Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER II ECONOMIC CHANGE IN ENGLAND AND EUROPE, 1780–1830
- CHAPTER III ARMED FORCES AND THE ART OF WAR
- A ARMIES
- B NAVIES
- CHAPTER IV REVOLUTIONARY INFLUENCES AND CONSERVATISM IN LITERATURE AND THOUGHT
- CHAPTER V SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
- CHAPTER VI RELIGION: CHURCH AND STATE IN EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS
- CHAPTER VII EDUCATION, AND PUBLIC OPINION
- CHAPTER VIII SOME ASPECTS OF THE ARTS IN EUROPE
- CHAPTER IX THE BALANCE OF POWER DURING THE WARS, 1793–1814
- CHAPTER X THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF FRANCE DURING THE WARS, 1793–1814
- CHAPTER XI THE NAPOLEONIC ADVENTURE
- CHAPTER XII FRENCH POLITICS, 1814–471
- CHAPTER XIII GERMAN CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1795–1830
- CHAPTER XIV THE AUSTRIAN MONARCHY, 1792–1847
- CHAPTER XV ITALY, 1793–1830
- CHAPTER XVI SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, 1793 TO c. 1840
- CHAPTER XVII LOW COUNTRIES AND SCANDINAVIA
- CHAPTER XVIII RUSSIA, 1798–1825
- CHAPTER XIX THE NEAR EAST AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 1798–1830
- CHAPTER XX EUROPE'S RELATIONS WITH SOUTH AND SOUTH-EAST Asia
- CHAPTER XXI EUROPE'S ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL RELATIONS WITH TROPICAL AFRICA
- CHAPTER XXII THE UNITED STATES AND THE OLD WORLD, 1794–1828
- CHAPTER XXIII THE EMANCIPATION OF LATIN AMERICA
- CHAPTER XXIV THE FINAL COALITION AND THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 1813–15
- CHAPTER XXV INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, 1815–30
- APPENDIX Note on the French Republican Calendar
- References
A - ARMIES
from CHAPTER III - ARMED FORCES AND THE ART OF WAR
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER II ECONOMIC CHANGE IN ENGLAND AND EUROPE, 1780–1830
- CHAPTER III ARMED FORCES AND THE ART OF WAR
- A ARMIES
- B NAVIES
- CHAPTER IV REVOLUTIONARY INFLUENCES AND CONSERVATISM IN LITERATURE AND THOUGHT
- CHAPTER V SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
- CHAPTER VI RELIGION: CHURCH AND STATE IN EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS
- CHAPTER VII EDUCATION, AND PUBLIC OPINION
- CHAPTER VIII SOME ASPECTS OF THE ARTS IN EUROPE
- CHAPTER IX THE BALANCE OF POWER DURING THE WARS, 1793–1814
- CHAPTER X THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF FRANCE DURING THE WARS, 1793–1814
- CHAPTER XI THE NAPOLEONIC ADVENTURE
- CHAPTER XII FRENCH POLITICS, 1814–471
- CHAPTER XIII GERMAN CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1795–1830
- CHAPTER XIV THE AUSTRIAN MONARCHY, 1792–1847
- CHAPTER XV ITALY, 1793–1830
- CHAPTER XVI SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, 1793 TO c. 1840
- CHAPTER XVII LOW COUNTRIES AND SCANDINAVIA
- CHAPTER XVIII RUSSIA, 1798–1825
- CHAPTER XIX THE NEAR EAST AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 1798–1830
- CHAPTER XX EUROPE'S RELATIONS WITH SOUTH AND SOUTH-EAST Asia
- CHAPTER XXI EUROPE'S ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL RELATIONS WITH TROPICAL AFRICA
- CHAPTER XXII THE UNITED STATES AND THE OLD WORLD, 1794–1828
- CHAPTER XXIII THE EMANCIPATION OF LATIN AMERICA
- CHAPTER XXIV THE FINAL COALITION AND THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 1813–15
- CHAPTER XXV INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, 1815–30
- APPENDIX Note on the French Republican Calendar
- References
Summary
In the eighth book of his classic On War Clausewitz describes what he understood to be the revolution in warfare which had taken place in his own lifetime. The wars of the eighteenth century, he says, were wars of kings not of peoples. National existence was not at stake (as certainly it was for Prussia after Austerlitz and Jena) but simply the conquest of an enemy province or two. Wars of this kind were affairs of the State, an autocratic State, and entirely separated from the interests of the people. Violence was restricted by calculation. In fact, this was what the twentieth century has come to call ‘limited war’.
After 1789, however, there was a profound change. Clausewitz goes on: “Whilst, according to the usual way of seeing things, all hopes were placed on a very limited military force in 1793, such a force as no one had any conception of made its appearance. War had again suddenly become an affair of the people, and that of a people numbering thirty millions, every one of whom regarded himself as a citizen of the State….
After all this was perfected by the hand of Buonaparte, this military power, based on the strength of the whole nation, marched over Europe, smashing everything in pieces so surely and certainly, that where it only encountered the old-fashioned Armies the result was not doubtful for a moment. A reaction, however, awoke in due time. [Elsewhere] the War became of itself an affair of the people….
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- Information
- The New Cambridge Modern History , pp. 60 - 76Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1965