A brief encounter with major-general Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831)

Jan Willem Honig

doi:10.1057/9781137516459_16

A brief encounter with major-general Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831)

Jan Willem Honig^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

War Studies

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

Abstract

We speak in German. 'General, I am not the first person', I venture, 'who can claim to have communed with you beyond the grave. There is something of a tradition of officers who have enjoyed this very special privilege – from Captain von Pönitz of the Saxon Army who, in the 1840s, published five volumes of letters you wrote to him from here on Mount Olympus, to a Lt. Col. Freudenberg who interviewed you in the 1970s for the US Army's Military Review on the Vietnam War.¹ I notice, however, that these men generally professed to be on familiar terms with you – a right to which I could not wish to make an honest claim. I beg forgiveness for my ignorance, but would you allow me first to clarify what form of address der Herr General prefers?'

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Return of the Theorists: Dialogues with Great Thinkers in International Relations
Publisher	BFI Palgrave Macmillan
Pages	126-133
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Print)	9781137516459, 9781137516442
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137516459_16
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2016

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A brief encounter with major-general Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831)

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