Lecture 1: What is war good for?
Terms Définition
Security 1. Physical and mental condition: Being able to prevent others from inflicting harm
and the confidence that the capacity to prevent others from inflicting harm is in
place.
2. Threats to security may be real or imagines
3. Threats to security are economical, societal and natural
Traditional ● Referent: The state
Security ● Responsibility: Integrity of the state
● Threat: Interstate war, nuclear proliferation, revolution and civil conflict.
Human Security ● Referent: The individual
● Responsability: Integrity of the individual
● Threats: Disease, poverty, natural disaster, violence landmines, human rights
abuses.
Definitions of The absence of peace. A conflict between or among state and state like entities for
War political control over people, territory or resources.
Why study war? 1. We can learn how to fight more efficiently based on experience
2. Very little of human affairs can be understood without referencing war
3. The study of war is both Instrumental and instructive
Is war integral of
being human?
Functions of war 1. Limit Violence
(beyond victory) 2. Immediate Gain
3. Weakening Political opposition
Clausewitz ● War is merely a continuation of policy by other means
Definition of War ● War is nothing but duel on a larger scale
● War is an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will
,Thomas Hobbes War is not only the fighting but also the conditions that precede. Deaths and struggle is not
definition always due to the presence of war but also due to fear, famine and destruction
The Correlates of "Substantial combat, involving organized armed forces, that results in a minimum of a
War Project thousand battle-related combatants fatalities within a twelve month period”
Lecture 2 – Clausewitz and RMA’s
Terms Definition
Clausewitz (1780-1831) Grew up during the French Revolution (1789) and the Napoleonic era changed
warfare → It was when he started writing “On War” published in 1832.
Context On War 1. Napoleonic War & Enlightenment (18th Century)
a. Shift in way of thinking: Rational analysis, clarity, scientific
method, ‘laws’ of war: Trying to devise laws of war and it brought a
lot of progress = (more scientific)
b. Focus on Romanticism: Psychological, emotional, and intuitive
factors, subjectiveness, chaos, chance, friction, luck.
2. Dialectic method of presentation:
a. One side and the other: Absolute vs limited war, theory vs practice,
means vs ends, offensive vs defensive, Action vs Inaction, Reason
vs emotion, Physical vs moral factors. = Constant writing with a
counterargument.
b. No moral judgment: there is no expression on what is good and
what is wrong and if war should be pursued.
,Overview of on War 1. Uncover Fundamental nature of war
2. Stimulate Readers Intellectual Capacity
3. Dialectical method:
a. Thesis: Proposition A
b. Antithesis: Proposition B and the opposite of A
c. Synthesis: Product of A and B.
Fundamental Nature
Trinitarian Nature of 1. Thesis: War as unlimited violence
War 2. Antithesis: War as an instrument of politics
3. Synthesis: ‘A paradoxical trinity’
, Paradoxal Trinity
1. Policy (government)
2. Chance (military)
3. Passion (people)
War
1. Government
2. The people
3. The Armed Forces
Friction Link between theory and practice: everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing
is difficult.
Decisive Battle and 1. Destruction of opposing forces is the dominant principle in war. The bigger
Center of Gravity the battle, the more decisive the outcome.
2. Aim to destroy an opponent’s center of gravity (army, logistics, capital, etc.
but also moral for instance)
Culminating point of 1. Benefits space and time unequally distributed, and both benefit the
offensive defender.
2. Time favors defender: Mobilize reinforcements, wait for outside support,
await change in military situation, undermine opponent’s morale/public
support
3. Space can be traded for time: Concentration of forces, logistics, increased
willingness to fight.
War / Warfare 1. War: A state of being, a condition
Terms Définition
Security 1. Physical and mental condition: Being able to prevent others from inflicting harm
and the confidence that the capacity to prevent others from inflicting harm is in
place.
2. Threats to security may be real or imagines
3. Threats to security are economical, societal and natural
Traditional ● Referent: The state
Security ● Responsibility: Integrity of the state
● Threat: Interstate war, nuclear proliferation, revolution and civil conflict.
Human Security ● Referent: The individual
● Responsability: Integrity of the individual
● Threats: Disease, poverty, natural disaster, violence landmines, human rights
abuses.
Definitions of The absence of peace. A conflict between or among state and state like entities for
War political control over people, territory or resources.
Why study war? 1. We can learn how to fight more efficiently based on experience
2. Very little of human affairs can be understood without referencing war
3. The study of war is both Instrumental and instructive
Is war integral of
being human?
Functions of war 1. Limit Violence
(beyond victory) 2. Immediate Gain
3. Weakening Political opposition
Clausewitz ● War is merely a continuation of policy by other means
Definition of War ● War is nothing but duel on a larger scale
● War is an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will
,Thomas Hobbes War is not only the fighting but also the conditions that precede. Deaths and struggle is not
definition always due to the presence of war but also due to fear, famine and destruction
The Correlates of "Substantial combat, involving organized armed forces, that results in a minimum of a
War Project thousand battle-related combatants fatalities within a twelve month period”
Lecture 2 – Clausewitz and RMA’s
Terms Definition
Clausewitz (1780-1831) Grew up during the French Revolution (1789) and the Napoleonic era changed
warfare → It was when he started writing “On War” published in 1832.
Context On War 1. Napoleonic War & Enlightenment (18th Century)
a. Shift in way of thinking: Rational analysis, clarity, scientific
method, ‘laws’ of war: Trying to devise laws of war and it brought a
lot of progress = (more scientific)
b. Focus on Romanticism: Psychological, emotional, and intuitive
factors, subjectiveness, chaos, chance, friction, luck.
2. Dialectic method of presentation:
a. One side and the other: Absolute vs limited war, theory vs practice,
means vs ends, offensive vs defensive, Action vs Inaction, Reason
vs emotion, Physical vs moral factors. = Constant writing with a
counterargument.
b. No moral judgment: there is no expression on what is good and
what is wrong and if war should be pursued.
,Overview of on War 1. Uncover Fundamental nature of war
2. Stimulate Readers Intellectual Capacity
3. Dialectical method:
a. Thesis: Proposition A
b. Antithesis: Proposition B and the opposite of A
c. Synthesis: Product of A and B.
Fundamental Nature
Trinitarian Nature of 1. Thesis: War as unlimited violence
War 2. Antithesis: War as an instrument of politics
3. Synthesis: ‘A paradoxical trinity’
, Paradoxal Trinity
1. Policy (government)
2. Chance (military)
3. Passion (people)
War
1. Government
2. The people
3. The Armed Forces
Friction Link between theory and practice: everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing
is difficult.
Decisive Battle and 1. Destruction of opposing forces is the dominant principle in war. The bigger
Center of Gravity the battle, the more decisive the outcome.
2. Aim to destroy an opponent’s center of gravity (army, logistics, capital, etc.
but also moral for instance)
Culminating point of 1. Benefits space and time unequally distributed, and both benefit the
offensive defender.
2. Time favors defender: Mobilize reinforcements, wait for outside support,
await change in military situation, undermine opponent’s morale/public
support
3. Space can be traded for time: Concentration of forces, logistics, increased
willingness to fight.
War / Warfare 1. War: A state of being, a condition
