Clausewitz Nuclear War and Deterrence
Abstract
War, for Clausewitz, is an act of policy, a political instrument towards a specific end. It exists not in and of itself but in order to support a political objective. For his theories to be put into practice, the political decision had to be made to wage war. The advent of nuclear weapons and their role in the evolving east-west struggle following the second world war created a situation, however, unforeseen by Clausewitz, where the most basic political objective has been the prevention of war using these weapons, rather than to consider their actual use towards a specific military end. How would Clausewitz have reacted to such a situation, where the overriding political objective is to avoid the use of his profession as an active instrument of policy implementation? He probably would have started his study of nuclear war as he did his study of conventional war, studying it; examining it; attempting to fit it into his established framework and rewriting his basic theses before reaching a conclusion on it. Until he had done so, confident that he had thoroughly understood nuclear war's nature and ramifications, I doubt he would have ventured a critique of anyone else's analysis of the subject, including Bernard Brodie's. However, by examining some of Clausewitz's most basic elements, and by attempting to determine how he might have applied or adapted these elements of the phenomenon of nuclear war, we may find an indication of how he would have reacted to it and whether he would have supported Brodie's conclusion that its only use is as a deterrent. War, wrote Clausewitz, is never an isolated act. It can not be spread instantaneously. It does not consist of one decisive act. Its result is never final. Although a full analysis of these maxims in the nuclear age could argue there is some middle ground, the emergence of nuclear warfare in effect reverses all these statements.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA437609
Entities
People
- Alan W. Barr
Organizations
- National War College