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1 The Nature of War
“Everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The
difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is
inconceivable unless one has experienced war.”1 —Carl von Clausewitz
Nature of war itself has changed. in particular there is no longer a
dividing line between a state of peace and a state of war (ECCLES
Clausewitz called it a Zweikampf (literally a “twostruggle”) and suggested the image of a pair of wrestlers locked in a hold, each exerting force and counterforce to try to throw the other.
War is thus a process of continuous mutual MCDP 1 The Nature of War 3 T adaptation, of give and take, move and countermove. It is critical to keep in mind that the enemy is not an inanimate object to be acted upon but an independent and animate force with its own objectives and plans. While we try to impose our will on the enemy, he resists us and seeks to impose his own will on us. Appreciating this dynamic interplay between opposing human wills is essential to understanding the fundamental nature of war.
Ever since Carl von Clausewitz’s book On War was released in the first part of the 18th century, the nature of war has been disputed. According to Clausewitz the nature of war is perpetual, while the character of war changes.
The nature of war In examining the nature of war we must start by defining what we mean by “nature of war”. The nature of war is the unchanging essence of
TIDSKRIFT 4-2008 4-2008 I dictate to him”.1 This results in the fact that “war is more than a true chameleon that slightly adapts its characteristics to the given case”.2 Change can therefore be considered a part of the nature of war, and this variability means that the character of every war differs in each case. Sun Zi also had similar thoughts on change in the characteristics of war when he stated: ”as water has no constant form, there are in war no constant conditions”.3 The fact that war is “nothing but a duel on a larger scale”,4 between (at least) two independent parties, means that uncertainty is a lasting element of war. Since none of the parties in war can control the situation, none of them can with certainty predict the other’s actions, and thereby uncertainty is a part of the mutual nature of war.
In theory war is simple, but in practice a number of factors make war difficult. Carl von Clausewitz called these factors ”friction”. The factors that Clausewitz included in his concept of friction were: 1. Danger 2. Exertion 3. Uncertainty 4. Chance. Clausewitz described the effects of friction by stating: ” action in war is like movement in a resistant element”. The effect of friction also affects all
human beings involved. In Clausewitz’s concept of friction we can include numerous factors. Fear, danger, exhaustion and uncertainty makes man’s actions hard to predict. Friction can be everything from a broken vehicle to accidents that involve explosives, to the influence of weather and to human hesitance.
Gray prefaced his remarks with four caveats about futurology:
- Don’t neglect war’s political, social, and cultural contexts. It is not an
autonomous phenomenon. War cannot be divorced from its context.
- Defense establishments prepare for problems they prefer to solve rather than
those that a cunning enemy might pose.
- Trend spotting is not a good guide to the future. Trend analysis is a faulty
