Jomini versus von Clausewitz: A Comparison It is important to view the background of the period when both military theorists,

Antoine Jomini and Carl von Clausewitz lived. This was a result of the conflict the whole purpose of which was to break the Holy Roman empire - a revived Roman empire which was ran by the church since the latter was overran by the Goths of northern Europe led by Odoacer in 476 AD. As the ancient empire crumbled, giving way to divisions of its width and breadth, several Gothic tribes settled Europe foremost of which were the Gauls (descendants of the French and Germans) who first established what became the Holy Roman empire in the time of Charlemagne of the Franks in 800 AD. The division of Gaul into east and west gave rise to Germany as West Francia Charles the Fats (son of Charlemagne) share. The Germans under Otto I, would later take the crown away from the Franks in 962 AD and held on to it for the most part of the empires existence. In 1330 when the state separated from the church as a result of the anti-pope,

Wittelsbach Louis IVs victory over the popish Habsburg Frederick the Fair (two contenders to the crown of the Holy Roman empire), the broken empire underwent periodic upheavals as each royal family consolidated its territory. The results have for almost a millennium now since the

Declaration of Rense in 1338, became the pattern for conflict in Europe. The exodus out of the Roman Catholic church grip on the peoples of Europe that was the Protestant Reformation (1517 1648) that began on October 31, 1517 with Martin Luther spurred hundreds of years of religious civil wars which spread in Europe with France at its center. It began with the French Huguenots revolt, after the Cathars, e.g. the Albighenses, in 1209 became the object of the Crusade led by Arnold of Amalric after a papal legate was killed. The massacre of Huguenots at Vassaly in 1562 began the so- called Wars of Religion.1
1 Huguenots Wikipedia.org, Posted: October 31, 2010/ Date accessed: March 3, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot.

Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Austerlitz in 1806 in the ensuing French Revoluion, put an end to the empire and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II of Austria abdicated. The lines

which would in the future make up the boundaries of the nations were not defined then as they are now, until the wars that soon followed. Thus, the Battle of Austerlitz in 1806, is a mere consequence of these earlier events, which had taken 476 years since 1330 AD from the time the state separated from the church. Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was a Prussian soldier from a middle class family of noble origins and had extensive combat experience during the French Revolution who rose to the rank of Major-General at the age of 38.2 His book, On War (Ger: Vom Kriege; Fr: Theorie de

la grande guerre) became together with Antoine-Henri Jominis Trait des grandes operations militaires (Treatise on Grand Military Operations) the textbooks for modern warfare.3 Antoine-Henri Jomini (March 6, 1779 March 24, 1869) was born in Payerne in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, of an old Swiss family of Italian descent with a decidedly pro-French outlook.4 In 1798 he joined the Swiss Army as a captain until the peace treaty of Luneville on February 9, 1801. In 1805, he served in the campaign of Austerlitz as a volunteer aide-de-camp on Ney's personal staff, and in December of that year, he was offered a commission as a colonel in the French Army.5 The perception is that both von Clauswitz and Jomini were biased and shortsighted because the interest they represented limited them from grasping the entirety of the forces which were moving to draw the battle lines that would be defined: first - by religion (an offshoot of the Reformation Movement); and second ethnocentrically; though both tried to overcome them. Both may also have been trying to hide their religious biases by speaking in ambiguous
2 Rupert Smith, The Utility of Force, (Penguin Books, 2006), p. 57. 3 Carl von Clausewitz, Wikipedia.org Posted: December 1, 2006/ Date accessed: March 3, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz#cite_ref-smith57_4-0. 4 John, Shy, "Jomini," Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, ed. Peter Paret, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), p. 146. 5 Jomini,Wikipedia.org, Posted: November 9, 2008/ Date accessed: March 3, 2011.

terms. Both Jomini and von Clausewitz wrote in the tongue of their choice. Swiss Jomini writing his Treatise in French, von Clausewitz Vom Kriege, in German. What were not caught in

their English translations were their basic meanings that were hidden in their native terms with the sentences sometimes meaning the opposite of what is being said by interlacing them. Both could not divulge the meaning they had no freedom to convey by expressing in unambiguous terms Napoleons strategy and by so doing, kept his plans away from the enemy, for while the general aimed to topple the empire, the Protestants were still a minority. After their defection from service with Napoleon, when it became clear what his intention was, they scurried over to the Russian side without Napoleons fuming about, making them suspect of serving Napoleons ends. Jominis and von Clausewitz theories have become guides in the conduct of todays war and are now best viewed in their fine-tuned form where Jominis internal lines has become todays weapons systems and von Clausewitz war as an extension of politics has become the Low Intensity Conflict, whereby the "excessive use of Clauswitz' theories" in Vietnam by nuts in the Pentagon have been sharply criticized.6 Clausewitz "but still it is worth observing that there is no science without a mixture of art," best sums up what his view of art and science is in relation to war.7 In contrast, Jomini believes, that war was a science, not an art. 8 Both defected to Russia a behavior tolerated by the liberalism which resulted from the French Revolution. Given the circumstances of Napoleons betrayal of the cause of the French Revolution after acquiring for himself the crown of the Holy Roman empire, both historians defections are best viewed as a result of dissatisfaction with Napoleon himself.

6 Bruce R. Nardulli, "Clausewitz and the Reorientation of Nuclear Strategy," Journal of Strategic Studies, (December 1982): 494-510. 7 Col F. N. Maude and, J.J. Graham, On War: Art or Science of War,London, (1909): 114. 8 A.N. Mertsalov, Jomini versus Clausewitz,Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy, eds. Mark and Ljubica Erickson (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004), 13.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Carl von Clausewitz. Wikipedia.org. Date accessed: March 3, 2011 2. Conclusions: The Return of Jomini. Clauswitz.com. Date accessed: March 3, 2011 3 Huguenots. Wikipedia.org. Date accessed: March 3, 2011

4. Jomini. Wikipedia.org. Date accessed: March 3, 2011 5. Maude, F. N. (Col) and Graham, J.J. Art or Science of War. On War. London: 1909. 6. Mertsalov, A.N. Jomini versus Clausewitz. Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy, edited by Mark and Ljubica Erickson. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004. 7. Shy, John. "Jomini." Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age. ed. Peter Paret (Princeton: Princeton University Press), 1986. 8. Smith, Rupert. The Utility of Force. Penguin Books, 2006.