosophical foundation to the art of war. Complex and often misunderstood, Clausewitz has fascinated and influenced generations of politicians and strategic thinkers. Beatrice Heuser's comprehensive study is the first book on how to read Clausewitz and how others have read him—from the military commanders in World War I through Lenin and Mao Zedung to strategists in the nuclear age. The result is an accessible and illuminating introduction to the most influential study of the art of war.
- GenresHistory
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 12, 2023
A great introduction into Clausewitz‘s works that helps us to understand where he got his inspiration from and what people and their respective thoughts he inspired. It succinctly discusses his main concepts, their usefulness as well as the shortcomings of his work.
February 27, 2013
I was very surprised by how much in this book I found to disagree with. Heuser's analysis of Clausewitz hinges on an idealist/realist duality that she assigns to his writings pre- and post-1827, respectively, something that I'm not sure is entirely borne out by the record. The idea that Clausewitz turned on a dime and began to incorporate his later, more "realist" views about war into Book VIII and the rewrite of Book I just doesn't hold water for me, and doesn't account for the appearance of a number of "realist" insights elsewhere in the text. Heuser seems to be holding on to what I believe to be a misunderstanding of the absolute war-vs-limited war comparison on which much of "On War" turns; this is no crime on its own - many others have made the same error - but it torpedoes her thesis.
In her other writings, Heuser has shown a dogged determination to highlight Clausewitz's utter un-specialness as a strategic-/military-theoretical writer, and that determination shows through here. Yes, we know other people wrote similar things around the same time, and even before. But this book is about Clausewitz!
The real strength of this book is as a sort of literature review of the major commentaries on Clausewitz over the last two centuries, but Bassford's "Clausewitz in English" is both in some ways more thorough and, I'd hazard, more theoretically accurate (if certainly more boring for the lay reader). Heuser does a great job of opening up the untranslated German-language commentaries to the English-only reader, but I fear the really uninitiated would be led off track by her basic argument.
In her other writings, Heuser has shown a dogged determination to highlight Clausewitz's utter un-specialness as a strategic-/military-theoretical writer, and that determination shows through here. Yes, we know other people wrote similar things around the same time, and even before. But this book is about Clausewitz!
The real strength of this book is as a sort of literature review of the major commentaries on Clausewitz over the last two centuries, but Bassford's "Clausewitz in English" is both in some ways more thorough and, I'd hazard, more theoretically accurate (if certainly more boring for the lay reader). Heuser does a great job of opening up the untranslated German-language commentaries to the English-only reader, but I fear the really uninitiated would be led off track by her basic argument.
May 22, 2017
Pros:
- Reading this saves you the work of going through Clausewitz's seminal work yourself (which suffers from terrible hypotaxis and was not fully edited by the author yet when he died).
- Does a good job explaining the basic concepts of On War and the evolution in Clausewitz' thinking.
Cons:
- Somewhat inflated discussion of the reception of Clausewitz's concepts in strategic theory (mainly by people who did not understand or even read Clausewitz).
- Author's writing style is somewhat similar to Clausewitz's (see above).
- Reading this saves you the work of going through Clausewitz's seminal work yourself (which suffers from terrible hypotaxis and was not fully edited by the author yet when he died).
- Does a good job explaining the basic concepts of On War and the evolution in Clausewitz' thinking.
Cons:
- Somewhat inflated discussion of the reception of Clausewitz's concepts in strategic theory (mainly by people who did not understand or even read Clausewitz).
- Author's writing style is somewhat similar to Clausewitz's (see above).
July 25, 2021
Very well done. According to Hauser, Clausewitz was only satisfied with Book I, and had only addressed his most highly developed realist views in Book VIII.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2014
There are some interesting ideas here and I will need to reread certain sections again to fully understand the idealist/realist aspect of her work but there were insights into the Vietnam war in particular which reorientated the way I now look at that conflict.
I would suggest anyone reading this book gets some background on the main ideas of Clausewitzian theory before they attempt to read this otherwise you may become lost.
I also liked the chapter on guerilla warfare albeit a little short.
I would suggest anyone reading this book gets some background on the main ideas of Clausewitzian theory before they attempt to read this otherwise you may become lost.
I also liked the chapter on guerilla warfare albeit a little short.
July 3, 2008
Dry reading, but interesting for its ideas on the philosophy of war.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews