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Carl von Clausewitz

1 free book by Carl von Clausewitz. 1 you can read right here.

Born 1780 in Burg · Died 1831 in Wrocław

writer · Kingdom of Prussia, Germany

Notable works: On War

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Facts from Wikidata (Q76430), retrieved 2026-09-26.

Quotes from Carl von Clausewitz’s books

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On War

From Project Gutenberg e-text #1946 (public domain in the USA).

We therefore repeat our proposition, that War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost bounds; as one side dictates the law to the other, there arises a sort of reciprocal action, which logically must lead to an extreme.

I. What is War?Read in context →

War therefore is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will.

I. What is War?Read in context →

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