{"id":71266,"date":"2022-07-02T11:51:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-02T15:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=71266"},"modified":"2022-07-11T15:19:23","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T19:19:23","slug":"carl-von-clausewitz-on-war-quotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/carl-von-clausewitz-on-war-quotes\/","title":{"rendered":"Carl von Clausewitz: On War Quotes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you looking for On War<\/em> quotes by Carl von Clausewitz? What are some of the most noteworthy passages worth revisiting? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On War <\/em>by Carl von Clausewitz is arguably the most influential Western treatise on the subject of war. The book consists of a large collection of essays. The author expressed an intent to develop them into a comprehensive textbook for military officers, politicians, and others who needed to understand the subject of war. However, he died before finishing this project, so his writings were published in their original form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a selection of Carl von Clausewitz’s On War<\/em> quotes with explanations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

On War<\/em> Quotes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On War <\/em>by Carl von Clausewitz is arguably the most influential Western treatise on the subject of war. The book consists of a large collection of essays. The author expressed an intent to develop them into a comprehensive textbook for military officers, politicians, and others who needed to understand the subject of war. However, he died before finishing this project, so his writings were published in their original form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following Carl von Clausewitz’s On War<\/em> quotes highlight some of the key ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe aggressor is always peace-loving (as Bonaparte always claimed to be); he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As Clausewitz points out, his definition of the purpose of war implies that, as counterintuitive as it sounds, war is generally caused by defenders<\/em>, not aggressors.<\/strong> This is because aggressors don\u2019t directly make war; they only make political demands and perhaps send troops to enforce their demands. If the defender gives in to their demands without a fight, then the war doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and means can never be considered in isolation from their purpose.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Of course, war is not the only tool for advancing political interests. Clausewitz would probably agree that you shouldn\u2019t resort to war if you can achieve your political purpose by other, less extreme measures. He does point out that, while war is a tool of politics, politicians don\u2019t always use it correctly. Sometimes they start wars that achieve the opposite of what they wanted to achieve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clausewitz also argues that <\/strong>letting military interests shape political policy or giving the military latitude to take action outside of political policy is ridiculous because war is a tool of politics, not the other way around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c… to introduce into the philosophy of war<\/a> itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

According to Clausewitz, the key factor that differentiates war from other means of pursuing a political objective is violence. Combat is the essence of war: When two nations or factions are at war with each other, their respective soldiers are trying to kill each other. If they\u2019re trying to achieve a political objective by any means other than killing each other, then war is not the tool that they\u2019re using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, Clausewitz completely dismisses the idea of trying to make war less violent. Since war is<\/em> violence, any attempt to make it less violent is delusional. By all means, find non-violent ways of achieving your objectives if you can, but if you must resort to war, then you must resort to violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you looking for On War quotes by Carl von Clausewitz? What are some of the most noteworthy passages worth revisiting? On War by Carl von Clausewitz is arguably the most influential Western treatise on the subject of war. The book consists of a large collection of essays. The author expressed an intent to develop them into a comprehensive textbook for military officers, politicians, and others who needed to understand the subject of war. However, he died before finishing this project, so his writings were published in their original form. Below is a selection of Carl von Clausewitz’s On War<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":58506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,21],"tags":[674],"class_list":["post-71266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-philosophy","tag-on-war","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nCarl von Clausewitz: On War Quotes - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you looking for On War quotes by Carl von Clausewitz? 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