Accession Number : ADA440524

Title :   Clausewitz and Strategy in the Missile Age: A Critique of Bernard Brodie's Strategic Thought

Corporate Author : NATIONAL WAR COLL WASHINGTON DC

Personal Author(s) : Huntington, William

PDF Url : ADA440524

Report Date : 09 OCT 1990

Pagination or Media Count : 8

Abstract : In the normal course of things it is modern commentators that critique their predecessors. In the following pages I will turn this idea on its head by critically reviewing the strategic thought of Bernard Brodie (1910-1978) using the strategist thought of Carl von Clausewitz (1710-1831) as the basis for my critique . Specifically, I propose to compare their thought using four major criteria as a framework. These criteria include what is war; why employ military power; when, or under what conditions should military power by employed; and how should military power be used. To put this effort in proper perspective it is necessary first to say a few words about the lives and times of these two military thinkers. Clausewitz lived his life over a hundred years before the advent of nuclear weapons. he was a professional military officer for most of his life. He knew war at first hand. Brodie, by contrast, was an academic. He never wore a uniform nor did he know from direct personnel experience about the horrors of war. He was, however, associated throughout his life with military institutions. He was, in fact, a member of the faculty that opened the National War College in 1946.

Descriptors :   *MILITARY PERSONNEL, *MILITARY STRATEGY, *PERSONNEL DEVELOPMENT, NUCLEAR WEAPONS, OFFICER PERSONNEL, QUALIFICATIONS, WARFARE.

Subject Categories : Personnel Management and Labor Relations
      Military Intelligence

Distribution Statement : APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE