In engaging and vivid detail Hew Strachan reveals the story behind the most important treatise on war ever written, and a book that has been blamed for the unprecedented death tolls in the first and second world wars.
'On War' by Karl von Clausewitz was first published in Germany after the Napoleonic Wars. As one of the most significant treatises on military strategy ever written, it is still prescribed at various military academies today. Its description of 'total war' and its insistence on the inevitability of combat and death have been blamed for the level of destruction involved in both the first and second world wars. Hew Strachan's accessible and readable book explains why and how 'On War' was written, the impact that it made on conflict, and its continued significance in our world today.
