Defending the Truth

I cannot help but feel that while the officers in the military are required to study military theory, the civilians who make the decisions do not. I still think a civilian authority ove rthe military is a good idea, however it should be an educated authority who has a working understanding (among other things) of the various theories of war. This can be best illustrated by the quotes from Von Clausewitz's book Von Kreig.

The fact that slaughter [battle] is a horrifying spectacle must make us take war more seriously, but [it does] not provide an excuse for gradually blunting our swords in the name of humanity. Sooner or later someone will come along with a sharp sword and hack off our arms. –Carl Von Clausewitz

The aggressor is always peace-loving; he would prefer to take over our country unopposed. –Carl Von Clausewitz

“No one starts a war--or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so--without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it.” –Carl Von Clausewitz

"The degree of force that must be used against the enemy depends on the scale of political demands on either side. . . . But they seldom are fully known. Since in war too small an effort can result not just in failure, but in positive harm, each side is driven to outdo the other, which sets up an interaction." –Carl Von Clausewitz

"Time . . . is less likely to bring favor to the victor than to the vanquished. . . An offensive war requires above all a quick, irresistible decision. . . . Any kind of interruption, pause, or suspension of activity is inconsistent with the nature of offensive war." –Carl Von Clausewitz

In limited war, we can achieve a positive aim by seizing and occupying a part of the enemy's territory. However, this effort is burdened with the defense of other points not covered by our limited offensive. Often the cost of this additional defense negates or even outweighs the advantages of our limited offensive. –Carl Von Clausewitz

"Inability to carry on the struggle can, in practice, be replaced by two other grounds for making peace: the first is the improbability of victory; the second is its unacceptable cost." –Carl Von Clausewitz

"Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain." –Carl Von Clausewitz

"If we do not learn to regard a war, and the separate campaigns of which it is composed, as a chain of linked engagements each leading to the next, but instead succumb to the idea that the capture of certain geographical points or the seizure of undefended provinces are of value in themselves, we are liable to regard them as windfall profits."
–Carl Von Clausewitz


I should add the a basic understanding by the populace is required for a country of free people to make well informed decisions about war, especially what it means to fight a war and the will required to sustain it. These are lessons that need to be learned by everyone, soldier and civilian alike before making a decision.