Political PhilosophyBook · 1832
On War
Carl von Clausewitz
Clausewitz died of cholera in 1831 with the manuscript unfinished, and his widow Marie edited and published it the following year. The book is less a manual than an attempt to think about friction, chance and the gap between the war commanders plan and the war they actually get. This edition is the Howard and Paret translation for Princeton, the one most cited in English.
Why you should read this
This is the founding text of modern strategic theory, built around the idea that war is a continuation of politics by other means rather than a separate, self-contained activity. It remains standard reading at military academies, though it was left unfinished at Clausewitz's death and shows real unevenness across its books.
- Field
- Political Philosophy
- Form
- Non-fiction
- Published
- 1832
- Themes
- StrategyPolitical Philosophy
