Are Clausewitz theory of Friction and Means and Ends relevant to a college student today - Research Paper Example

It is important to remember that the fog stems from corrupted information and so, the US officers can get better able to see and interpret everything by making advancements in information technologies. This research paper is basically an attempt to scrutinize the extent to which the Clausewitzian concepts on war can be considered relevant today for college students by exploring what the research literature has to say on the subject. Carl Von Clausewitz served in military army and developed many momentous theories about war.

Those theories can be found in his epic book “On War” which was still unfinished when he died. He has gained more reputation till now as a military theorist than a military professional. The fact that Clausewitz’s work is still frenetically researched demonstrates that it is found relevant even today in contemporary times. Also, my opinion is that I appreciate and enjoy Clausewitz’s theoretical approaches to war. I believe that he has conveyed what it takes to really understand the phenomenon of war through his insightful theories which can be useful to anybody even today in the modern times.

According to Clausewitz, “war is served by many activities” (2008, p. . In his theory about means and end, he favors strategy over tactics. His concept of tactics is a confluence of two streams, means (fighting forces) and ends (victory) suggesting that better trained fighting forces can lead to victory if they are more experienced at seeing and processing information on the battlefield. This is because once the means are properly developed, the purposes of the war get clearer, and the desired objectives can be reached without unnecessary delays due to uncertainty (fog).

However, in strategy the means is victory and the end is things which can help to reestablish peace. Just victory is not important, reestablishment of peace should also be a desired end. I find Clausewitz’s theoretical concepts to be both thought-provoking and acutely insightful because he digs with acute intelligence into a variety of meanings associated with friction and means and ends, and the best part is that every meaning holds something captivating to reflect. Clausewitz holds the position that the rate of probability is especially high in a situation like war because everything is uncertain.

Here, he goes against earlier war theorists who attempted to astutely assess the war performance by using hard and fast rules. For this purpose, the earlier theorists concentrated only on factors which could be calculated like the war supplies, number of participants (soldiers), interior lines etc. They forgot to assess the conduct of war by considering factors which do not have fixed values and cannot be calculated. It is the work of those theorists which cannot be considered relevant today because the times have changed and there is no room for those inflexible concepts on war now.

Clausewitz’s work on war in reference to its relevance today