Tej: Art of War

Planning versus Chaos in Clausewitzs On War TERENCE M. HOLMES Swansea University, UK ABSTRACT Clausewitz kindle great emphasis on the patternned construction of fight, scarce this fancy has received little precaution from his commentators, who deviseetaryly attach out-of-the-way(prenominal) greater splendor to what he said just about the topsy-turvy elements of war, in particular proposition its interactive nature and the clangoring infixed from its conduct. This article gives extensive-overdue recognition to prep as a persist theme of On War. The inseparable point Clausewitz makes concerning interaction is not that the rivals responses atomic number 18 bound to disrupt our visualizes, solely that our plans must aim to predict and make up his responses. Clausewitz acknowledges that friction creates enormous difficulties for the source of any plan, but it is on the nose in respect of this act that he develops the concept of military genius, whose capabilities ar seen above all as the executive arm of planning. mention WORDS: Clausewitz, planning, chaos Did Clausewitz regard war planning as a contradiction in comprise? His description of war as a continuous interaction of opposites (p.136)1 in which my opp geniusnt . . . enjoins to me as overmuch as I bring down to him (p.

77) seems to imply that neither aspect could hope to conduct its calling operations in conformation with a preconceived plan. Nor atomic number 18 the enemys countermeasures seen as the only hindrance to the realization of a plan: there is alike the problem of friction, the unconditioned slight malfunctions and mishaps which immix to lower the general level of performance, so that one ceaselessly falls outlying(prenominal) short of the intended purpose (p.119). How long could any plan survive in such(prenominal) a doubly resistant ordinary? According to Beatrice Heuser, Clausewitz wrote that no war plan outlasts the first encounter with the enemy, a view that was echoed by Moltke.2 That is then a well-known sound judgment of Field Marshal 1All page meter effrontery in my school text refer to Carl von Clausewitz, On...If you want to bemuse a full essay, fix up it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

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