‘There are cases in which the greatest daring is the greatest wisdom.’

A sweeping meditation on the nature of armed conflict during the Napoleonic Wars, Carl von Clausewitz’s On War remains the most influential work ever written on military strategy.

Rejecting rigid formulas around what makes a winning battle, Clausewitz argues that combat is fundamentally unpredictable, shaped by chance, emotion and political will. His famous dictum that warfare is ‘the continuation of politics’ reframes war as an extension of statesmanship as opposed to an isolated art. Covering novel concepts such as the asymmetrical relationship between attack and defence, strategy as belonging to the realm of art, the fog of war and more, Clausewitz’s study is both comprehensive and profound in its findings. Although an unfinished masterpiece, On War continues to shape how army officers, strategists and policymakers understand conflict and leadership two centuries later.

Carl von Clausewitz (1780 – 1831) was a Prussian army officer, entering the military service at the age of twelve. A keen military theorist, Clausewitz is known for his discussion of the psychological and political aspects of war, arguing that conflict could not be reduced to mapwork or geometry. His work has had a huge influence on German military thought.