Tej: Art of War

Planning versus Chaos in
Clausewitzs On War
TERENCE M. HOLMES
Swansea University, UK
ABSTRACT Clausewitz displace great emphasis on the patternned construction of war,
scarce this idea has received little attention from his commentators, who generally
attach out-of-the-way(prenominal) greater importance to what he said about the topsy-turvy elements of war,
in particular its interactive nature and the friction infixed from its conduct.
This article gives extensive-overdue recognition to planning as a predominate theme of
On War. The essential point Clausewitz makes concerning interaction is not that
the rivals responses are bound to disrupt our plans, merely that our plans must
aim to predict and incorporate his responses. Clausewitz acknowledges that
friction creates enormous difficulties for the credit of any plan, but it is
precisely in respect of this scrap that he develops the concept of military
genius, whose capabilities are seen above all as the executive arm of planning.
KEY WORDS: Clausewitz, planning, chaos
Did Clausewitz regard war planning as a contradiction in cost? His
description of war as a continuous interaction of opposites (p.136)1 in
which my opponent . . . enjoins to me as much as I dictate to him
(p.



77) seems to imply that neither side could hope to conduct its
trading operations in accordance with a preconceived plan. Nor are the
enemys countermeasures seen as the only hindrance to the realization
of a plan: there is also the problem of friction, the innumerable slight
malfunctions and mishaps which immix to lower the general level of
performance, so that one ceaselessly falls far short of the intended goal
(p.119). How long could any plan survive in such a doubly resistant
medium? According to Beatrice Heuser, Clausewitz wrote that no war
plan outlasts the first encounter with the enemy, a view that was echoed
by Moltke.2 That is indeed a well-known opinion of Field Marshal
1All page numbers effrontery in my text refer to Carl von Clausewitz, On...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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