In Popular Culture
- Literature
- 1945: In the Horatio Hornblower novel The Commodore, by C. S. Forester, the protagonist meets Clausewitz during the events surrounding the defence of Riga
- 1945: In That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis, Lord Feverstone (Dick Devine) defends rudely cutting off another professor by saying " but then I take the Clausewitz view. Total war is the most humane in the long run."
- 1955: In Ian Fleming's novel Moonraker, James Bond reflects that he has achieved Clausewitz's first principle in securing his base, though this base is a relationship for intelligence purposes and not a military installation.
- 1977: In The Wars by Timothy Findley, a novel about a 19-year-old Canadian officer who serves in World War I, one of his fellow soldiers reads On War, and occasionally quotes some of its passages.
- 2000: In the Ethan Stark military science fiction book series by John G. Hemry, Clausewitz is often quoted by Private Mendoza and his father Lieutenant Mendoza to explain events that unfold during the series.
- 2004: Bob Dylan mentions Clausewitz on pages 41 and 45 of his Chronicles: Volume One, saying he had "a morbid fascination with this stuff," that "Clausewitz in some ways is a prophet" and reading Clausewitz can make you "take your own thoughts a little less seriously." Dylan says that Vom Kriege was one of the books he looked through among those he found in his friend's personal library as a young man playing at The Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village.
- Film
- 1962: In Lawrence of Arabia, General Allenby (Jack Hawkins) contends to T. E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) that "I fight like Clausewitz, you fight like Saxe", to which Lawrence replies, "We should do very well indeed, shouldn't we?"
- 1977: In Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron, Feldwebel Steiner (James Coburn) has an ironic conversation in the trenches in gaps in hostilities with the advancing Red Army with his comrade, Cpl. Schnurrbart, in which they refer to German philosophers and their views on war. Schnurrbart: " ...and von Clausewitz said, 'war is a continuation of state policy by other means.'" "Yes," Steiner says, overlooking the trenches, " ...by other means."
- 1995: In Crimson Tide, the naval officers of the nuclear submarine have a discussion about the meaning of the quote "War is a continuation of politics by other means." The executive officer (Denzel Washington) contends that the interpretation of Clausewitz's ideas by the captain (Gene Hackman) is too simplistic.
- 2004: In Downfall, set during the last days of the Third Reich, Hitler initiates Operation Clausewitz, as part of the last defence of Berlin
- 2007: In Lions for Lambs, during a military briefing in Afghanistan Lt. Col. Falco (Peter Berg) says: "Remember your von Clausewitz: 'Never engage the same enemy for too long or he will ...'", "adapt to your tactics", completes another soldier
- 2009: In Law Abiding Citizen, Clausewitz is frequently quoted by Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler), the main character
Read more about this topic: Carl Von Clausewitz
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