On War (Deluxe Library Binding) (Annotated)

On War is a book on military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, written mostly after the Napoleonic wars, between 1816 and 1830, and published posthumously in 1832. On War is one of the most important treatises on political-military analysis and strategy ever written, and remains both controversial and an influence on strategic thinking.

Clausewitz was among those intrigued by the manner in which the leaders of the French Revolution, especially Napoleon, had changed the conduct of war through their ability to motivate the populace and to gain access to the full resources of the state; thus unleashing war on a greater scale than had previously been seen in Europe. Clausewitz was well educated and had strong interests in art, history, science, and education. He was a professional soldier who spent a considerable part of his life fighting against Napoleon. The insights he gained from his political and military experiences, combined with a solid grasp of European history, allowed Clausewitz to write a definitive book on military strategy.

This edition contains all three volumes of On War, and includes an introduction, a biography, and annotations.

Carl von Clausewitz (1780 - 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the moral (in modern terms, psychological) and political aspects of war. His most notable work, Vom Kriege (On War), was unfinished at his death. Clausewitz was a realist and, while in some respects a romantic, also drew heavily on the rationalist ideas of the European Enlightenment. He stressed the dialectical interaction of diverse factors, noting how unexpected developments unfolding under the fog of war (i.e., in the face of incomplete, dubious, and often completely erroneous information and high levels of fear, doubt, and excitement) call for rapid decisions by alert commanders. He saw history as a vital check on erudite abstractions that did not accord with experience. He argued that war could not be quantified or reduced to map-work, geometry, and graphs. Clausewitz had many aphorisms, of which the most famous is War is the continuation of politics by other means.