Carl von Clausewitz: Friction, Fog and the Unfinished On War

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Carl von Clausewitz entered the Prussian army in 1792 at 12 years old as a lance corporal and saw combat in the Rhine campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars before his teens. At the Military Academy in Berlin from 1801 he became a protégé of Gerhard von Scharnhorst and read Immanuel Kant and Johann Gottlieb Fichte, ideas that later fed his notion of the fog of war. The catastrophe at Jena-Auerstedt in 1806 left him a prisoner in France for over a year and convinced him that Napoleon's mass armies had ended the old cabinet wars. In 1810 he married Countess Marie von Brühl, and in 1812 he resigned rather than serve alongside the French, joining the Russian army.

In 1815 he was a chief of staff at Wavre, where about 17,000 Prussians held off more than 30,000 French and kept them away from Waterloo. After years running the Berlin academy, he died of cholera in 1831 at 51 while organizing a quarantine line on the Polish border, leaving an unfinished manuscript. Marie edited and published On War in 1832. The episode explains his dialectical method, the trinity of emotion, chance, and reason, and how his ideas reached Moltke, Marx, Lenin, Mao, and Eisenhower.

King Frederick William III never fully forgave Clausewitz for leaving to fight with Russia in 1812.
Wavre was a tactical defeat for his unit but helped secure the strategic victory that ended Napoleon's reign.
The famous line that war is a continuation of policy by other means is the antithesis in his argument, not his final conclusion.
Friction, in his words, means everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult.
Eisenhower drew on the concept of absolute war to shape Cold War nuclear deterrence and massive retaliation.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(16184)

The Art of Adult Friendship: Why Quality Matters More Than Quantity

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore how our understanding of friendship changes as we grow old...

9 Marras 18min

Summer Explained: The Science, History, and Traditions of the Warmest Season

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore summer, the season most closely associated with sunshine, ...

7 Marras 18min

Sir Patrick Stewart: From Shakespeare to Star Trek, the Life and Legacy of a Legend

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the extraordinary life of Sir Patrick Stewart, the acclaim...

7 Marras 49min

Larry David: The Genius of Social Awkwardness, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life and career of Larry David, the comedian, writer, ...

6 Marras 38min

Why Australian Shepherds Aren't From Australia

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the history of the Australian Shepherd, an intelligent, en...

5 Marras 45min

Labrador Retriever: From Newfoundland Fishing Dogs to Modern-Day Heroes

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the remarkable history of the Labrador Retriever, one of t...

4 Marras 53min

Discovering Ireland: A Journey Through History, Culture, and the Wild Atlantic Way

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore Ireland through the philosophy of slow travel: go slower, ...

3 Marras 48min

Willie Hutch: An Overnight I'll Be There Lyric and The Mack's Soundtrack

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!William McKinley Hutchins was born in Los Angeles in December 1944 and raised in Dallas, where h...

2 Marras 21min