Clausewitz, who fought in the Napoleonic wars, sought to understand and analyze the phenomenon of war so that future leaders could win conflicts more effectively. This abridged edition selects the books in which the nature and theory of war are developed and explains the originality his ideas.

Although Carl von Clausewitz participated in many military campaigns, he was primarily a military theorist interested in the examination of war. On War is the West's premier work on the philosophy of war. Other soldiers before him had written treatises on various military subjects, but none undertook a great philosophical examination of war on the scale of Clausewitz's. On War is considered to be the first modern book of military strategy. This is due mainly to Clausewitz' integration of political, social, and economic issues as some of the most important factors in deciding the outcomes of a war. It is one of the most important treatises on strategy ever written, and continues to be required reading at many military academies.

An important contribution to the field of both philosophy and warfare, this has stayed in the public conscience since it was first published.

First published by Routledge & Kegan Paul 1968.
Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was a Prussian General and military writer.
His writings are contained in nine volumes, published posthumously, but his fame rests most upon these three volumes, forming his treatise On War. It reveals war, stripped of all accessories, as the exercise of force for the attainment of a political object, unrestrained by any law save that of expediency, this gives the key to the interpretation of German political aims, past, present and future.