Vom Kriege
by Carl von Clausewitz · first published 1835
7mentions
1recommended by
6HN commenters
2009–2025first – last mentioned
17% recommend83% neutral
Vom Kriege is the basic work on the Western way of war. For Clauswitz, war is "politics by other means". It concentrates on defeating the enemy by massing overwhelming force at the enemy's weak point. In his rationalistic model, the prince (or other governing elite) begins with a set of objectives and chooses the most cost-effective way of accomplishing them. If force is seen as that way, then the prince chooses war. When the objectives have been achieved, then the war has been won regardless of conditions and dispositions on the field. Clausewitz is read by every officer cadet in every d
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Anyone who says violence is _never_ the answer is frankly, naive to history and power. Violence and politics are both on a spectrum and means to the same end of asserting your will. Vom Kriege is obviously not the forefront of philosophy anymore but it’s a good place to start if anyone reading this hasn’t come across that idea and wants to learn more. Even your non violent examples of King…
on “Charlie Kirk killed at event in Utah” ↗The only books in that vein I know are "The Art Of War" by Sun Tzu and Clausewitz' "Vom Kriege". I suspect german book shops don't tend to stock as many books on war as some other countries (I remember seeing the "military" section of a bookstore for the first time in London). Anyway, I would…
on “Ask HN: good books about military strategy?” ↗…things started looking bad for the MPAA. So, they backed off. Suing lots of random people on rather flimsy grounds would very soon get political too. Furthermore, as Von Clausewitz nicely argues in "Vom Kriege", war is just the continuation of the political negotiations but then by other means. So, that would be the next step, if even the political confrontation would fail. It was not that the MPAA was ever…
on “Do Bitcoin Markets Have a Conversion Tort Problem?” ↗Having done a paper on cyber war for school, I was surprised to find that the two books that were quoted most often by war theorists were Carl von Clausewitz's "Vom Kriege" and Sun-Tzu's "The Art of War" - one is 200 years old, the other 2000...
on “Ask HN: What books will stay relevant for many years to come?” ↗The author said he'd read Vom Kriege, which is Clausewitz's "On War"
on “Ask HN: good books about military strategy?” ↗…means.’ Can this guy read German? Because that seems like an over-translation of the simple „Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln“ (title of section 24, chapter 1, book I of Vom Kriege). I would also note that Napoleon failed in the end, but that he did quite well in the meanwhile. He continued the Revolutionary Wars, and so was doomed to face the forces of reaction, who would never…
on “How Good Was Napoleon? (2007)” ↗…punishing them anymore because they’d have nothing left to lose, then they already effectively had nothing left to lose. If you want to try and bluff society on acceptable behavior then you should read Vom Kriege and be prepared to fight hard or deal with the consequences. That’s been the reality of any group that’s wanted to overthrow societal standards for good or bad. In this case at least the jury decided…
on “Woman Is Awarded $1.2B in ‘Revenge Porn’ Lawsuit” ↗