Clausewitz and the sociology of war.

This article discusses the works of Carl von Clausewitz on the sociology of war. Most of the literature in the war and society genre focuses on the processes of change in national societies, rather than on warfare as such. In Clausewitz's major work, On war, he studied widely in the military, and aspects of his thoughts and writings are continuously referred to by strategic theorists. Even those who disagree with Clausewitz frequently define themselves in opposition to his thought. With the advent of the French revolution, Napoleon and his armies swept the forces of the ancien régime before them. Clausewitz fought against Napoleon, and devoted his life to reflecting on the meaning of Napoleonic warfare. For Clausewitz, absolute war was the essence of war, its tendential inner nature. While real war might be the statistical norm, the true nature of war and had to sought in absolute war. Violence and decisive battle was one answer Clausewitz gave to his question concerning the nature of war. The purpose of the proposition that war is the extension of politics was to assert the rational direction of war as a whole. It is not simply the eruption of unreasoning passion, nor it is merely the result of error or mistakes.