Dissertation about Clausewitz and Bismarck: the Abstract

From Wikipedia:East German stamp honouring Clausewitz (1980)

Finding the right topic to discuss at decent length is quite challenging. Nonetheless, there always are the points of origin which anyone can start with.

I was initially interested in war and foreign policy, which is why I took the time to learn about Clausewitz, his life and the academic works. While doing so, I tried to understand what makes his theory so special and influential.

As you can expect the major admiration for Clausewitz stems from the popularity of his book series "On war". There are good reasons for such a favourable impression of it by the academics and military staff. His books are extremely detailed, both in regards to theory and military practices, and that makes his accounts extremely valuable for understanding the war and what it does. Moreover, his description of military campaigns is valuable and unique in its own way.

However, what attracts me the most is his political framework for waging a war. Throughout his writings, he contemplated on the reasons of war and its political good. He did think that war is a double-edged sword, but did not fear explore its dimensions. Clearly, he was fascinated by it, admired its power, yet tried to evaluate it on many levels to gain a perspective.

I tried to find an example which could be used to explain how this theory could work in real circumstances. The Bismarck's wars of unification are quite famous for being a by-the-book instrumentality. These wars have clear objectives, they are consistently controlled by Bismarck, which makes it easier to see how the war is administered on political level. Overall, Bismarck is a phenomenal example of the war master because he shows what the war is supposed to be like, with minimal casualties and maximal benefits.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the prominence of Clausewitz’s political principles in Bismarck’s diplomacy during the period of German unification. This work primarily relies on the secondary literature which specifically addresses Prussian foreign policy of this period. The detailed historical accounts are used to test Clausewitz’ theory on Bismarck’s perception of war and their style of foreign policy. 

This study analyses Bismarck’s theory of Realpolitik and deduces that Bismarck’s ideas and understanding of foreign policy highly corresponds with Clausewitz’s political principles. Moreover, this work finds that Bismarck’s foreign policy-making - in each of the three wars - demonstrates a diverse application of Clausewitz’s recommendations. Precisely, both Clausewitz and Bismarck follow some rules in order to achieve the political objectives, using the war as a policy tool. For example, Bismarck particularly relies on some pragmatic methods - such as alienating the opponent and limiting the interference of the Great Powers - to increase the chances of victory. Furthermore, Bismarck honours the principle of restraint and employs it in every peace process following the war to minimise the enmity of the defeated state. 

However, there are major exceptions to the Clausewitzian approach which are strongly evident in Bismarck’s handling of foreign affairs. For instance, it is worthy to mention Bismarck’s application of the multiple options approach and their disregard of a potently detrimental impact of nationalism on the conduct of war. Nationalism has changed the reasons for war and diminished Bismarck’s strategy of appeasing the defeated, which is particularly notable in the case of Franco-Prussian war.