suasion that as a strategist he would have greatly distinguished
himself. As a leader on the field of battle, on the other hand, he would
not have been so much in his right place, from a manque d'habitude du
commandement, he wanted the art d'enlever les troupes."

After the Prussian Army of Observation was dissolved, Clausewitz
returned to Breslau, and a few days after his arrival was seized with
cholera, the seeds of which he must have brought with him from the army
on the Polish frontier. His death took place in November 1831.

His writings are contained in nine volumes, published after his death,
but his fame rests most upon the three volumes forming his treatise on
"War." In the present attempt to render into English this portion of the
works of Clausewitz, the translator is sensible of many deficiencies,
but he hopes at all events to succeed in making this celebrated treatise
better known in England, believing, as he does, that so far as the
work concerns the interests of this country, it has lost none of the
importance it possessed at the time of its first publication.

J. J. GRAHAM (Col.)

BOOK I. ON THE NATURE OF WAR

CHAPTER I. WHAT IS WAR?

1. INTRODUCTION.

WE propose to consider first the single elements of our subject,
then each branch or part, and, last of all, the whole, in all its
relations--therefore to advance from the simple to the complex. But
it is necessary for us to commence with a glance at the nature of the
whole, because it is particularly necessary that in the consideration of
any of the parts their relation to the whole should be kept constantly
in view.

2. DEFINITION.

We shall not enter into any of the abstruse definitions of War used by
publicists. We shall keep to the element of the thing itself, to a duel.
War is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale. If we would conceive as
a unit the countless number of duels which make up a War, we shall do so
best by supposing to ourselves two wrestlers. Each strives by physical
force to compel the other to submit to his will: each endeavours
to throw his adversary, and thus render him incapable of further
resistance.

WAR THEREFORE IS AN ACT OF VIOLENCE INTENDED TO COMPEL OUR OPPONENT TO
FULFIL OUR WILL.

Violence arms itself with the inventions of Art and Science in order
to contend against violence. Self-imposed restrictions, almost
imperceptible and hardly worth mentioning, termed usages of
International Law, accompany it