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I don't mind amazon being enterprising, but it constitutes a form of fraud ("bait and switch") to redirect those attempting to find a Kindle version of the Princeton University Press, Peter Paret and Michael Howard edition of On War to this edition. Please stop this practice: the books are not remotely the same.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the science of war. Buy this book. This is a great book if your a military buff. It was well written and very interesting.
The books or parts that compose it were finished in variable degree by the author, whose premature death did not allow its conclusion. Other books treat on the tactics of a period in which the enemy deployment was staying at the sights of the enemy command and his HHQQ and auxiliary, placed in a nearby height.
Becuase some of the books could be missing. In an age of masses armies, inaugurated by Napoleon, soon was clear that it was not possible to win a war between full armed nations, in an alone great battle.
He praises Liddell Hart's opposite: a decisive battle using the maximum own concentration and power on the enemy army. In addition, already there did not exist a genius advanced to his epoch as Napoleon.Be careful ordering an abridge edition of this work.
It is an extensive work, since it fits with the epoch, in which writing little was a sign of inconsistency, little importance and scanty reflection. I am interested in the first chapters on the theory and the philosophy of the war.
It was necessary a campaign with successive victorious operations, looking for the achievement of the military goals of the campaign (theatre of operations, Europe, Pacific Ocean, Africa) or the strategy.
Every action taken should be a step in that direction.-Only a nut-job starts a war without having a concrete idea of how to finish it; don't bite off more than you can chew, and always have a "Plan B." -In war, everything is very simple, but there is a huge difference between "simple" and "easy." -Iron will power can overcome any obstacle, but it often wears out the vehicle in which it travels - be it a man or an army. 4) That you should the most of your energy by concentrating it. In this long-winded but brilliant work, Clausewitz (perhaps without meaning it) lays down the fundamental principles by which success is achieved in any field in life. -Politics and warfare are therefore two sides of the same coin; if the underlying political purpose of a war is flawed, the war will be unsuccessful.-However, once war is engaged, political consideration are subordinate to military aims. You can win a battle by sheer force of will, but you may very well destroy your army doing it.and no battle is worth that.-The proper way to win battles is to identify the weak point in the enemy's line and concentrate all your forces there. Some of his basic assertions were:-War is just politics pursed by violent means. The most compassionate war is the one that ends quickly, and the best way of ending it quickly is by employing such overwhelming violence that the enemy is horrified into surrender. Then stomp the head.-In war, the mistakes that come from kindness are the very worst.
Consider the value of 1) Always understanding what you are getting into before you start it and why you are getting into it, as well as what you want out of it. That's it, period final. Had military leaders from Wilhelm II to Adolf Hitler to Lyndon Banes Johnson to George W. Rewritten to apply to business, sports, relationships, and life generally, Clausewitz's maxims would make a great self-help book. 2) Understanding that all human interaction is political, i.e., you can't ignore politics so you must learn how to use them to serve your ends.
Bush consistently applied these principles to their military policy, they would have avoided a lot of grief. Cut the head off, not the fingers and the toes. ON WAR was an attempt to codify the basic principles of warfare as he saw them, using the campaigns of Frederick the Great as well as the lessons of the Napoleonic Wars as his inspiration. 3) That your motives can be as important as your objectives. If your strategy is flawed, no amount of tactical brilliance will save you. 5) Making sure all your individual movements lead you toward your goal, not away from it or sideways. Concentrate and win.-The way to win wars is to destroy the enemy's army, full stop.
Clausewitz was a Prussian staff officer who saw his first combat at the age of twelve, fighting against Napoleon - a task which was to occupy much of his life. Don't let politicians try to dictate how you fight.-Strategy is the overall plan you are following in a war; tactics are how you fight the battles. That is, to destroy his means of resisting you, not to waste time capturing territory, cities, supply dumps, etc. So, while it won't hurt to skim some of the more outdated or tedious passages if you're not interested in the mechanics of 19th century warfare, ON WAR remains a first-class primer, not merely on the art of war, but on the art of living. Follow these principles and almost guarantee you'll soon forget how to fail. Carl von Clausewitz's ON WAR is one of the most important books ever written, but it would be a great mistake to dismiss it merely as simply a treatise military philosophy. You can win lots of battles and still lose the war.-Everything you do once war is engaged must serve a single, clearly understood objective.
But it is as metaphor that I think Clausewitz's book is most useful.
I like it. I have the On War published by IAP, in November 2008 and it costs just US$9.99. I don't know why it is not listed when we search it.
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