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Vom Kriege - title image

Carl von Clausewitz

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This website presents a complete German edition of Carl von Clausewitz's classic work on the theory of war, Vom Kriege. We do not know exactly which edition it was scanned from. It appears, however, to be a very recent edition based on modern scholars' reconstruction of Clausewitz's original text.* This "book-by-book" version is divided into nine files: the front matter and the eight Books. We have also posted a "single-file version" for use by researchers interested in systematic searches and textual analysis. However, that single file is rather unwieldy, so we recommend this version for normal reading. For background on Clausewitz, visit our FAQs page. The Clausewitz Gesellschaft has also posted a full version of Vom Kriege.

* This conclusion is based on various features of the text, but particularly on the famous paragraph in Chapter 6B of Book 8, which concerns the relationship of the top military commander to the political cabinet. See p.608, fn.1, of the Howard/Paret translation for a discussion.

Clausewitz drinking with other Prussian leaders in 1815

Above: Clausewitz drinking with other Prussian leaders in Mainz, 1815. (Painting ''Tafelrunde im von-der-Leyenschen Hof'' by Josef Schneider, 1966. This painting is displayed on The Clausewitz Homepage by courtesy of the Headquarters of the German Army Forces Command, Koblenz (HQ GARFCOM).

cover image Vom Kriege, by Carl von Clausewitz, ed. Werner Hahlweg.
From Amazon.de. Gebundene Ausgabe - Dümmler, Bonn. Erscheinungsdatum: 1991, 19. Auflage, Nachdruck.fl.
ISBN: 342782019X. This link goes to the 19th German edition published by Dümmlers, Clausewitz's original publisher. It was edited by the esteemed German scholar Werner Hahlweg and is considered the standard and most accurate edition.

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