The Clausewitzian Universe and the Law of War

Abstract

The Clausewitzian Universe, in which we live, is named after the Prussian officer and writer Carl von Clausewitz.' As a youth he took part in the campaign of 1793 and later studied at the Berlin War Academy. He went through the disastrous Jena Campaign of 1806, was captured, and upon his release entered the General Staff. In 1812 he joined the so-called German Legion, a body of anti-French officers, and stayed with it throughout the Russian campaign. Re-entering the Prussian service in 1813, he served in the Wars of Liberation. After Waterloo he became director of the Kriegsakademie and devoted his leisure to writing. In 1831, he was appointed Chief of Staff to the Prussian army which was deployed in Silesia to observe the Polish rebellion against Russia. Following the death of his superior, General August von Gneisenau, Clausewitz took over. He had only occupied his new position for a few days, however, when there arrived from Berlin another general sent to replace him. Thereupon he too fell ill and died, whether of cholera or heartbreak is not clear. Clausewitz's writings span a period of almost thirty years. His magnum opus, Vom Kriege (On War), in which he invested some twelve years, was left incomplete and was published posthumously. The book's fame spread slowly at first. However, by the 1860s it had already established itself as a classic and its pre-eminent position was confirmed when Helmut von Moltke called it 'the military work which most influenced my mind'. The work was praised by Engels ('a strange way to philosophize, but, on the matter itself, very good') and read by Marx. During his stay in Zurich, Lenin provided it with perceptive footnotes. Hitler is said to have been able to quote it 'by the yard', and Eisenhower grappled with it during his days at the US Army War College. To this day, it is regarded as the greatest work on war and strategy ever written within Western civilization.2