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Quotation from On War by Carl von Clausewitz
“Now, philanthropists may easily imagine there is a skilful method of disarming and overcoming an enemy without great bloodshed, and that this is the proper tendency of the Art of War”
On War, Book I, Ch. 1, §3, trans. J. J. Graham (1873), rev. F. N. Maude (1908)
Clausewitz goes on to call this view an error which must be extirpated, insisting that war is too dangerous for kind-hearted illusions.
Citation: "Now, philanthropists may easily imagine there is a skilful method of disarming and overcoming an enemy without great bloodshed, and that this is the proper tendency of the Art of War" — Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Book I, Ch. 1, §3, trans. J. J. Graham (1873), rev. F. N. Maude (1908). (id on-war-q3)
Portrait: Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831), Wilhelm Wach, Public domain.
