One of the pieces of so-called conventional wisdom about Clausewitz is that he was “just a staff officer,” meaning he never saw much—if any—combat. Clausewitz certainly spent much of his time as a staff officer—though carrying this office during the Napoleonic era did not mean safe duty in the rear—and as a young soldier Clausewitz had also not yet put on this mantle. Clausewitz had an enormous amount of combat experience (he was involved in perhaps three dozen battles), as did the literally millions of men who bore arms during the era of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, one of the most intense periods of continuous, large-scale warfare in history. My primary focus has been upon reconstructing Clausewitz’s role in the various campaigns in which he served between 1793 and 1815. For understandable reasons, the bulk of the writing related to Clausewitz concerns his ideas and their development. Most previous works also march quickly over his combat experience, particularly that of 1813, 1814, and 1815. But, as we will see, reconstructing his battle experiences at places such as Göhrde, Sehestedt, Wavre, and others has much to teach us about Clausewitz as a soldier and a man. Clausewitz—who wrote profusely—was less prolific in regard to his own personal experiences. I have made use of what has come down to us, and added flesh to bone using accounts of those he served with or under, while placing him in the historical context of the campaigns in which he fought. While doing this I have also tapped his historical and analytical works to give his later assessments of individuals and their actions—especially their military decisions—in order to broaden our picture of his views of the campaigns. This also allows us to utilize some of his analysis and theoretical ideas in connection with events. His various works are touched upon along the way to mark the development of his ideas on his road to writing On War. The hope is that the result provides a basic introduction to Clausewitz’s life, as well as what he left us, and a map for those who wish to learn more. Peter Paret brilliantly traced Clausewitz’s intellectual development in his Clausewitz and the State, and those interested in deepening their understanding of Clausewitz and his age will be richly rewarded by his work.
It is self-evident that Clausewitz’s extensive military experience—combined with much study and thought—fed his theoretical writings, but drawing conclusive lines from any one event to an argument in On War is risky. However, studying his military experiences, when possible in toto, deepens our picture of the events that shaped Clausewitz’s mind and perhaps guided his pen.
Donald Stoker
Monterey, California
July 2014