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  Item Reference: KCLCAL-1927-1928-489

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IV OX THE USES OF THE STUDY OF WAR Just nine years before the Great War one of von Clausewitz's dis- ciples put this clearly in an elaboration of his master's principle War has for its aim to compel peace upon our own conditions Armed peace aims at preparing the means for war in such strength and in such state of readiness that the enemy the state with whose interests our interests conflict will remain at peace under our condi- tions It is noteworthy as showing how firmly Clausewitz's doctrine was established that after the war was over on November 18th 1919 von Hindenburg and Ludendorff presented to the German Commission of Inquiry into the responsibility for the war written statement in which the following occurs The German General Staff is based upon the teachings of the great war philosopher Clausewitz Accordingly we look upon war as nothing but the continuation of politics by dint of other means than those of statesmanship-that is by force of arms Now as far as my researches have carried me have not been able to discover that Clausewitz's theory was ever seriously challenged by any authority who could make his voice heard one reason being that comparatively few soldiers and still fewer civilians in this country have studied his works It is true that Mr Norman Angell in two books did propound the theory that modern war could not be made profitable even to the victor and experience has taught us that he was right as regards material profit in the case of war between great or evenly matched powers But Mr Angell did not sufficiently consider that submission to tyranny may be worse thing than loss of life and money or that the tyrant may be delighted to gain his ends without having to fight for them We may well ask Mr Angell whether it would have profited Belgium to have gained immunity by passive acceptance of demand made at the point of the bayonet and to have lost certainly her soul probably her independence Would it have profited us or the cause of peace which depends to-day more than ever upon the sanctity of international obligations to have refused to honour our signature when asked to do so Further Mr Angell does not appear to have discovered whence came the theories which he was attacking and he obscured the issue by intro- ducing into an attack on war an attack on nationality Certainly the writings of some of the later disciples of Clausewitz notably those of Bernhardi did attract considerable attention in this country but there was little examination of the source of their inspira- tion suggest that if say fifty years ago our great universities had made their apparatus for study available for an examination of the theory of war and of the functions of armed forces in the State we should have cleared our minds and quite possibly been able as Clause- witz did to influence thought beyond our own country but in different Admiral Freiherr von Maltzahn Official German documents relating to the world war "Carnegie Endowment vol II 852 Angell "The Great Illusion and "The Foundations of International Politics
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