Clausewitz on Small War - Tapa dura

These translations will facilitate new lines of research on Clausewitz's theory of small war, a more integrated treatment of Clausewitz's larger corpus of work, and more informed analyses of Clausewitz's relevance for the contemporary world.By shedding light on old debates about Clausewitz and by facilitating new lines of research, Clausewitz on Small War makes an enormously important contribution to strategic studies and to the history of military thought. (Jack S. Levy, Journal of Strategic Studies)

Clausewitz on Small War is a welcome addition to the growing recent scholarship on Clausewitz and will add depth to theoretical and analytical approaches to war and strategic studies, tackling as it does the artificial divide between "big" and "small" wars. (Simon Taylor, E-International Relations)

Widely recognized as one of the most important theorists of warfare, important strands of Carl von Clausewitz's thinking on the subject are not widely known. In the English-speaking world, few are familiar with anything other than his major, though unfinished and posthumously published, opus On War, which is available in numerous translations. Although the corpus of Clausewitz's writings on the topic of warfare is far greater, most of these texts have never been translated.

In Clausewitz on Small War, Christopher Daase and James W. Davis begin to redress this unfortunate state of affairs. In this volume they have assembled and translated Clausewitz's most important texts devoted to the analysis of asymmetric, unconventional, guerrilla, and small unit warfare, including Clausewitz's Lectures on Small War, held at the Prussian War Academy in 1810 and 1811. Augmenting our understanding of Clausewitz with his early writings on Small War leads to the conclusion that asymmetric warfare is not an historical development that can be termed pre- or post-Clausewitzian as many contemporary scholars of war and military strategy argue. Rather, Clausewitz himself emerges as an early theorist of insurgency and asymmetric warfare with insights that are relevant today. The book is a must read for soldiers, military strategists, historians of war, and students of international security.