6 APRIL 2011

One-Day Workshop on Clausewitz and Small Wars, in Washington, DC

It is the workshop organizers' conviction that Clausewitz should be regarded as an early theorist of wars of national liberation. In his “Lectures on Small War,” he analyzed guerrilla warfare by studying the rebellion in the Vendée 1793-1796, the Tyrolean uprising of 1809, and most prominently, the Spanish insurrection from 1808 onward. In his famous Testimonial or “Bekenntnisdenkschrift” of 1812, in which he demands a “Spanish civil war in Germany,” he outlined a comprehensive guerrilla strategy against Napoleonic France and supported his view with theoretical reflections about the nature of defense and offence. In his posthumously published work On War, Clausewitz included a short chapter on “The People in Arms” in the sixth book on defense, in which he deals with practical as well as theoretical aspects of popular uprising and guerrilla warfare. It is safe to say that biographically and intellectually “People's War” was at the very beginning of Clausewitz’ career.

Hosted by the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies thanks to financial support from the Smith Richardson Foundation.

Contact: Dr. Christopher Daase

OXFORD 2005 CLAUSEWITZ CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS Judging by the recent increase in published discussion, it appears that we are entering yet another of the periodic upsurges in the study of Clausewitz and his theories regarding war. This is a bad sign from the standpoint of world peace, since we seem to think seriously about war only when the beast is upon us. But it is also, by that same token, an encouraging omen. An important reflection of this renewed interest was "Clausewitz in the 21st Century" – a conference held in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, 21-23 March 2005, sponsored by the Oxford Leverhulme Programme on the Changing Character of War (CCW). For further details, please visit the conference webpages at http://ccw.modhist.ox.ac.uk/events/archives/tt05_clausewitz.asp. Conference report by Andreas Herberg-Rothe (in German) Conference report by Ulrike Kleemeier (in German -- see pp.187-91) Conference report by Claus Eskild Andersen, cand.phil. Danish officer (Major) (in Danish) Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Hew Strachan and Andreas Herberg-Rothe (Oxford University Press, September 2007). ISBN: 0199232024. This is the proceedings of the March 2005 Oxford University conference on Clausewitz in the 21st Century. This is a stellar, multidisciplinary collection of essays that defines the current state of the art in Clausewitz studies.

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