On War - Clausewitz, Carl Von

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Résumé :
Translated into English several times as On War. Vom Kriege (German pronunciation: [f?m ?k?i???]) is a book on war and military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831), written mostly after the Napoleonic wars, between 1816 and 1830, and published posthumously by his wife Marie von Br?hl in 1832. On War is the most significant attempt in Western history to understand war, both in its internal dynamics and as an instrument of policy. Since the work's first appearance in 1832, it has been read throughout the world, and has stimulated generations of soldiers, statesmen, and intellectuals. TABLE OF CONTENTS: THE INTRODUCTION OF THE AUTHOR BRIEF MEMOIR OF GENERAL CLAUSEWITZ BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OF WAR BOOK II. ON THE THEORY OF WAR BOOK III. OF STRATEGY IN GENERAL BOOK IV. THE COMBAT

Biographie:
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.