On War Summary

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Carl Von Clausewitz’s work in On War, remains just as relevant in modern day military strategy as it was in the past. His main points, on differences between absolute war and real war, and how war is a continuation of policy controlled by the “trinity”, will help any military or political leader avoid pitfalls when planning for today’s challenges. The theory of absolute war can aid military and political leaders understand the basic concepts of war, and their applicability in war gaming and creating military strategies. Moreover, the reality of war, aids leaders to understand war as a continuation of state policy, with the political aims being controlled by the trinity. The trinity is made up of the people, the government, and the military. …show more content…

While factoring the means of an enemy force deals with numbers, the strength of will is much less easy to determine and can only be gauged approximately by the strength of the motive animating it, i.e. the hostile intent of the enemy. Once these two factors are estimated, an attacker or defender will adjust their efforts to overcome the other. Consequently, absolute war is an act of force and strength with no logical limit to the amount of force or strength that can be used. Any inclination to introduce moderation of force into theory is a logical absurdity. This type of war leads to extremes and zero-sum resolutions: Both sides will try and duplicate the force and strength of the other and continue to fight until the other is destroyed which is central to the very idea of …show more content…

The most relevant example is on the United States War on Terror. After the 9/11 attacks, the Bush Administration established the political aims to disrupt, deter, and dismantle the terror network Al-Qaeda, located inside Afghanistan. To achieve this political goal, the other links in the trinity began to support each other. The Military, in turn, supplied the strategy to compel the Afghani government to cease its support of terrorism, thus achieving the Bush Administration’s political objectives. The people, impassioned by the recent attacks, guided public opinion of the political aims and accepted the military strategy that would achieve the political objective of disrupting terrorism. All three links of the trinity worked in tandem, delivering a successful political objective of dismantling Al-Qaeda inside

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