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The concept of absolute war was a theoretical construct developed by the Prussian military theorist General Carl von Clausewitz in his famous but unfinished philosophical exploration of war, Vom Kriege (in English, On War, 1832). It is discussed only in the first half of Book VIII (there are only a couple of references to it elsewhere) and it does not appear in sections of the text written later.
The notion of an "absolute form of war" is very clearly derived from the new style of warfare introduced by the French Revolution and brought to a high level of performance by Napoleon Bonaparte. Although it is presented as a philosophical concept, and thus probably not capable of perfect attainment in the real world, it was nonetheless modeled very closely on Napoleon's most masterful campaigns and was intended to be pursued or emulated by commanders "when possible." Absolute war was characterized by very high levels of energy and professional competence, and it aims at the destruction of the opposing force and the attainment of a political decision by force of arms. It contrasts to a weaker, less competent—even pointless—form Clausewitz called "war of observation," based on the carefully circumscribed use of force in the century or so prior to the French Revolution. This two-ended framework appears to have been experimental. Clausewitz became quite critical of it by the middle of Book VIII—thereafter the term absolute war dropped out and the weak, befuddled nature of "war of observation" was transformed into a perfectly legitimate, respectable form called the "limited aim." In Book I, drafted later, the term absolute war does not appear; for practical purposes, war in the real world is described using a spectrum bounded by the limited aim of wearing down the enemy's will to carry on the military struggle versus the most ambitious form available in reality, the aim of rendering one's opponent militarily helpless.
Absolute War is often confused with the very different concept of "ideal war" featured in the first chapter of On War. In that discussion, Clausewitz explained that ideal war is a philosophical abstraction—a "logical fantasy"—that is impossible in practice because it is not directed or constrained by political motives or concerns, nor limited by the practical constraints of time, space, and human nature. He called warfare constrained by these moderating real-world influences real war. Absolute War is also routinely confused with "Total War," a term that does not appear on Vom Kriege.
Ideal war can be seen to be an act of violence without compromise by mirror-image states pursuing objectives of the very highest importance, in which they fight to war's "logical" extremes; it is a war unaffected by political and moral considerations or moderation. In On War, Clausewitz explains what makes up this "ideal" (in a philosophical sense) war:
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(wunderliche Dreifaltigkeit) of war philosophical distinctions between "absolutewar," "ideal war," and "real war" in "real war," the distinctive poles of...
Clausewitz, On War, as "absoluter Krieg" (absolutewar), even though he did not use the term; others interpret Clausewitz differently. Total war also describes...
Franco-Prussian War. Ludendorff also dealt with Carl von Clausewitz and his 1832 posthumously published work On War, in which he distinguished between 'absolute' and...
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World War. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300160338. Bellamy, Chris (2007). AbsoluteWar: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. New...
outpouring of pure absolute into the world. This leads to an outburst of religious and nationalist fervor, causing the greatest, most global war in history....
Geoffrey (2006). Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953. Yale University Press. p. 132. Bellamy, Chris (2007). AbsoluteWar: Soviet Russia in the...
ISBN 978-0-8020-9314-1. Bellamy, Chris T. (2007). AbsoluteWar: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-41086-4...
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Chris Bellamy, AbsoluteWar: Soviet Russia in the Second World War, 2008, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Bellamy, Chris (2008). AbsoluteWar: Soviet Russia...
that in case of attack, we would not retaliate against the aggressor." Absolutewar – concept described by Carl von ClausewitzPages displaying wikidata descriptions...
Encyclopedia of World War I. Vol. ii. New York: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-86307-181-2. Holmes, T.M. (April 2014). "Absolute Numbers: The Schlieffen...
moralism, and led directly to the Civil War. In churches, conventions and newspapers, reformers promoted an absolute and immediate rejection of slavery. Support...
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In linguistics, an absolute construction is a grammatical construction standing apart from a normal or usual syntactical relation with other words or sentence...
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Second World War, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 978-0-316-02374-0 Bellamy, Chris (2007), Absolutewar: Soviet Russia in the Second World War, Alfred A. Knopf...
from the Adepts, and that the Adepts have no qualms about making an absolutewar zone of the academy in order to acquire the Theotokos of Tsarytsin from...
Since 1962. CIA/NPIC. 1963. Bellamy, Chris (2008). AbsoluteWar: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. Knopf. Borkin J (1978). The crime and punishment...
Press. ISBN 978-0802139948. Bellamy, Chris (2007). AbsoluteWar: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-41086-4. Citino...
The Second World War. Back Bay Books. ISBN 978-0-316-02374-0 Bellamy, Christopher (2007). AbsoluteWar: Soviet Russia in World War Two. Knopf Publishers...
smoke in front of me within the town of Andover, it just looked like an absolutewar zone." A Lawrence resident described finding his boiler on fire after...
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the original on June 29, 2008. Chris Bellamy. The AbsoluteWar. Soviet Russia in the Second World War, p. 197. Vintage Books, New York 2008. ISBN 978-0-375-72471-8...
John Erickson, The Soviet High Command, MacMillan, 1962, p.558 Bellamy, AbsoluteWar, pg 384 Meretskov, On the service of the nation, Ch.6 Erickson, Road...
1971. стр.235 Bellamy, Chris (26 November 2008). AbsoluteWar: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-48113-9...
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the war. In both per capita and absolute terms, North Korea was the country most devastated by the war. According to Charles K. Armstrong, the war resulted...
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