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Karl von Clausewitz & Sun Tzu
Comparative Analysis of Karl von Clausewitz's theory and Sun Tzu's art of war
Civilization has evolved throughout history with numerous incidents of wars, conflicts, and destruction of territories and societies. The rise and fall of the Roman Empire was met with endless conflicts of warring tribes and cultures; war has become rampant through the years that, in the 20th century alone, we bore witness to three major conflicts: the First and Second World Wars and the Cold War. Destructive as wars may seem, Karl von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu considered the concept of war in a different perspective. Where war is synonymous to destruction, pillage, and suffering, Clausewitz and Tzu regarded war as a phenomenon that should be given more analysis than criticism.
In Clausewitz's "On War" and Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," both authors expound their view of the war. This paper centers on a comparative analysis of the discourses of...
The analysis found that while both authors subsist to the belief that war must be based on effective tactics and strategy and strong morality, they also differ in that Clausewitz considered war a scientific phenomenon while Tzu meant war to be a 'doctrine,' a philosophy that must be upheld by true and courageous warriors.
A comparison of Clausewitz's and Tzu's discourses showed that they shared similar viewpoints regarding one's preparedness to accomplish the conduct of war. In "On War," Clausewitz emphasized the role that tactics, "superiority of numbers," "subsistence of troops," and strategic locations and territories as key factors that make up his proposed theory of war. Similarly, Tzu expressed the significance of these factors in determining a groups' success against defeating the enemy.
However, the most important similarity that both authors have delved into their discourses was the role the morality…
Works cited
Clausewitz, K. von. E-text of "On War." Available at: http://www.clausewitz.com/CWZHOME/On_War/ONWARTOC.html.
Tzu, S. E-text of "The Art of War." Available at: http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html.
768). Yet the widespread slaughter of people in the name of total war was a principle varying point between Asian and Western powers during the 19th century. Despite whatever moral and philosophical objections Clausewitz might have raised to total war, he certainly saw value in involving as much of a population as possible in its martial efforts. In this respect, he conceived of war from a decidedly nationalistic viewpoint, in
However in those days, the progress was even slower and there was deeper concern about the possibility of complete transition. Samuel Huntington's path-breaking book, Political Order in Changing Societies (1968) has been by far the most well received and comprehensive book on the subject of civilian military relations. Huntington studied the conditions in Latin America and found that in underdeveloped countries, militaries were usually more powerful because society cannot access
Strategy -- Rulers, States and War It is very difficult to look at the history of humanity and define a number of common, yet intangible philosophies of action that seem to be part of the overall human condition. One of these intangibles is the human capacity to produce both incredible beauty and horrific evil -- both of which occur during war. In fact, we may ask -- what is war?