Clauswitz (for kids)

Dozer523 · 12-07-2011, 08:04

http://clausewitzforkids.wordpress.com/

Stuff you have to know!
Don't laugh! And it's not a joke. "Carl von" is required reading but getting past that Prussian accent can be tough

Introduction, in Which We Meet the War Tutor
Posted on March 30, 2011

Ich heiße Carl, aber für Sie mein Name ist Herr Clausewitz.

I am Carl, but you will call me Hare Clausewitz.
I will be teaching you about war.
I will not waste time on trifles.
I will not teach you how to shoot your gun.
I will not teach you what tactics to use.
I will not tell you why you go to war, or what to do once the war is done.
There are many who can teach you these things.
What I will teach you, many people cannot teach you.
I will teach you about strategy.
I will teach you what war is for, and what it takes to achieve your end.
I will teach you about vision, about what is important in war, and what is not.
It is likely that none of you will understand me, let alone be that rare creature who can be a great leader of war, but I will do my best to teach you what I know.

Buffalobob · 12-07-2011, 19:16

After about the third iteration, I recognized the high pitched whistling sound and ducked. While my brain was in defilade the point of the link passed on by.

Given where you placed this thread, I thought this was a good thing for an 18A to pick out of the link.

Quote:

Belief. Strong belief. He must make a decision, and stick with it, but not be too stubborn to hear others’ ideas.

There were other thoughts I liked, such as policy and war and being calm in combat.

mark46th · 12-09-2011, 10:01

Will there be a sequel by Sun Tzu?

Dozer523 · 12-09-2011, 18:34

Maybe you're right, should we move this to the comedy zone?

mojaveman · 12-09-2011, 19:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark46th

Will there be a sequel by Sun Tzu?

That's exactly what I was thinking after I read it. Have read both and prefer "The Art of War". I found that I think a little more like Sun Tzu rather than Caluswitz.

mark46th · 12-14-2011, 09:35

"I found that I think a little more like Sun Tzu rather than Caluswitz. "

Sun Tzu being Chinese, would be a more straight-forward read. Von Clausewitz, being Prussian, is going to be a little more verbose and full of himself...

tcb09d · 12-14-2011, 13:37

Clausewitz is a book I admittedly have not finished. It is a difficult read, but I don't think it should be compared to Sun Tzus work because Clausewitz speaks a lot more on the political goals of war. The political goals of war, to me atleast, are a lot more interesting and seemingly applicable nowadays

Mauser98 · 02-11-2012, 00:34

Hope I'm not digressing too much from the original point of the thread or necro posting but I've read Art of War & The Prince and Mao's and Che's take on guerilla warfare and was wondering if someone could point me in the direction in more stuff like that. Whether it's mostly strategic or tactically focused, seeing how much is still applicable today is something kind of interesting. Specifically anything from the Vietnam era. we do some reenacting (as a VC, someone has to be the BG) and am looking for additional info to improve tactics and make them historically based.

To be clear, I'm not just some airsoft guy looking to waste your time to play out whatever silly fantasy I have.
-Thanks,
Ben

JJ_BPK · 02-11-2012, 03:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mauser98

Hope I'm not digressing too much from the original point of the thread or necro posting but I've read Art of War & The Prince and Mao's and Che's take on guerilla warfare and was wondering if someone could point me in the direction in more stuff like that. Whether it's mostly strategic or tactically focused, seeing how much is still applicable today is something kind of interesting. Specifically anything from the Vietnam era. we do some reenacting (as a VC, someone has to be the BG) and am looking for additional info to improve tactics and make them historically based.

To be clear, I'm not just some airsoft guy looking to waste your time to play out whatever silly fantasy I have.
-Thanks,
Ben

Let the force guide you young Jedi..

You have many years before you achieve.

Start by using the search function in the upper right corner of your screen..

Find and learn from: "A Message to Garcia"

Read all the stickies in each sub fora.

Then read all the posts in "hall of shame inductees" These are the failures and from them you can learn much.

Then read all posts under UWOA.

Good luck in your adventure(s)..

02-11-2012, 10:08

mauser, you might also want to check out the threads in "Team Sargeant's Office." Very entertaining and more great examples of what others have done to fail. Great way to boost your SA quickly.

Since you seem to be such a prolific reader:

I liked this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0465072054

and this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/081334...dir_mdp_mobile

Enjoy!

**Airbornelawyer** · 02-11-2012, 14:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark46th

"I found that I think a little more like Sun Tzu rather than Caluswitz. "

Sun Tzu being Chinese, would be a more straight-forward read. Von Clausewitz, being Prussian, is going to be a little more verbose and full of himself...

Prussians are actually far more likely to be regarded as taciturn, rather than verbose. Full of themselves ... now that's a different story. Prussians, and Germans in general, do value exactness, so Prussian/German philosophical writing tends to be complex and wordy, designed to capture every possible nuance.

Clausewitz was also writing about a more specific set of circumstances, what he saw as the revolution in military affairs from the 18th to the 19th centuries, from Frederick the Great to Napoleon, as warfare evolved from the set-piece movements of small professional armies across the chessboard of Europe to the concept of a nation in arms. And his writing was primarily aimed at his War Academy students. So a lot of On War is not only hard to read, but dated.

Sun Tzu's Chinese is more straightforward, but also more vague. His prescriptions come across in many cases as more generic axioms. "As circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans". "In war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak." Etc. So despite being some two millennia older, much of it seems less dated, but as a practical matter less useful.

The generic axioms lend themselves to broad interpretations. So you get the Art of War for sports teams, businessmen, trial lawyers, etc. I remember finding it ironic in the 1990s that businessmen were reading Sun Tzu, while the Army was trotting out business school management theories like TQM.