A Very Short Introduction
Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 9780192802576, 84 pp
Author: Michael Howard
Reviewed By: Thomas J Rogers
I was initially perplexed when asked to review Professor Sir Michael Howard’s Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction. Howard himself died in 2019, and the original version of this volume is old, published in 1983 (before I was born).[1] However, age has not diminished the book’s value. Indeed, its worth may have only increased given (former) Chief of Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart’s public pronouncements that Army needs to strengthen its intellectual foundations in the study of war.[2]
In Clausewitz, Howard presents the key ideas of Prussian general and military strategist Carl von Clausewitz, whose principal work On War is still widely cited as the defining book on the topic despite being written in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars.[3] Howard’s Clausewitz is an excellent introduction to a key thinker on the nature of war, and it is a uniquely accessible one given its small size as both a paperback and as an ebook.
Rather than being a biography of Carl von Clausewitz (or ‘Karl’ as this edition idiosyncratically spells his first name), the book is divided into five chapters. The first outlines the development of On War, detailing Clausewitz’s intellectual, military, and political background, and situating his magnum opus in its time. Later chapters deal with Clausewitz’s ideas on the theory and practice of war; ends and means; and limited and absolute war. These are concepts that military scholars and practitioners have debated since On War’s publication. The book concludes in a final chapter that grapples with Clausewitz’s legacy.
One of the most fascinating lessons of Howard’s book is the intellectual context within which Clausewitz wrote. War, like the sciences and philosophy, was a fertile subject of study among late-eighteenth-century European thinkers.[4] Howard shows that Clausewitz disagreed with three main types of war writers: scholarly officers with no meaningful command experience; those who said that no principles of war existed and that individual military genius could not be predicted (although he had some sympathy with this view); and those who argued that immutable laws of war could be discovered – of this view he reserved his greatest contempt.[5] These 18th Century archetypes of war thinkers still exist, and to them can be added those war thinkers who believe individual technologies will revolutionise warfare. Howard’s book prompts readers to think about how Clausewitz—who sought to understand the essential nature of warfare—would have dealt with such erroneous thinking.
Throughout the book Howard’s prose is characteristically readable. Those familiar with his War in European History will find the same hallmarks: thumbnail sketches of complex themes in clear and accessible terms; provision of sufficient information for the novice; and an entree to further study.[6] Indeed, Howard was perfectly placed to write this approachable introduction to Clausewitz, having been half of the duo (with Peter Paret) that produced what many still consider to be the standard English translation of On War.[7] One unavoidable drawback of a book of its age is that the further reading section lacks recent scholarship.[8] In the decades since Howard’s book was published, academics across a range of disciplines have examined Clausewitz and his legacy.[9] Despite this, the book remains an excellent overview.
There is much of value that Army, and Australian Defence Force (ADF) members more broadly, can gain from studying Clausewitz’s theories. It should come as no surprise that the 2025 Chief of Army Professional Study Guide specifies On War as mandatory reading for Australian sergeants and lieutenants.[10] Clausewitz focused his attentions on land warfare, and Army personnel in particular will find in Howard’s book an appreciation of how war has been understood in earlier times, and in different strategic circumstances to our own. Howard’s book is also an excellent starting point for ADF personnel looking to follow up on, for example, the points raised in Major General Chris Smith’s stirring keynote presentation to the 2025 Chief of Army History Conference.[11] Ultimately, while Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction is not a substitute for a close reading of On War itself, it does provide Army’s junior leaders with useful context if read before or alongside the source document.
Beyond uniformed individuals, there is much in Howard’s book that will appeal to a wide audience of readers who are interested in how and why human societies organise and condone fighting. While Howard presents Clausewitz as a professional soldier writing for other professional soldiers—a man who wants Prussia to win at war—this is not the full picture of Clausewitz the thinker.[12] What sets Clausewitz apart from other writers on war is his attempt to describe the nature, or essence, of war. He was a philosopher of war as much as a practitioner.[13]
Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction is a clear and concise overview of an important topic for anyone interested in military history or strategic studies. Michael Howard’s book is a brilliant introduction to Clausewitz and his work, and will be especially valuable to those whose professional reading requires them to grapple with the ideas of this most famous exemplar of the Prussian officer corps.
Endnotes
[1] The book was originally published as Michael Howard, Clausewitz (Oxford University Press, 1983).
[2] Simon Stuart, ‘Opening address – Chief of Army History Conference 2025’, Chief of Army History Conference 2025, Canberra, 19 November 2025, https://www.army.gov.au/news-and-events/speeches-and-transcripts/2025-11-19/opening-address-chief-army-history-conference-2025.
[3] Michael Howard, Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2002), 1.
[4] Howard, Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction, 12–14.
[5] Howard, Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction, 22–23.
[6] Michael Howard, War in European History (Oxford University Press, rev. ed., 2001).
[7] Carl von Clausewitz, On War, ed. and trans. Michael Howard and Peter Paret (Princeton University Press, rev. ed., 1984).
[8] Howard, Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction, 79–80.
[9] See, for example: Jon Sumida, Decoding Clausewitz: A New Approach to On War (University Press of Kansas, 2008); Antulio Echevarria, Clausewitz and Contemporary War, Oxford University Press, 2007; Hugh Smith, On Clausewitz : A Study of Military and Political Ideas (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).
[10] Chief of Army Professional Study Guide (Australian Army, 2025), available.
[11] Chris Smith, ‘Keynote Presentation’, Chief of Army History Conference 2025, Canberra, 19 November 2025, 30 min., 3 sec., https://cove.army.gov.au/article/chief-army-history-conference-2025.
[12] On this point, see Hew Strachan, ‘Michael Howard and Clausewitz’, Journal of Strategic Studies 45, no. 1 (2022): 143–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2022.2031994.
[13] See, for instance, Anatol Rapoport, ‘Editor’s Introduction’, in Carl von Clausewitz, On War, trans. J.J. Graham, ed. Anatol Rapoport (Penguin Books, 1976), 22–23.
