“ON WAR” BY CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ

“War is an act of violence in order to force our will upon the enemy” - (Clausewitz - On war)

On War (Vom Kriege), a book of military strategy written by the German general Carl Von
Clausewitz, believed after the Napoleonic wars in between 1816 to 1830. His most notable work
of On War was unfinished at his death and his wife edited his collected works and published
them. Mainly he stated about psychological and political aspects of war including historical and
theoretical writings, correspondence with important political, military, intellectual and cultural
leaders in Germany and his own theoretical explorations. On War is considered as one of the
most important document on political military analysis and strategy ever written.

Clausewitz was well educated and able to attract leaders of French revolution with his political
and military experiences, since was a professional soldier and spend most of his life fighting
against Napoleon. He identified the moral of the military would have been a greater impact of
winning the conflicts and abled to motivate soldiers and countrymen in order to get full support
on war. Clausewitz was mastered in art, history, science and education which he used to illustrate
his wealth of education on his teachings. As per the his arguments, he stated that, military
operations would not planned in to greater scale with strict operational orders, because during the
operations there would be many sudden events which military commanders have make quick
decisions under the pressure as per the incoming events.

As per the On War, the conflicts have three categories, which Purpose, Goal and Means. The
purpose of war will be determined by the politics in order to overcome someone’s will or
requirements. The Goal comes after the purpose to defeat the opponent as per the ordered by the
purpose. The strategy comes after the means such as elimination of enemies by the militarily or
no militarily means. The Moral and physical factors will comes as means to achieve the goals.
As per the Clausewitz, the Politics will take over military soon after the war began and he
elaborated the primary of politics will as “We claim that war is nothing more than a continuation
of the political process by applying other means. By applying other means we simultaneously
assert that the political process does not end with the conclusion of the war or is being
transformed into something entirely different, but that it continues to exist and proceed in its
essence, regardless of the means, it might make use of." (Clausewitz - On war)

Most of modern era leaders, thinkers, armies, and peoples are misinterpreted Clausewitz theories
and it is believed that modern perceptions of war based on those concepts. As per the Clausewitz,
the conduct of war could not be reduced to universal principles subjected to political decisions
and moral forces. He said that the war must not be seen as having any purpose in itself, but
should be seen as a political instrument which contuse as political process applied by other
means. There should be two types of political objectives which are used to achieve military
objectives by the means of war are "war to achieve limited aims" and war to "disarm" the
enemy”. The course of war always moves to the side of defender with strong emotional and
political motivations.

Key ideas discussed in On War include,

 The dialectical approach to military analysis
 The methods of "critical analysis"
 The economic profit-seeking logic of commercial enterprise is equally applicable to the
waging of war and negotiating for peace
 The nature of the balance-of-power mechanism
 The relationship between political objectives and military objectives in war
 The asymmetrical relationship between attack and defense
 The nature of "military genius" - Involving matters of personality and character, beyond
intellect
 The "fascinating trinity" of war
 Philosophical distinctions between "absolute war," "ideal war," and "real war"
 In "real war," the distinctive poles are the limited objectives and war to "render the enemy
helpless"
 The idea that war and its conduct belong fundamentally to the social realm rather than to
the realms of art or science
  "Strategy" belongs primarily to the realm of art, but is constrained by quantitative analyses
of political benefits versus military costs & losses
 "Tactics" belongs primarily to the realm of science
 The importance of "moral forces" as opposed to quantifiable physical elements
 The "military virtues" of professional armies
 Conversely, the very real effects of a superiority in numbers and "mass"
 The essential unpredictability of war
 The "fog" of war
 "Friction" - The disparity between the ideal performance of units, organizations or systems
and their actual performance in real world scenarios
 Strategic and operational "centers of gravity”
 The "culminating point of the offensive"
 The "culminating point of victory"

Clausewitz saw warfare as a social construct. However, he made distinctions between "real war"
and "total war". Each side of war would need to utilize all its resources to ensure victory, but
Clausewitz saw this as dangerous. Some have suggested that Clausewitz's best known saying,
that “War is a continuation of politics with other means”, is not only irrelevant today but also
inapplicable historically.

Prasanna Eriyawa, M.CPS, BNS, PG Dip (BIDTI)

Lieutenant Commander (N)

Sri Lanka Navy