Principles of War - Clausewitz

Clausewitz

The initial essay dealt with the tactics of combat, and suggested the following general principles:

• discover how we may gain a preponderance of physical forces and material advantages at the decisive point
• to calculate moral factors
• make the best use of the few means at our disposal
• never lack calmness and firmness...without this firm resolution, no great results can be achieved in the most successful war
• always have the choice between the most audacious and the most careful solution...no military leader has ever become great without audacity

Based on the above, Clausewitz went on to suggest principles for tactics, the scale of combat that dominated European warfare at the time:

• The Defence
• The Offense
• The Use of Troops
• The Use Of Terrain
• forces are more effective in a concentric rather than in a parallel attack; attack concentrically without having decisive superiority in an engagement
• always seek to envelop that part of the enemy against which we direct our main attack
• cut off the enemy from his line of retreat

Clausewitz also included in the essay general principles of strategy by saying that Warfare has three main objects:

• (a) To conquer and destroy the armed power of the enemy; always direct our principal operation against the main body of the enemy army or at least against an important portion of his forces
• (b) To take possession of his material and other sources of strength, and to direct our operations against the places where most of these resources are concentrated
• (c) To gain public opinion, won through great victories and the occupation of the enemy's capital

• use our entire force with the utmost energy
• the decisive point of attack
• never to waste time
• surprise plays a much greater role in strategy than in tactics
• pursuit
• forces concentrated at the main point
• an attack on the lines of communication takes effect only very slowly, while victory on the field of battle bears fruit immediately
• In strategy, therefore, the side that is surrounded by the enemy is better off than the side which surrounds its opponent, especially with equal or even weaker forces
• To cut the enemy's line of retreat, however, strategic envelopment or a turning movement is very effective
• be physically and morally superior
• stores of supplies, on whose preservation operations absolutely depend
• The provisioning of troops is a necessary condition of warfare and thus has great influence on the operations
• independent action

Strategic Defense

• Politically speaking defensive war is a war which we wage for our independence

Strategic Offense

• The strategic offensive pursues the aim of the war directly, aiming straight at the destruction of the enemy's forces