Some principles of military conduct, based on education of the will, and experience should allow the Prince to cultivate the art of conducting a battle. Read battle of narratives is thus exclusively preferred over the writings of historians who always tend, he says, to embellish reality. Positioning the principles of military tactics, are written in the context of the Napoleonic wars and their evolution. The strategist Clausewitz know that matter is changing; so it is no longer possible to surprise the army of his enemy.
The final pages are most important because they go beyond the military field.
"The difficulty is this: stay true to the principles in the performance that was fixed." (Emphasis added - p.64)
Clausewitz understood that the difficulty lies in the implementation of a strategy on the one hand and that it is essential "not to lose his composure and firmness, two qualities that war always put to the test First (...) and without which the most brilliant qualities of mind are useless "(p.9) because this achievement is in the human, in reality, out of the field, timeless, not existential , of the Idea.
"The conduct of the war entirely resembles the operation of a complex machine with enormous friction, so the combinations easily sketched on paper that can not be performed with great effort. Free will, the spirit of General, and sees all the time hampered in his movements. " (P.65)
Knowing keep a cool head is essential both in general and for officers directly dependent on it:
- "The great mass of men is timid in nature, and he regularly result exaggeration of danger All influences therefore coalesce on the commander to give a false representation of the strength of the enemy in front. him and this is a new source of irresolution. " (P.66)
- "So we must have confidence in its own general provisions and believe that they coincide with the expected effect What matters most here is the confidence that we give to subordinates general, so it is fundamental. choose for this position that people can be trusted, and remove any other consideration. " (P.67)
So respected these principles, with the education of aplomb:
"(...) If the commander in chief is a man driven by the audacity and the strength of will, and by a great ambition, it will continue its purpose anyway, and it will reach, while a ordinary man thinks he finds in the state army sufficient excuse to give up. " (P.70)
