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Clausewitz 2

Carl von Clausewitz - Wikipedia

Name: Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz

Achievements: Military theoretician

Born: June 1, 1780; Burg, near Magdeburg,  Germany

Died: November 16, 1831; Breslau, Silesia, Germany. Aged 51

Field & Discipline:  Military Military strategist

Language: German

Father: Name Unknown (retired lieutenant)

Mother: Name Unknown (daughter of the manager of a Royal farm)

Siblings:  Unknown

Spouse: Countess Marie von Brühl

Children: None

Education: Garrison School (1795-1801); Allgemeine Kriegsschule (Berlin Military School; 1801-04)

Major Work:

"Vom Kriege" ("On War"; 1834)

Life & Times:

In 1792, aged 12, Clausewitz obtained a commission in the 34th Infantry Regiment, commanded by a distant relative.  His regiment was one of the small homogeneous professional forces molded by [served under] Frederick the Great*, and he first saw action in the campaign that drove the French Revolutionary army out of the Rhineland in the winter and spring 1793-94.

When the army was demobilized in 1795, Clausewitz returned to Prussia with some understanding of skirmishing and small-unit tactics. In the summer of1801 he was accepted for the three-year course at the Berlin War College.  The school had recently been reorganized by [taught by] Scharnhorst*, who was to play a major role in the history of Prussia and in Clausewitz's life.  Clausewitz also attended lectures on logic and ethics by Johann Gottfried Kiesewetter, a pupil and popularizer of [influenced by] Kant*.

In 1804 , at age 24, Clausewitz graduated at the top of his class, and was appointed adjunct to Prince August of Prussia, which gave him access to the highest social circles. 

Scharnhorst recommended him to the editor of the most important military journal in Germany, which, in 1805, published Clausewitz's first article, a lengthy refutation of the strategic theories of Heinrich Dietrich von Bülow,  the most widely-read German interpreter of Napoleonic warfare.

Clausewitz rejected Bulow's idea that war was based on mathematical, geographical and geometrical principles.  He said that other things such  as the soldiers' morale and the commanders' psychology must be taken into consideration.

In 1806, war broke out with France. Clausewitz accompanied his master, Prince August, to the battle of Auerstadt. But the Prussians were defeated, and the two were captured at Prenzlau.

Napoleon thought that Prince August, a nephew of King Frederick William III, could be useful to him, so the prince and Clausewitz were ordered to France, where they were given relative freedom, but were not allowed to return to Prussia until late 1807.

On his return, Clausewitz became one of the leaders of Prussian Army reform under Scharnhorst, who had been made head of a commission to draft plans for the reorganization of the army.

In 1809, at the age of 29, he was appointed to the general staff and to the faculty of the new War College, where he lectured on strategy and on partisan warfare.   The outbreak of war between France and Austria that year raised Clausewitz's hopes that Napoleon had at last overreached himself.

After the French victory at Wagram in 1811,  Clausewitz was thunderstruck to hear that his king had made an alliance with the hated French, particularly since Prussia agreed to give Napoleon land from which he then staged his invasion of Russia.

With about 30 other officers, Clausewitz resigned his commission, and took service with Tsar Alexander I of Russia, just as the French armies were invading  During the war of 1812, Clausewitz served as a Russian colonel in various staff positions, and was partially responsible for the Russians' successful strategic retreat.  Prussia at last joined the war against France in March, 1813, and still in Russian uniform, Clausewitz acted unofficially as Scharnhorst's assistant, until the latter was fatally wounded in the battle of Grossgörschen.

During the first years of peace, Clausewitz served as chief of staff of the Prussian forces in the Rhineland. In 1816, he resumed his study of military history and theory, and for  the remaining 15 years of his life, he wrote numerous histories of wars and campaigns, and a biographical study of Scharnhorst.

In 1818, aged 38, he was offered the directorship of the War College in Berlin, and was promoted to major general. In 1819, he began writing "On War", and in the next eight years completed the first six of eight planned parts.

By 1827, he realized that the manuscript did not spell out clearly two key elements -- 1) the political nature of war and 2) the two basic forms that war assumes.  In the second category, Clausewitz defined the two objectives of war:  to completely overthrow the enemy (total war), or to occupy only some area to obtain favorable terms of peace (limited war).

Before completing "On War", and to understand more thoroughly the character

of war, Clausewitz wrote histories of Napoleon's Italian campaigns and of

the Waterloo campaign.

Clausewitz succumbed to cholera in 1831 during an epidemic that spread from

Russia to Poland and then to central and western Europe.  He died at Breslau in November, 1831, at age 51.

His fame rests on his "On War (Vom Kriege)", even though it was never finished to his satisfaction. His conclusion remain generally applicable:  the destruction inherent in war is only a means to enforce policy,  and not an end in itself.

Extra Connections:  [influenced] Marx* and [influenced] Engels* discussed Clausewitz's work, and [influenced]  Lenin* studied his political doctrines during his exile in Switzerland.

His work related to that of [work related to] Jomini* and [work related to] Ney*

Assessment: "On War" has had a profound influence on modern strategic

concepts. Its most significant contribution is the idea of political direction in military matters.

Oneliner:  CPG von Clausewitz, great military strategist

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