[Ads-l] Clausewitz Quote

[Joe Salmons]

That’s how I know it, in both languages. A closer translation would be something like “war is nothing other than the continuation of politics by other means.”


> On Jan 21, 2017, at 4:21 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
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> I am having trouble with a very famous quotation and am hoping that some military historians or persons knowledgeable about the German language (or, ideally, military historians who are knowledgeable about the German language) can help me.
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> In the Yale Book of Quotations I have the following:
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> Der Krieg ist nichts anderes als die Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln.
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> War is the continuation of politics by other means.
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> Karl von Clausewitz, On War bk. 8, ch. 6 (1832-1834)
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> My first question is, is this particular sentence the best-known version of this thought by Clausewitz (I believe he stated it more than once in his writings)? or is there another better-known version?
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> My second question is, is this the most accurate translation? if there is another passage that is the best-known version, what is the most accurate translation of that?  I suspect a better translation of my version above is "War is nothing but the continuation of politics with other means."
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> Fred Shapiro
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org