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1.3.1.
Mahnken, Thomas G. “Clausewitz's On War.” in Strategy in the…
1.3.1.
Mahnken, Thomas G. “Clausewitz's On War.” in Strategy in the Contemporary World: An Introduction to Strategic Studies, edited by John Baylis, James Wirtz, Eliot Cohen and Colin S. Gray. New York: Oxford University Press. 6th Edition, 61-65.
The Trinity, p. 62: war is a paradoxical Trinity – composed of violence, hatred, and enmity; the play of chance and probability; end of its element of subordination.
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Understanding the nature of a war, p. 62: the nature of a war is the result of the interaction of the objectives of the two sides; the people, government, and militaries of the belligerence; and the attitudes of allies and neutrals.
Corollary to how to interpret the Vietnam war, may be a useful example in the future
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Limited versus unlimited wars, p. 63:
Limited war: where the objective is merely to occupy some of his frontier districts (translate battlefield success into political leverage over the adversary)
Unlimited war: the objective is to render our enemy, politically helpless or militarily impotent this, forcing him to sign we’re ever piece we please (overthrow the adversaries regime or achieve unconditional)
The rational calculus of one, p. 64 : the correlation between the value, a state attaches to its ends, and the means it uses to achieve them… This is complicated.
States should be willing to fight longer and harder to secure or defend vital interest then prefer ones.
Friction, p. 65: the only concept that more or less corresponds to the factors that distinguish real war for more on paper. Direct quote from Clausewitz
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Key points
- Clausewitz viewed war as a paradoxical, trinity, composed of passion, probability, and reason. These tendencies generally correspond to the people, the military, and the government.
- Understanding the nature of a war is a necessary, but difficult precondition to developing an effective strategy.
- In war, it is important to identify and attack the enemies center of gravity. In class if it says view, this was most likely the enemies, army, capital, ally, leader, or public opinion.
- Clausewitz distinguished between wars, fought for limited and unlimited aims. The former are fought over territory; the latter are fought to overthrow the enemies regime or achieve unconditional surrender
- Clausewitz argued that there should be a correlation between the value estate attaches to it ends, and then means it uses to achieve them. In practice, however, this is often difficult to determine.