ABSTRACT
The problem which the present article seeks to address is why, among all the better-known writers on military theory within Western civilization, it is Clausewitz alone whose work appears able to withstand every kind of political, social, economic, and technological change since it was published, and seems to stand fair chance of remaining forever of more than purely historical interest.1 It is a problem which would have intrigued Clausewitz himself, for he was an ambitious if frustrated man. Like Shakespeare ('so long as men can breathe or eyes can see/so long lives this and this gives life to thee') and Horace ('a monument I have built/ more durable than bronze') he fully intended his work to last. As he wrote in an introductory note, 'It was my purpose to write a book that would not be forgotten after two or three years and which would be consulted more than once by those interested in the subject.' The question that needs answering is why, of all those who tried, he was the only one to succeed.
