What question did this study set out to answer?

This thesis aims to analyze the dynamics between civilian and military leadership in Germany through the lens of Clausewitz's theories.

June 3, 2026Open Access

War Without Policy: Clausewitz and the German Army 1866-1914

Key Points

This thesis aims to analyze the dynamics between civilian and military leadership in Germany through the lens of Clausewitz's theories.
Examined historical documents and military theories from the timeframe of 1866 to 1914.
Analyzed the attitudes of German Army leaders towards civilian policy and Clausewitz's principles.
Critically evaluated the implications of military independence on the German way of war.
Found that German Army leaders consistently rejected the influence of civilian policy on military decisions.
Demonstrated that this rejection creates an anti-Clausewitzian approach to warfare.
Highlighted the implications of prioritizing institutional independence over sound military theory.

Abstract

This thesis examines German civil-military relations during imperial period through the Clausewitzian lens. It is found that despite the veneration of Clausewitz successive heads of the German Army rejected the primacy of policy. Sound military theory was subordinated for the desire for institutional independence. The German way of war is in this way founded on the rejection of the role of the civilian state in waging war and is in this way fundamentally anti-Clausewitzian.

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Cite This Study

Kiran Pfitzner (Wed,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a1fc7dcdee9eb8c0dce8691 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.6082/e965e-f2756

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