Clausewitz in His Time

Peter Paret (1924-2020) was Professor emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Study. Among his works on military history and on European culture in the 18th to the 20th century are a biography, Clausewitz and the State, now in its fourth expanded edition, and the translation, with Michael Howard, of Clausewitz’s On War. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Philosophical Society and recipient of its Thomas Jefferson Medal, an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics, and an Honorary Member of the German Clausewitz Society. The German government awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionText and Context:  Two Ways to ClausewitzA Learned Officer among OthersFrederick the Great and his Interpreters Clausewitz and Schlieffen – Three Phases in the History of StrategyFrom Ideal to Ambiguity:  Johannes von Müller, Clausewitz, and the People in ArmsHalf against my Will I have become a Professor”Two Historians on Defeat and Its CausesBibliographyIndex

“…an enlightening addition to our ever-growing library of reflexions on Clausewitz’s legacy.” · The Journal of Military History“Overall the essays published here reflect impressively the intensive occupation of the by now 91-years-old historian in the life and work of Carl von Clausewitz. Apart from the research carried out of the German historian Werner Hahlweg and the French sociologist Raymond Aron, it is Peter Paret’s work that has greatly enriched our knowledge of Clausewitz and his time.” · Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift“Peter Paret has given us yet another fine addition to the literature on Clausewitz, as well as his era.” · Journal of Modern History