Clausewitzian Coup d’Oeil: The Extraordinary Intuition of the War Genius

The Clausewitzian concept of the coup d’oeil_ is seen as an extraordinary form of intuition, distinct from the tact of judgement. Although this concept is not unrelated to the tactical coup d’oeil_ of 18th-century military writers, it differs in the breadth of the conceptual system into which Clausewitz integrates it. Within this system, the concept also differs from contemporary notions of “strategic intuition” or “battlefield coup d’oeil_”.