Strachan on Clausewitz: setting standards for research and study

This article provides an appraisal of Hew Strachan’s impact on Clausewitz research since the early 2000s. It highlights that owing to the complexity of Clausewitz’s oeuvre and its publication history, scholarship on Clausewitz has to live up to demanding standards in order to be compelling. Strachan’s research on Clausewitz provides not only a revisionist reinterpretation that usher our understanding of the Prussian general into the post-Cold War era. It also sets out the relevant standards and exemplifies how particular challenges can be overcome. Conversely, Strachan has also used his understanding of Clausewitz as a framework to sketch an understanding of strategic studies as an interdisciplinary field that is founded in history and that takes Clausewitz’s trinity as a starting point for a more meaningful debate on civil-military relations.