On War

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ON WAR

by General Carl von Clausewitz




ON WAR GENERAL CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ TRANSLATED BY COLONEL J.J. GRAHAM

_1874 was 1st edition of this translation. 1909 was the London
reprinting._


NEW AND REVISED EDITION WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY COLONEL F.N.
MAUDE C.B. (LATE R.E.)


EIGHTH IMPRESSION IN THREE VOLUMES

VOLUME I




INTRODUCTION

THE Germans interpret their new national colours--black, red, and
white--by the saying, "Durch Nacht und Blut zur licht." ("Through night
and blood to light"), and no work yet written conveys to the thinker a
clearer conception of all that the red streak in their flag stands for
than this deep and philosophical analysis of "War" by Clausewitz.

It reveals "War," stripped of all accessories, as the exercise of force
for the attainment of a political object, unrestrained by any law save
that of expediency, and thus gives the key to the interpretation
of German political aims, past, present, and future, which is
unconditionally necessary for every student of the modern conditions of
Europe. Step by step, every event since Waterloo follows with logical
consistency from the teachings of Napoleon, formulated for the first
time, some twenty years afterwards, by this remarkable thinker.

What Darwin accomplished for Biology generally Clausewitz did for the
Life-History of Nations nearly half a century before him, for both have
proved the existence of the same law in each case, viz., "The survival
of the fittest"--the "fittest," as Huxley long since pointed out, not
being necessarily synonymous with the ethically "best." Neither of
these thinkers was concerned with the ethics of the struggle which
each studied so exhaustively, but to both men the phase or condition
presented itself neither as moral nor immoral, any more than are famine,
disease, or other natural phenomena, but as emanating from a force
inherent in all living organisms which can only be mastered by
understanding its nature. It is in that spirit that, one after the
other, all the Nations of the Continent, taught by such drastic lessons
as Koniggraetz and Sedan, have accepted the lesson, with the result
that to-day Europe is an armed camp, and peace is maintained by
the equilibrium of forces, and will continue just as long as this
equilibrium exists, and no longer.

Whether this state of equilibrium is in itself a good or desirable thing
may be open to argument. I have discussed it at length in my "War and
the World's Life"; but I venture to suggest that to no one would a
renewal of the era of warfare be a change for the better, as far as
existing humanity is concerned. Meanwhile, however, with every year
that elapses the forces at present in equilibrium are changing in
magnitude--the pressure of populations which have to be fed is rising,
and an explosion along the line of least resistance is, sooner or later,
inevitable.

As I read the teaching of the recent Hague Conference, no responsible
Government on the Continent is anxious to form in themselves that line
of least resistance; they know only too well what War would mean; and
we alone, absolutely unconscious of the trend of the dominant thought
of Europe, are pulling down the dam which may at any moment let in on us
the flood of invasion.

Now no responsible man in Europe, perhaps least of all in Germany,
thanks us for this voluntary destruction of our defences, for all who
are of any importance would very much rather end their days in peace
than incur the burden of responsibility which War would entail. But
they realise that the gradual dissemination of the principles taught by
Clausewitz has created a condition of molecular tension in the minds of
the Nations they govern analogous to the "critical temperature of water
heated above boiling-point under pressure," which may at any moment
bring about an explosion which they will be powerless to control.

The case is identical with that of an ordinary steam boiler, delivering
so and so many pounds of steam to its engines as long as the
envelope can contain the pressure; but let a breach in its continuity
arise--relieving the boiling water of all restraint--and in a moment the
whole mass flashes into vapour, developing a power no work of man can
oppose.

The ultimate consequences of defeat no man can foretell. The only way to
avert them is to ensure victory; and, again following out the principles
of Clausewitz, victory can only be ensured by the creation in peace of
an organisation which will bring every available man, horse, and gun (or
ship and gun, if the war be on the sea) in the shortest possible time,
and with the utmost possible momentum, upon the decisive field of
action--which in turn leads to the final doctrine formulated by Von der
Goltz in excuse for the action of the late President Kruger in 1899:

"The Statesman who, knowing his instrument to be ready, and seeing War
inevitable, hesitates to strike first is guilty of a crime against his
country."

It is because this sequence of cause and effect is absolutely unknown to
our Members of Parliament, elected by popular representation, that
all our efforts to ensure a lasting peace by securing efficiency with
economy in our National Defences have been rendered nugatory.

This estimate of the influence of Clausewitz's sentiments on
contemporary thought in Continental Europe may appear exaggerated to
those who have not familiarised themselves with M. Gustav de Bon's
exposition of the laws governing the formation and conduct of crowds I
do not wish for one minute to be understood as asserting that Clausewitz
has been conscientiously studied and understood in any Army, not even
in the Prussian, but his work has been the ultimate foundation on which
every drill regulation in Europe, except our own, has been reared. It is
this ceaseless repetition of his fundamental ideas to which one-half of
the male population of every Continental Nation has been subjected
for two to three years of their lives, which has tuned their minds to
vibrate in harmony with his precepts, and those who know and appreciate
this fact at its true value have only to strike the necessary chords
in order to evoke a response sufficient to overpower any other ethical
conception which those who have not organised their forces beforehand
can appeal to.

The recent set-back experienced by the Socialists in Germany is an
illustration of my position. The Socialist leaders of that country
are far behind the responsible Governors in their knowledge of the
management of crowds. The latter had long before (in 1893, in fact)
made their arrangements to prevent the spread of Socialistic propaganda
beyond certain useful limits. As long as the Socialists only threatened
capital they were not seriously interfered with, for the Government
knew quite well that the undisputed sway of the employer was not for the
ultimate good of the State. The standard of comfort must not be pitched
too low if men are to be ready to die for their country. But the moment
the Socialists began to interfere seriously with the discipline of the
Army the word went round, and the Socialists lost heavily at the polls.

If this power of predetermined reaction to acquired ideas can be
evoked successfully in a matter of internal interest only, in which the
"obvious interest" of the vast majority of the population is so clearly
on the side of the Socialist, it must be evident how enormously greater
it will prove when set in motion against an external enemy, where the
"obvious interest" of the people is, from the very nature of things, as
manifestly on the side of the Government; and the Statesman who failed
to take into account the force of the "resultant thought wave" of a
crowd of some seven million men, all trained to respond to their ruler's
call, would be guilty of treachery as grave as one who failed to strike
when he knew the Army to be ready for immediate action.

As already pointed out, it is to the spread of Clausewitz's ideas that
the present state of more or less immediate readiness for war of all
European Armies is due, and since the organisation of these forces is
uniform this "more or less" of readiness exists in precise proportion to
the sense of duty which animates the several Armies. Where the spirit of
duty and self-sacrifice is low the troops are unready and inefficient;
where, as in Prussia, these qualities, by the training of a whole
century, have become instinctive, troops really are ready to the last
button, and might be poured down upon any one of her neighbours with
such rapidity that the very first collision must suffice to ensure
ultimate success--a success by no means certain if the enemy, whoever he
may be, is allowed breathing-time in which to set his house in order.

An example will make this clearer. In 1887 Germany was on the very verge
of War with France and Russia. At that moment her superior efficiency,
the consequence of this inborn sense of duty--surely one of the highest
qualities of humanity--was so great that it is more than probable that
less than six weeks would have sufficed to bring the French to their
knees. Indeed, after the first fortnight it would have been possible
to begin transferring troops from the Rhine to the Niemen; and the same
case may arise again. But if France and Russia had been allowed even
ten days' warning the German plan would have been completely defeated.
France alone might then have claimed all the efforts that Germany could
have put forth to defeat her.

Yet there are politicians in England so grossly ignorant of the German
reading of the Napoleonic lessons that they expect that Nation to
sacrifice the enormous advantage they have prepared by a whole century
of self-sacrifice and practical patriotism by an appeal to a Court of
Arbitration, and the further delays which must arise by going through
the medieaeval formalities of recalling Ambassadors and exchanging
ultimatums.

Most of our present-day politicians have made their money in business--a
"form of human competition greatly resembling War," to paraphrase
Clausewitz. Did they, when in the throes of such competition, send
formal notice to their rivals of their plans to get the better of them
in commerce? Did Mr. Carnegie, the arch-priest of Peace at any price,
when he built up the Steel Trust, notify his competitors when and how
he proposed to strike the blows which successively made him master
of millions? Surely the Directors of a Great Nation may consider the
interests of their shareholders--i.e., the people they govern--as
sufficiently serious not to be endangered by the deliberate sacrifice
of the preponderant position of readiness which generations of
self-devotion, patriotism and wise forethought have won for them?

As regards the strictly military side of this work, though the recent
researches of the French General Staff into the records and documents of
the Napoleonic period have shown conclusively that Clausewitz had never
grasped the essential point of the Great Emperor's strategic method,
yet it is admitted that he has completely fathomed the spirit which gave
life to the form; and notwithstandingthe variations in application which
have resulted from the progress of invention in every field of national
activity (not in the technical improvements in armament alone), this
spirit still remains the essential factor in the whole matter. Indeed,
if anything, modern appliances have intensified its importance, for
though, with equal armaments on both sides, the form of battles must
always remain the same, the facility and certainty of combination which
better methods of communicating orders and intelligence have
conferred upon the Commanders has rendered the control of great masses
immeasurably more certain than it was in the past.

Men kill each other at greater distances, it is true--but killing is a
constant factor in all battles. The difference between "now and then"
lies in this, that, thanks to the enormous increase in range (the
essential feature in modern armaments), it is possible to concentrate
by surprise, on any chosen spot, a man-killing power fully twentyfold
greater than was conceivable in the days of Waterloo; and whereas in
Napoleon's time this concentration of man-killing power (which in his
hands took the form of the great case-shot attack) depended almost
entirely on the shape and condition of the ground, which might or might
not be favourable, nowadays such concentration of fire-power is almost
independent of the country altogether.

Thus, at Waterloo, Napoleon was compelled to wait till the ground became
firm enough for his guns to gallop over; nowadays every gun at his
disposal, and five times that number had he possessed them, might have
opened on any point in the British position he had selected, as soon as
it became light enough to see.

Or, to take a more modern instance, viz., the battle of St.
Privat-Gravelotte, August 18, 1870, where the Germans were able to
concentrate on both wings batteries of two hundred guns and upwards,
it would have been practically impossible, owing to the section of the
slopes of the French position, to carry out the old-fashioned case-shot
attack at all. Nowadays there would be no difficulty in turning on the
fire of two thousand guns on any point of the position, and switching
this fire up and down the line like water from a fire-engine hose, if
the occasion demanded such concentration.

But these alterations in method make no difference in the truth of the
picture of War which Clausewitz presents, with which every soldier, and
above all every Leader, should be saturated.

Death, wounds, suffering, and privation remain the same, whatever the
weapons employed, and their reaction on the ultimate nature of man is
the same now as in the struggle a century ago. It is this reaction that
the Great Commander has to understand and prepare himself to control;
and the task becomes ever greater as, fortunately for humanity, the
opportunities for gathering experience become more rare.

In the end, and with every improvement in science, the result depends
more and more on the character of the Leader and his power of resisting
"the sensuous impressions of the battlefield." Finally, for those who
would fit themselves in advance for such responsibility, I know of no
more inspiring advice than that given by Krishna to Arjuna ages ago,
when the latter trembled before the awful responsibility of launching
his Army against the hosts of the Pandav's:

This Life within all living things, my Prince,
Hides beyond harm. Scorn thou to suffer, then,
For that which cannot suffer. Do thy part!
Be mindful of thy name, and tremble not.
Nought better can betide a martial soul
Than lawful war. Happy the warrior
To whom comes joy of battle....
. . . But if thou shunn'st
This honourable field--a Kshittriya--
If, knowing thy duty and thy task, thou bidd'st
Duty and task go by--that shall be sin!
And those to come shall speak thee infamy
From age to age. But infamy is worse
For men of noble blood to bear than death!
. . . . . .
Therefore arise, thou Son of Kunti! Brace
Thine arm for conflict; nerve thy heart to meet,
As things alike to thee, pleasure or pain,
Profit or ruin, victory or defeat.
So minded, gird thee to the fight, for so
Thou shalt not sin!

COL. F. N. MAUDE, C.B., late R.E.



CONTENTS

BOOK I ON THE NATURE OF WAR

I WHAT IS WAR? page 1
II END AND MEANS IN WAR 27
III THE GENIUS FOR WAR 46
IV OF DANGER IN WAR 71
V OF BODILY EXERTION IN WAR 73
VI INFORMATION IN WAR 75
VII FRICTION IN WAR 77
VIII CONCLUDING REMARKS 81

BOOK II ON THE THEORY OF WAR
I BRANCHES OF THE ART OF WAR 84
II ON THE THEORY OF WAR 95
III ART OR SCIENCE OF WAR 119
IV METHODICISM 122V CRITICISM 130
VI ON EXAMPLES 156

BOOK III OF STRATEGY IN GENERAL
I STRATEGY 165
II ELEMENTS OF STRATEGY 175
III MORAL FORCES 177
IV THE CHIEF MORAL POWERS 179
V MILITARY VIRTUE OF AN ARMY 180
VI BOLDNESS 186
VII PERSEVERANCE 191
VIII SUPERIORITY OF NUMBERS 192
IX THE SURPRISE 199
X STRATAGEM 205
XI ASSEMBLY OF FORCES IN SPACE 207
XII ASSEMBLY OF FORCES IN TIME 208
XIII STRATEGIC RESERVE 217
XIV ECONOMY OF FORCES 221
XV GEOMETRICAL ELEMENT 222
XVI ON THE SUSPENSION OF THE ACT IN WAR page 224
XVII ON THE CHARACTER OF MODERN WAR 230
XVIII TENSION AND REST 231

BOOK IV THE COMBAT
I INTRODUCTORY 235
II CHARACTER OF THE MODERN BATTLE 236
III THE COMBAT IN GENERAL 238
IV THE COMBAT IN GENERAL (continuation) 243
V ON THE SIGNIFICATION OF THE COMBAT 253
VI DURATION OF THE COMBAT 256
VII DECISION OF THE COMBAT 257
VIII MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING AS TO A BATTLE 266
IX THE BATTLE 270
X EFFECTS OF VICTORY 277
XI THE USE OF THE BATTLE 284
XII STRATEGIC MEANS OF UTILISING VICTORY 292
XIII RETREAT AFTER A LOST BATTLE 305
XIV NIGHT FIGHTING 308




PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

IT will naturally excite surprise that a preface by a female hand should
accompany a work on such a subject as the present. For my friends no
explanation of the circumstance is required; but I hope by a simple
relation of the cause to clear myself of the appearance of presumption
in the eyes also of those to whom I am not known.

The work to which these lines serve as a preface occupied almost
entirely the last twelve years of the life of my inexpressibly beloved
husband, who has unfortunately been torn too soon from myself and his
country. To complete it was his most earnest desire; but it was not his
intention that it should be published during his life; and if I tried to
persuade him to alter that intention, he often answered, half in jest,
but also, perhaps, half in a foreboding of early death: "Thou shalt
publish it." These words (which in those happy days often drew tears
from me, little as I was inclined to attach a serious meaning to them)
make it now, in the opinion of my friends, a duty incumbent on me
to introduce the posthumous works of my beloved husband, with a few
prefatory lines from myself; and although here may be a difference of
opinion on this point, still I am sure there will be no mistake as to
the feeling which has prompted me to overcome the timidity which makes
any such appearance, even in a subordinate part, so difficult for a
woman.

It will be understood, as a matter of course, that I cannot have the
most remote intention of considering myself as the real editress of a
work which is far above the scope of my capacity: I only stand at its
side as an affectionate companion on its entrance into the world. This
position I may well claim, as a similar one was allowed me during its
formation and progress. Those who are acquainted with our happy married
life, and know how we shared everything with each other--not only
joy and sorrow, but also every occupation, every interest of daily
life--will understand that my beloved husband could not be occupied on
a work of this kind without its being known to me. Therefore, no one can
like me bear testimony to the zeal, to the love with which he laboured
on it, to the hopes which he bound up with it, as well as the manner and
time of its elaboration. His richly gifted mind had from his early youth
longed for light and truth, and, varied as were his talents, still he
had chiefly directed his reflections to the science of war, to which the
duties of his profession called him, and which are of such importance
for the benefit of States. Scharnhorst was the first to lead him into
the right road, and his subsequent appointment in 1810 as Instructor at
the General War School, as well as the honour conferred on him at the
same time of giving military instruction to H.R.H. the Crown Prince,
tended further to give his investigations and studies that direction,
and to lead him to put down in writing whatever conclusions he arrived
at. A paper with which he finished the instruction of H.R.H. the Crown
Prince contains the germ of his subsequent works. But it was in the year
1816, at Coblentz, that he first devoted himself again to scientific
labours, and to collecting the fruits which his rich experience in those
four eventful years had brought to maturity. He wrote down his views,
in the first place, in short essays, only loosely connected with each
other. The following, without date, which has been found amongst his
papers, seems to belong to those early days.

"In the principles here committed to paper, in my opinion, the chief
things which compose Strategy, as it is called, are touched upon. I
looked upon them only as materials, and had just got to such a length
towards the moulding them into a whole.

"These materials have been amassed without any regularly preconceived
plan. My view was at first, without regard to system and strict
connection, to put down the results of my reflections upon the most
important points in quite brief, precise, compact propositions. The
manner in which Montesquieu has treated his subject floated before me in
idea. I thought that concise, sententious chapters, which I proposed
at first to call grains, would attract the attention of the intelligent
just as much by that which was to be developed from them, as by that
which they contained in themselves. I had, therefore, before me in idea,
intelligent readers already acquainted with the subject. But my nature,
which always impels me to development and systematising, at last worked
its way out also in this instance. For some time I was able to confine
myself to extracting only the most important results from the essays,
which, to attain clearness and conviction in my own mind, I wrote upon
different subjects, to concentrating in that manner their spirit in
a small compass; but afterwards my peculiarity gained ascendency
completely--I have developed what I could, and thus naturally have
supposed a reader not yet acquainted with the subject.

"The more I advanced with the work, and the more I yielded to the spirit
of investigation, so much the more I was also led to system; and thus,
then, chapter after chapter has been inserted.

"My ultimate view has now been to go through the whole once more, to
establish by further explanation much of the earlier treatises, and
perhaps to condense into results many analyses on the later ones, and
thus to make a moderate whole out of it, forming a small octavo volume.
But it was my wish also in this to avoid everything common, everything
that is plain of itself, that has been said a hundred times, and is
generally accepted; for my ambition was to write a book that would not
be forgotten in two or three years, and which any one interested in the
subject would at all events take up more than once."

In Coblentz, where he was much occupied with duty, he could only give
occasional hours to his private studies. It was not until 1818, after
his appointment as Director of the General Academy of War at Berlin,
that he had the leisure to expand his work, and enrich it from the
history of modern wars. This leisure also reconciled him to his new
avocation, which, in other respects, was not satisfactory to him, as,
according to the existing organisation of the Academy, the scientific
part of the course is not under the Director, but conducted by a Board
of Studies. Free as he was from all petty vanity, from every feeling
of restless, egotistical ambition, still he felt a desire to be really
useful, and not to leave inactive the abilities with which God had
endowed him. In active life he was not in a position in which this
longing could be satisfied, and he had little hope of attaining to
any such position: his whole energies were therefore directed upon the
domain of science, and the benefit which he hoped to lay the foundation
of by his work was the object of his life. That, notwithstanding this,
the resolution not to let the work appear until after his death became
more confirmed is the best proof that no vain, paltry longing for praise
and distinction, no particle of egotistical views, was mixed up with
this noble aspiration for great and lasting usefulness.

Thus he worked diligently on, until, in the spring of 1830, he was
appointed to the artillery, and his energies were called into activity
in such a different sphere, and to such a high degree, that he was
obliged, for the moment at least, to give up all literary work. He then
put his papers in order, sealed up the separate packets, labelled them,
and took sorrowful leave of this employment which he loved so much. He
was sent to Breslau in August of the same year, as Chief of the Second
Artillery District, but in December recalled to Berlin, and appointed
Chief of the Staff to Field-Marshal Count Gneisenau (for the term of his
command). In March 1831, he accompanied his revered Commander to Posen.
When he returned from there to Breslau in November after the melancholy
event which had taken place, he hoped to resume his work and perhaps
complete it in the course of the winter. The Almighty has willed it
should be otherwise. On the 7th November he returned to Breslau; on the
16th he was no more; and the packets sealed by himself were not opened
until after his death.