ABSTRACT
European strategic studies are built on a body of literature preserved in a number of special library collections. It was shared across most of Western Europe since the Renaissance, and since the 19th century, also across Eastern Europe. From the 18th century at the latest, earlier military literature, rooted in manuals and texts dating back to Antiquity, gave way to historical analysis and pattern-seeking in the history of warfare. Clausewitz, Liddell Hart, and Delbrück played key roles in integrating historical case studies into strategic thought, with the first two shaping lasting schools such as the “English School” with its historical approach. The institutionalisation of war studies in Britain, France, the USA, Germany, and Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries was largely built on the same literature produced during and shortly after the Napoleonic Wars. While strategic studies have diversified, a historically grounded approach remains essential for understanding and applying lessons of war and strategy across cultures and time periods.
