THE WRITINGS OF CLAUSEWITZ
The writings of Clausewitz are contained in nine volumes, published
after his death in 1831, but his fame rests chiefly on his three
volumes "On War," which have been translated by Colonel J. J. Graham
(the last edition edited by Colonel F. N. Maude, and published by
Messrs. Kegan Paul, London). Clausewitz calls them "a collection of
materials," "a mass of conceptions not brought into form," and states
that he intended to revise, and throw the whole into more complete
shape.
We must lament that he did not live to complete his revision. But,
on the other hand, it is perhaps possible that this unfinished
state is really an advantage, for it leaves us free to apply his
great maxims and principles and mode of thought to the ever-varying
conditions of the present and future, unhampered by too complete a
crystallization of his ideas written before more modern conditions of
railways, telegraphs, and rapid long-ranging arms of precision, etc.,
arose. It is perhaps this unfinished state which renders Clausewitz
so essentially in touch with, and a part of, the onward movement and
evolution of military thought. For his great aim was "the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth," without preconception or
favour, as far as he could go--essentially "a realist" of war--and what
better aim can we set before ourselves?
As Sir Arthur Helps has so well put it in his "Friends in Council,"
every man needs a sort of central stem for his reading and culture. I
wish here to say why I think that Clausewitz is admirably adapted to
form such a main stem in the military culture of British officers.
In the first place there is a lofty sort of tone about his writings
which one gradually realizes as one reads them, and which I will not
attempt to describe further than by saying that they stamp themselves
as the writings of a gentleman of fine character.
In the second place it is a book which "any fellow" can read, for
there is nothing to "put one off," nothing abstruse or mathematical or
formal, no formulæ or lines and angles and technical terms, such as in
other writers, Jomini, Hamley, etc. Clausewitz is free from all such
pedantries, which for my part, and I dare say for the part of many
others, often "put one off" a book, and made one instinctively feel
that there was something wrong, something unpractical about it, which
rendered it hardly worth the sacrifice of time involved in its study.
There is in Clausewitz nothing of that kind at all. All those lines and
angles and formulæ he dismisses in a few pages as of little practical
importance.
In the third place Clausewitz only goes in for experience and the
practical facts of war. As he somewhat poetically puts it, "The
flowers of Speculation require to be cut down low near the ground of
Experience, their proper soil."[1] He is the great apostle of human
nature and character as being everything in war. "All war supposes
human weakness, and against that it is directed."[2] I believe that the
British officer will find himself in sympathy with the great thinker
on war, who asserts that "_Of_ _all military virtues Energy in the
conduct of Operations has always conduced most to glory and success of
arms_."[3]
In the fourth place, to the practical mind will appeal his denunciation
of all elaborate plans, because _Time_ is required for all elaborate
combinations, and Time is just the one thing that an active enemy
will not give us,--and his consequent deduction that all plans must
be of the simplest possible form. His famous sentence, "_In war all
things are simple, but the simple are difficult_,"[4] gives the key
to his writings, for to _overcome those simple yet great difficulties
he regards as the art of war_, which can only be done by the military
virtues of perseverance, energy, and boldness.
In the fifth place he does not want men to be bookworms, for he says:
"_Theory is nothing but rational reflection upon all the situations
in which we can be placed in war_."[5] And we can all reflect, without
reading too many books. Also he says: "Much reading of history is
not required for the above object. The knowledge of a few separate
battles, _in their details_, is more useful than a general knowledge of
several campaigns. On this account it is more useful to read detailed
narratives and journals than regular works of history."[6] He wants
history in detail, not a general smattering and a loose application
thereof, which fault he strongly denounces. And he expressly states
that the history of the very latest war is the most useful. All of
which is very practical, and in accord with what we feel to be true.
As he pictures war, "_the struggle between the spiritual and moral
forces_ on _both_ sides is the centre of all,"[7] and to this aspect
of the subject he gives much more attention than Jomini and most of
Jomini's disciples. He has freed us once for all from all formalism.
The formation of character, careful, practical, detailed study, and
thorough preparation in peace, the simplest plans carried out with the
utmost perseverance, resolution, energy, and boldness in war--these are
the practical fruits of his teaching.
Therefore, I say again, that I do not think that the British officer
could possibly find a more interesting or a better guide for the main
stem of his reading than Clausewitz, nor any one that will appeal
to his practical instincts of what is _True_ half so well. I do not
believe that he could possibly do better than with Clausewitz as
main stem, and a detailed study of the latest campaigns and modern
technicalities as the up-to-date addition required to transform
knowledge into action. I trust that every reader of Clausewitz will
agree with me in this.