Clausewitz, On War, Book 1, Chapter 1, §4 The Aim is to Disarm the Enemy

by Corry Shores
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Clausewitz, On War

Book I "On the Nature of War"

Chapter I "What is War?"

§4 The Aim is to Disarm the Enemy

Previously we learned that War's aim is disarming the enemy.

We want our enemy to serve our will. He will not voluntarily fulfill our wish. We must corner him into a choice:

1) fulfill or will, or

2) endure the worse circumstances we impose.

If our opponent is to be made to comply with our will, we must place him in a situation which is more oppressive to him than the sacrifice which we demand.

.

This oppression must seem inescapable. They cannot think it temporary. Otherwise they hold out.

Every change in our opponent's condition should be a change for the worse. The worst possible change is full disarmament. To reduce our enemy to submission, we must either:

1) positively disarm him, or

2) bring him to see its inevitability.

War is conflict between opposing forces. The enemy resists us.

As long as the enemy is not defeated, he may defeat me; then I shall be no longer my own master; he will dictate the law to me as I did to him.

Both sides escalating to full force was the first reciprocal action. THE SECOND RECIPROCAL ACTION is the mutual effort to disarm the opposition.

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Original text from the translation:

4. THE AIM IS TO DISARM THE ENEMY.

We have already said that the aim of all action in War is to disarm the enemy, and we shall now show that this, theoretically at least, is indispensable.

If our opponent is to be made to comply with our will, we must place him in a situation which is more oppressive to him than the sacrifice which we demand; but the disadvantages of this position must naturally not be of a transitory nature, at least in appearance, otherwise the enemy, instead of yielding, will hold out, in the prospect of a change for the better. Every change in this position which is produced by a continuation of the War should therefore be a change for the worse. The worst condition in which a belligerent can be placed is that of being completely disarmed. If, therefore, the enemy is to be reduced to submission by an act of War, he must either be positively disarmed or placed in such a position that he is threatened with it. From this it follows that the disarming or overthrow of the enemy, whichever we call it, must always be the aim of Warfare. Now War is always the shock of two hostile bodies in collision, not the action of a living power upon an inanimate mass, because an absolute state of endurance would not be making War; therefore, what we have just said as to the aim of action in War applies to both parties. Here, then, is another case of reciprocal action. As long as the enemy is not defeated, he may defeat me; then I shall be no longer my own master; he will dictate the law to me as I did to him. This is the second reciprocal action, and leads to a second extreme (SECOND RECIPROCAL ACTION).

Clausewitz, Carl von. On War, Vol.1. Transl. J.J. Graham.

Text available online at:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1946/1946-h/1946-h.htm