Center of gravity: what Clausewitz really meant

Joint Force Quarterly, Summer, 2003 by Joseph L. Strange, Richard Iron

The Armed Forces have come a long way in understanding centers of gravity and critical vulnerabilities. The former are equated to strength; the latter to weakness. As stated in The Joint Staff Officer's Guide, multiple centers of gravity may exist on a given level of warfare and change during a campaign, sometimes unexpectedly when an enemy shifts "the weight of its attack, thus uncovering or relying on a previously unforeseen center of gravity."

Nevertheless, ambiguities abound. That same publication contains the following statement: "Centers of gravity are the characteristics, capabilities, or locations from which a military force derives its freedom of action, physical strength, or will to fight. On the strategic level, centers of gravity might include a military force, an alliance, a set of critical capabilities or functions, or national strategy itself." According to this definition a military force cannot be a center of gravity, yet it is cited as an example. It also presents a choice among characteristic, capability, or location, when in reality all three exist simultaneously in mutual dependency. A force operating in a given location is ineffective without essential characteristics and capabilities. Moreover, the use of terms such as foundation of capability, hub of all power and movement, and dominant characteristics is ambiguous enough. And worse, they are invariably accompanied by an expansive list of examples that include alliances, communities of interest, public opinion, and "national strategy itself."

A Collision of Centers

To understand centers of gravity, one must be grounded in the original context of On War. Book one defines warfare as "an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will," which entails a "collision of two living forces." (1) Much of the work is focused on war as a clash between armed forces and the use of physical force to "throw an opponent" to break his will to resist. Chapter 27 in book six develops "the nature and effect of a center of gravity" in the context of "several theaters of operation" in which "division of forces then becomes inevitable.... A center of gravity is always found where the mass is concentrated most densely. It presents the most effective target for a blow; furthermore, the heaviest blow is that struck by the center of gravity." Clausewitz drove to the heart of the matter in chapter 28: "A major battle in a theater of operations is a collision between two centers of gravity; the more forces that can be concentrated in a center of gravity, the more certain and massive the effect. Consequently, any partial use of force not directed toward an objective that either cannot be attained by the victory itself or that does not bring about the victory should be condemned."

Misunderstanding Book Eight

In book six (Defense), Clausewitz offers a clear discussion of opposing armies as centers of gravity. But in book eight (War Plans), he applies the term to the broader realm of national and coalition (or grand) strategy, as opposed to the operational and tactical levels. On the strategic level, the army may be just one among several centers of gravity: "In countries subject to domestic strife, the center of gravity is generally the capital. In small countries that rely on large ones, it is usually the army of their protector. Among alliances, it lies in the community of interest, and in popular uprisings it is the personalities of the leaders and public opinion." Moreover, chapter 4 ("Closer Definition of the Military Objective: The Defeat of the Enemy") of book eight contains perhaps the most quoted passage regarding centers of gravity: "One must keep the dominant characteristics of both belligerents in mind. Out of these characteristics a certain center of gravity develops, the hub of all power and movement, on which everything depends. That is the point against which all our energies should be directed."

The discussion of centers of gravity in book eight is much less precise and is the source of misunderstanding for two reasons. First, the Howard and Paret translation of On War, the most commonly used English edition, may have confused some aspects of the original text. Moreover, some interpretations have taken the original out of context. Notwithstanding possible mistranslations, Howard and Paret are usually clear and consistent--provided the text is interpreted within the context of the relevant passages elsewhere.

Even in Howard and Paret, book eight supports the notion of armies or their components functioning as physical centers of gravity on the strategic level. For example: "For Alexander, Gustavus Adolphus, Charles XII, and Frederick the Great, the center of gravity was their army. If the army had been destroyed, they would all have gone down in history as failures."

Secondly, commonly overlooked or ignored is the very large paragraph in On War that precedes the "dominant characteristics" and "the hub of all power and movement" passages quoted earlier. There Clausewitz explained the relationship between a capital city and a defending army in several different scenarios.