Clausewitz.com

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Clausewitz Homepage

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The site is designed to help anyone seeking to know more about the life, works, ideas, or impact of the influential Prussian soldier and strategic theorist Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831). Clausewitz was a professional fighting soldier and a military educator, but he was also a profound political, strategic, and historical theorist. This is not a dead historical subject: Clausewitz remains a powerful living influence on strategists and doctrine writers. Recent references to Clausewitz in the news media are tracked (very erratically) here. The site includes images, links, bibliographies in several languages (including links to materials on-line), on-line bookstores, articles and other readings (including academic papers, military manuals, and complete books), as well as indexes to Clausewitz's On War. The items listed under "readings" are mostly recent, mostly scholarly studies, plus other items of importance or interest. The latter include some older items, such as Jomini's 1838 essay on military theory and a 1909 critique of the Clausewitzian naval theorist Julian Stafford Corbett by the equally Clausewitzian military critic Spenser Wilkinson. The reader will also find the first complete on-line text of Clausewitz's 1832 On War (in an obsolescent but still useful 1873 translation), the full original 1832 German edition (Vom Kriege), and his 1812 Principles of War (in the 1942 English translation). At some point we will post his study of The Campaign of 1812 in Russia (an 1843 translation). We have a great deal of material on the reception of Clausewitz by writers in the English language. Under "Research Links," the visitor will find links to historical websites, related books and thinkers, student papers about Clausewitz, etc. A scientific section, "Clausewitz and Complexity," provides links to materials connecting Clausewitzian theory to the emerging nonlinear sciences (e.g., Chaos and Complexity, etc.), as well as links to broader information on those subjects (i.e., without specific reference to Clausewitz). A growing Business section is designed to help the growing number of business strategy consultants interested in getting a grasp on Clausewitz's approach.

Regarding this site's intellectual biases: There are many interesting ways to interpret Clausewitz, some of which are valuable even though they have little relationship to his original intent. Our visitors report widely varied military, academic (primarily history, political science, and philosophy), scientific, and business/commercial motivations, and we try hard to serve all these interests. We welcome collaborators. However, "Clausewitz experts" tend to be pretty opinionated (to politely understate the matter); our editor is himself not entirely immune to this tendency. The tone of debates among them tends at times to take on a quasi-theological tone—with all the usual accompaniments thereof, including personal attacks, scholarly sneers, and frequent squeals of "Heresy!" even when discussing present-day issues. Given the importance of Clausewitzian theory, this is understandable. But it sometimes gets a bit absurd, given that Clausewitz was just a human being and has long been quite dead—thus unable to have any specific opinions about developments after 1831.

We're not being apologetic about any of this: We enjoy the debate, embrace the conceptual hair-splitting that it often engenders, and try not to be dull. And we try hard to be open-minded, balanced, and unbiased.