On War

Clausewitz, who fought in the Napoleonic wars, sought to understand and analyze the phenomenon of war so that future leaders could win conflicts more effectively. This abridged edition selects the books in which the nature and theory of war are developed and explains the originality his ideas.

Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was a Prussian military officer and military theorist. Born to a family of nobles from Upper Silesia, Clausewitz followed his father¿s footsteps by entering military service as a lance-corporal at a young age. He served in several major conflicts throughout his life, including the Rhine Campaigns and the Napoleonic Wars, and eventually reached the rank of general. In 1801, he went to Berlin to enter the Kriegsakademie, where he studied philosophy and the history and tactics of warfare, research which would lead to his work On War (1832), a treatise on the moral, political, and social aspects of warfare. In 1810, he married the aristocrat and socialite Countess Marie von Brühl, a highly educated and driven woman who would oversee the posthumous publication of his most important work, On War, editing Clausewitz¿s manuscript and writing the introduction. Clausewitz was a decorated and ambitious soldier and leader, serving both the Prussian and Imperial Russian Armies in campaigns throughout Europe, as well as spearheading efforts to contain the cholera outbreak that would eventually take his life. His theory of war is still studied by scholars and military officials today, and is noted for its philosophical outlook and definition of war as an extension of political policy.