Summary And Critique Of On War By Carl Von Clausewitz

Introduction

Normally, manuals supply us with instructions on how and what to do about a particular situation but, the book “On War” provides a comprehensive understanding of the war per se. The book contains the compilations of the ideas of Carl Von Clausewitz and his analysis of the previous wars based on his experience during the Napoleonic age. By this, he aims to discuss the occurrence of wars and related concerns from its ground toward the possible outcome embodied in wars. There is no doubt that this is old, but the subject which is war and the content that Clausewitz decided to talk over such as the nature, elements of strategy, theory, attacks, defenses, and plans are certainly relevant matters up until now. Correspondingly, situations vary and no matter how well the ways and techniques on some manuals were studied and formulated, there is no assurance that these will work and will be effective on all occasions. That is why general knowledge about the war itself works effectively over the knowledge of ways on how to wage wars.

Moreover, this may be long and difficult to appreciate by one reading but, the fundamental knowledge conveyed in the whole book is worth the time consumed on rereading some sections. Once it is understood, readers especially the future officials can obtain an additional layer of wisdom that could expand our current perception about wars.

Summary

War deals with many intricate issues. For a start, Clausewitz addressed the nature of war which is the main draw of the discourse. He provided two central statements that define war. The first concept states that war is about fighting or a conflict that needs the use of force. The other says that war is just an alternative way of a political practice. Consequently, Clausewitz came up with the notion that he referred to as “a paradoxical trinity” which is comprised of three issues: violence, chance and probability, and an instrument of policy. Perception of violence pertains to the force exerted and the unpleasant activities arise on wars and it concerns the people. Chance and probability refer to the uncertainty of the plans and attacks that your opponent will use against you and the uncertainty of the outcome. This concerns the commanders and his men. Lastly, an instrument of policy implies to its tendency of becoming another means for political agenda. Hence, concerns the government.

Subsequently, he talked about the theory of war. On this part, he lectured the progress from the plain purpose and structure of forces to the development of military theory. From there, sets of principles on how war is to be conducted are created but these attempts seem impractical because moral aspect is absent and it speaks of a sure play when in reality nothing is certain. It was actually contained in the book two that positive doctrine is unattainable as there is no specific guideline that could possibly work at all circumstances. While book three covers the strategy in general. It goes into detail about the strategy in operation. It elaborates this time the role of keeping a strong force as an important strategy on wars and available strategy to be used on future events. The latter part of the book deals with the relationship of attacks to the defenses. Included in the text is his argument that employing a defense is better than offense. Wherein, the side of the defender more likely to wield a defined and equivalent counterattack against the offender. Lastly, Book eight covers the planning of war.

Critic

First of all, the book is a translated version by Howard and Paret. Its structure is divided into chapters that expound the delivery of the subject. The content is long and the supporting text or information is on a reasonable sequence and it matches the head title in each section but, the article is incomplete. There are parts or chapters of the book that are missing.

Next, Clausewitz succeeded in laying out his views about the subject. Jumping directly in presenting the main context of the book is acceptable. Accordingly, “We must begin by looking at the nature of the whole. ” The book one sum up the central framework of the discussion of war and the succeeding books provided supplementary information that assists in explaining fully the related issues such as the strategy, defense, and plans. By unveiling the central idea of the book at the start, it challenges the ability of the readers to take or process the given data from the beginning, at the same time, it informs the reader the direction of the whole discussion beforehand until they obtain a clarification of the points.

Then, he held two different points of views about war as he aims to display and clearly deliver his point. He presented the concept of war in an abstract aspect and in real aspect. The abstract is said to be conceptualized favorably thus anticipates positive outcome while in reality, the outcome becomes uncertain and concepts are finally applied to reality. He wrote, “In the abstract world, optimism was all-powerful” and “Reality supplies the data from which we can deduce the unknown that lies ahead. ” Coming up with this book, Clausewitz uses his experience during the Napoleonic war which happened in the history as a reference or a source of opinion. His historical experience strengthens the evidence he included to convey his key intention in writing his book which is to offer a profound understanding of the inherent element of wars “Even the ultimate outcome of a war is not always to be regarded as final. ” This is a debatable statement in the book. Unlike the other authors, Clausewitz does not regard a complete victory. He argues that the defeat of a group in a battle could give fire to a new battle. In the future, there is a possibility that the defeated party will hold another battle from the moment he recovers from his defeat. Another is the applicability of this study to small wars. The views of war are analyzed long ago, which, war in the past are state wars. In coming up with this book, Clausewitz uses his experience during the Napoleonic war which happened in history as his reference or his source of opinion. His historical experience strengthens the evidence he included to convey his key intention in writing his book which is to offer a profound understanding of the inherent element of wars. This basis is reliable because some mentioned events in the history are well-illustrated in the book and other materials. The book does not offer specific ways to be practice on warfare. Instead, Clausewitz focus on giving a better understanding of the occurrence of war assuming that this knowledge could help future generals in formulating their own ways.

Recommendation

In the search for an exact book that will help us of ways we can pull through on wars, some will probably pay no attention to this book. For that reason, I wondered what element of the “On War” would encourage the readers to read it. Upon reading and understanding it, I presumed that its relevance would call an audience. When one wants to understand the complexities of war, he can rely on this book. The fact that “On war” subsists long time ago constitute that this can be a historical reference. Knowledge of historical wars can give us ideas that are mainly about the factors that cause the war. This provides a chance to determine related characteristics of previous and new wars that can assist in the improvement of available theories. Likewise, it may help us in conceptualizing a new theoretical model of war. The conceptual intent is to study the occurrence in history and then define its significance today. War is a broad and diffucult subject to study. Strategies are planned and form carefully before anything else. To be able to make an effective strategy, one shoud have a comprehensive learning about the factors that influence the war. Definitely, this book can be recommended to future military leaders and strategist. He was able to give insights about important matters in the war although he did not offer actual ways in waging a war. Basically, Clausewitz intends to provide knowledge about the nature of war and he was able to debate his views. The advantage of reading the book is that the reader will be able to obtain sufficient knowledge about the unusual but essential matters that a strategist should know about the war.

Not all existing strategies work the same in all situation, so your knowledge about the important aspect of war will help you create other strategy then. It is the readers turn to use the understanding he gathered to formulate plans and ways. We are in-charge of making sure that plans and ways are better, functional and suited on the modern day wars.