On War (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Carl von Clausewitz (Author), J. J. Graham (Translator), Anatol Rapoport (Contributor)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: November 18, 1982

Writing at the time of Napoleon's greatest campaigns, Prussian soldier and writer Carl von Clausewitz created this landmark treatise on the art of warfare, which presented war as part of a coherent system of political thought. In line with Napoleon's own military actions, he illustrated the need to annihilate the enemy and make a strong display of one's power in an 'absolute war' without compromise. But he was also careful to distinguish between war and politics, arguing that war could only be justified when debate was no longer adequate, and that if undertaken, its aim should ultimately be to improve the wellbeing of the nation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier and German military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; Abridged edition (November 18, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140444270
• ISBN-13: 978-0140444278
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #233,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

127 of 130 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Classic on war, May 15, 2000

By 

seydlitz89 "seydlitz89" (Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On War (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

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.

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incomplete text, July 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: On War (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

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.

80 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The wrong translation, April 26, 2001

By 

Edward J. Hynes (Waltham, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On War (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

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.