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The two giants of nineteenth century military thinking are Carl Von Clausewitz and Henri Johmini. Both theorists wrote about the ideas of Frederick the Great and Napoleon, and added their own ides as well. Many students of their ideas believe that World War One is an example of their ways of thinking about military strategies. But there is much more than that. For example, the United States Army's Field Manual of Operations dated August of 1982, includes many of the ideas published by Clausewitz and Johmini.
Henri Jomini and Carl Von Clausewitz were prominent military thinkers in the 19th century. Much of their writings were based on the wars fought by Napoleon and Frederick the Great. Both Jomini and Clausewitz were first hand witnesses to the military exploits of the aforementioned generals.
Credit for this idea has been given to 19th century military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. His book called On War provides examples of this.
Carl Von Clausewitz was a Prussian military writer in at the end of the 18th century and well into the 19th century. He based many of his writings on military strategies and tactics based on his observations of Frederick the Great and of Napoleon. Many US West Point students became aware of his works and were used in varying degrees in the US Civil War.
Clausewitz claimed that wars were driven by chance, passion and rationality.
In his book called On War, Carl von Clausewitz presents his theory that there are three forces that drive a war. The form a trinity he calls chance, passion, and rationality. This should not be confused with his ideas on war itself. Here in his trinity he speaks in very broad terms.
The primary early 19th century military theorists Henri Johmini and Carl von Clausewitz had similar but not exactly the same ideas on military strategies and tactics. Their similarity comes from the fact that both of them had a keen interest in the military campaign of Frederick the Great. Also, each had personal experiences in the Napoleonic War Era. And, lastly, they learned from each other by reading each other's books.
In 1915, Lenin drew heavily on the writing of the military ideas of Clausewitz. Especially the areas where Clausewitz wrote about the political side of warfare. In Lenin's work titled Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lenin speaks about his theory of wold politics using Clausewitz's ideas. Based on this, cynics claim that Lenin regarded the masses as mere objects for skilled political manipulation.Many hold the view that the Marxist intellectuals created the Bolshevik revolution, and the masses needed intellectual leadership to gain their fair share of political power.
The first great western strategist is often considered to be Sun Tzu, who wrote the famous military treatise "The Art of War" around the 5th century BCE. His teachings on strategy and tactics have had a profound influence on military thinking throughout history.
It demonstrated the effectiveness of total war - attacking the civilian under-pinning of the armies, and destroying military and civilian morale.
Both Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky were "students" in a sense of the writings of Carl von Clausewitz. They read his works and understood that political power can be enhanced towards a revolution that understands the connection or war and politics.
What was the military hierarchy of England 17th century