4. Prussia, Clausewitz and the Interpretation of His Works

Souchon shows that the use of Clausewitz’s theory in strategic analyses of wars in the twenty-first century demands two steps to be taken to provide the necessary knowledge: The first one, involves the portrayal of the situation in Prussia at the beginning of the nineteenth Century, the life and work of Carl von Clausewitz in the light of his days and including the belligerent and philosophical milieus in which he socialises. This secondly, by an in-depth discussion of three interpretations of Clausewitz’s theory: (a) Clausewitz from the historical perspective, (b) as scholar of military science and (c) the holistic interpretation of war with the theory of Clausewitz. It is primarily, the third interpretation, related to the present, that forms a general basis for strategic thinking in the future.