Customer Reviews

On War: A Modern Military Classic

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This is not an easy book to understand. It takes sustained attention, several readings of the most important parts, guidance from supplementary articles, time and interest. After the required investment, the diligent reader will come to understand Clausewitz's system and the remarkable way that it stills aides in understanding the phenomenon of war. Readers who know of what I speak will agree that the results of the recent NATO war against Serbia over Kosova can be explained very accurately in Clausewitzian terms. Much has been made of the fact that Clausewitz died before he could complete the work. We will never know what added insights the Prussian philosopher may have been able to come up with or the additional nuances that he may have added to the framework that he had established. While true, this attitude detracts from what he was able to accomplish. The only finished portion of the book, Part 1 of Book 1 is also the most important. The rest of Book 1, Book 2, Book 3 and Book 8 (the last) are in Bernard Brodie's words, "pure gold". The other books have relevant information for our times too, but one must shift through much which belongs to the past. Clausewitz's theory of war considered war to be "a remarkable trinity" of rational action (policy), irrational action (passion) and the play of chance (friction versus genius). These three points act as poles above which "theory" itself is suspended like a magnet. Alan D. Beyerchen has pointed out that Clausewitz was talking about a non-linear system in that the course the magnet will take as it hovers above and in and out of the three fields of attraction produces an irreproducible trajectory highly sensitive to the initial conditions which set it in motion. In addition we have other important concepts such as the duel nature of war, the importance and uses of theory, friction, war's psychological element, tactical and strategic centers of gravity, and of course the primacy of policy over purely military concerns in strategic planning. All of these are still of interest today. Not bad for a work that was published initially in 1832!

One additional note. I recommend the Everyman's Library Edition of On War. First it is the Michael Howard / Peter Paret translation which is the best in English. Second it contains four interesting and enlightening articles by Howard, Paret and Bernard Brodie and last it is a hard cover book printed and bound in Germany and of excellent quality.

A word of caution to anyone ordering the paperback edition of this work. It is incomplete with some of the books missing. If you are genuinely interested in strategy, buy the hardcover Everyman's edition rather than the Penguin edition.

On War is an essential work but this is an abridgement first published in the late 1960s and based on a poor translation dating from around 1908. The editor, Anatol Rapoport, is a scientist, not an historian, and the commentary is something of a hatchet job.

Much better to get the 1976 translation with commentary edited by Michael Howard and Peter Paret.

Carl von Clausewitz is required reading at the War Colleges of the United States Armed Forces because his precepts are timeless. Trying to understand why man makes war, especially in the extremely destructive era in which he lived, he explores all aspects of warfare. This work is written for military officers, and exemplifies the aphorism of a classic: it's a book people want to have read, but don't want to read. This antipathy is understandable. Clausewitz was a staff officer in the army of a state which no longer exists, and he wrote in 19th century German. Still, this book is essential to all who wish to understand war and its place in statecraft.

Rather than this Penguin edition, I recommend the Princeton University Press edition, translated and edited by Michael Howard and Peter Paret. That version includes very helpful essays and introductions by those two academics, as well as Bernard Brodie. Together, these three help the reader understand what Clausewitz was writing, and gently remind the reader that he should be somewhat forgiving of the author. After all, he had only just begun a major renovation of his entire work when he was felled by the cholera epidemic that struck Europe.

If you are interested in Clausewitz, READ HIM. Do not join the illiterati who quote and misquote him without ever reading On War. While it is not an easy read, the Princeton University edition is readable, and On War is the most important book on the most serious of political subjects.

On War is an incredible work, but the Penguin Classics edition is terrible - the translation was done by an editor who was openly hostile to Clausewitz, something to do with Kissinger (whom our editor detested) being a Clausewitz fan. There are entire sections that are specifically translated in ways that make Clausewitz look bad, and edits to the same effect.

I highly suggest that you read this book - but read the Everyman's or Princeton version - those editions have the Peter Paret translation and are far superior in every way. The Everyman's edition in particular is fantastic - hardcover, elegant, and only a few dollars more than Penguin's steaming pile of excrement.

Not really a relaxing bedtime read. On War is challenging, and not to be undertaken lightly. Still, its concepts are eminently more utile than Sun Tzu's, when all is said and done.

I would have given it five stars, but for the 72 pages of nonsensical introductory ranting by Anatol Rapoport, included with this volume. If you can find a volume without Rapoport's introduction, buy that one instead and save a tree.

(Honestly, I will never understand why modern publishers insist on pre-forming the reader's reactions to classic works by adding an introduction from some third-rate aging socialist. If I wanted to read Anatol Rapoport, I would have looked him up in "Great Irrelevant Figures of the 20th Century").

Adorned with many historical examples, this book is certainly history's greatest masterpiece. Continuously emphasizing that war is 'a continuity of policy by other means', Clausewitz, in his 20 years' work, has defined perfectly the theory of war, its tactical and strategic purposes;the means of attack and defense,before firstly defining clearly what war really is, how it works,and how its nature works in practice, and delightfully summarizing all the means of war in the book of 'War Plans'. This book explains what had been a cloud of uncertainty for people before his age, and closely examines the strategies of history's greatest generals, that is, Frederick the Great and Napoleon I(whom he said to be the God of War)during the Seven Years' War and down to the battle of the first until sixth coalition, and finally owing much spaces to the battle of Jena (1806),the wars of liberation (1814-15), and the disastrous marches to Moscow (1812).This book is certainly presented to military officers and anybody interested in the course of war. Moreover, you need not worry about your age or nationality. This book declares about strategy in general; and gives delight even to an Indonesian 11-year old girl like me. If you're truly interested in the course and history of war, I bet that this book will give you *BEAUCOUP DE MOMENTS INTERESSANTS*. NE ME CROIS PAS? ALORS,TU PEUX LE LIS ET LE PREUVE!

AVOID THE PENGUIN EDITION AT ALL COSTS! Yes, it is the most widely available version of Clausewitz' famous work, "On War", a great book that should be in everyone's library, but the Penguin edition is to be avoided at all costs. The Penguin Classics edition is poorly edited and uses the Graham/Maude translation from the original 19th century German. It was put together by Anatol Rapoport, a self styled 60's renaissance man with an axe to grind against Henry Kissinger (a Clausewitz devotee) and a viceral hatred of Claucewitz himself. Rapoprt misleadingly abridged Clausewitz's own writings, while retaining many of the errors introdced by Maude and Graham that when combined with Rapoport's hostility toward Neo-Clausewitzean ideas (and Clausewitz himself) create a volume found in the Penguin edition that is so badly misleading as of Clausewitz's ideas as to be worthless. Clausewitz is worth a read but if you have the Penguin Classics or Graham/Maude translations I strongly advise you to burn the book and look instead for either the Jolles or Paret translations.

The book itself is unquestionably a classic. Anyone interested in strategy should read it. However, this translation is amongst the worst. The original German text is translated almost literally into English, preserving the difficult grammar constructions. A reader must truely be dedicated, or already know German grammar, to get through this translation.
Read the book, but go instead for the Everyman's version. A great translation and interesting introduction by Peter Paret.

In a nutshell: Don't waste your money on this version.

The original version of this translation dates to just after the turn of the century, but the introduction and further editing by Anatol Rapaport (a biologist and a musician, not a political scientist or historian), make this a clumsy read at best and downright misleading at worst.

Rapaport, for being an editor of Clausewitz, was not a believer in the trinitarian system (primordial violence, non-rational actions, and rationality)- probably not a good choice for a work which owes as much as it does to the first and second Trinities (army, people, and government).

If this is the only one you can get, then live with it. The first chance you get, get the much clearer, much more straightforward Paret/Howard translation, which is the one that's actually taught at most service schools as well as in universities in their courses that use it.