War: Between conquering the land and conquering the spirit – a journey into Clausewitz's theory of victory

Source: The three elements of victory: force, land, and will

We must distinguish between three things that contain all the rest within them: the military force, the land, and the will of the enemy. The military force must be destroyed, that is, brought to a state where it can no longer fight. The country must be conquered, because a new military force might grow within it.

But even if these two things are done, the war, that is, the feelings of hostility and the actions of hostile elements, still cannot be seen as having come to an end, before the will of the enemy is also defeated. That is, his government and his allies must be brought to sign a peace, or the people must be subdued.

This is because even if we hold the entire country, the war might break out anew, from within the country or from the outside, by the allies. This could certainly happen even after the signing of peace, but it only indicates that no war contains within it the elements for a perfect decision and a final settlement.

(Von Clausewitz, On War, Volume I, Book One, Chapter 2)

Explanation: Clausewitz's philosophy of war: why military victory is not enough

Von Clausewitz was a 19th-century German officer and theorist considered one of the fathers of modern military strategy. In the passage before us, Clausewitz argues that the objective of war is threefold: to destroy the enemy's military force, conquer their land, and break their willpower. Yet war alone will not yield complete victory without absolute surrender or the signing of a peace treaty.

Perspective: Endurance versus morality: are all means justified for victory?

Warfare is part of a broader strategy that also encompasses state policy, economics, values, and ideologies. The trouble is our inability to strike a balance among them all. War costs money—money diverted from welfare, prosperity, and quality of life. It also compromises, at least for moral people, vital values, and naturally it clashes with rival ideologies that are stubborn in their own right. In such a situation, Clausewitz argues, the side that demonstrates endurance and resolve is the one that will prevail. In his view, a government that fails to utilize all its resources to subdue the enemy is weak and immoral, and its most crucial resource is mobilizing the full strength of the entire nation. Today, in an era of weapons of mass destruction, the question arises: Is it right to sacrifice everything for victory, even when the cause is just?

Going Deeper: Terrorism and freedom fighters: when definitions shape reality

The word terror originates from the Latin verb terrere, meaning to frighten or instill dread. In modern usage, it is difficult to define what terrorism is and who counts as a terrorist. Is terror warfare waged against a civilian population? Does it refer to anyone who bears arms and fights without the authorization of a state or international bodies? Is political violence inherently terror? Naturally, each side sees itself as a "freedom fighter," a "victim," or "acting in self-defense," and frames the other side's actions as terrorism.

This is how Dr. Boaz Ganor defines terrorism in his article "The Phenomenon of Terrorism": "A violent struggle in which violence is deliberately directed against civilians to achieve political goals." By contrast, the U.S. State Department defines terrorism as the "deliberate use of violence against noncombatants," formulated to encompass attacks on soldiers who are not in active combat as acts of terror.

Culture: Sparta and the Third Reich: when a state becomes a war machine

For eight centuries, from 1000 BCE to 200 BCE, Sparta—one of the Greek city-states (poleis)—was a military superpower. Sparta had a small, sophisticated army that struck fear into all who surrounded it: a garrison state whose citizens dedicated their entire lives, from age six to sixty, to military training and war. Legend has it that weak infants unfit for battle were put to death in infancy, though there is no evidence this actually took place—even if Hitler looked to it as a model justifying the extermination of the weak and sick.

Leni Riefenstahl, director of Nazi propaganda films, highlights the link between ancient Sparta and the German warrior in the opening sequence of her film Olympia. Riefenstahl makes classical Greek marble statues gradually "transform" into living German athletes of flesh and blood. It must be said that Germany, like Sparta, was exceptionally brutal, both internally and externally.

Pictured: A German soldier on a Wehrmacht recruitment poster—an icon of the ideal "Aryan"—whom the Nazis eventually discovered had a Jewish father (Werner Goldberg, pictured).