Center of gravity: what Clausewitz really meant

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

NOTES

(1) Carl yon Clausewitz, On War, edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976), pp. 75, 77.

(2) Ibid., p. 595.

(3) Antulio J. Echevarria II, "Clausewitz's Center of Gravity: Changing Our Warfighting Doctrine--Again!" (Carlisle Barracks, Pa.: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, September 2002). See especially p. 10.

(4) Howard and Paret, On War, p. 486.

(5) Carl von Clausewitz, On War, translated by J.J. Graham (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1908), volume I, book six, p. 354.

(6) Joe [Joseph L.] Strange, Centers of Gravity and Critical Vulnerabilities: Building on the Clausewitzian Foundation So That We Can All Speak the Same Language, Perspectives on Warfighting Series, no. 4, 2d ed. (Quantico, Va.: Marine Corps University, 1996).

(7) Carl von Clausewitz, Vom Kriege, edited by Werner Hahlweg (Bonn: Ferd. Dummler, 1980), p. 976. He uses the standard meaning of Schwerpunkt, which was center of gravity. The military definition as a point of main effort was accepted by the Prussian army. Since Clausewitz appeals to both, accurate translations must depend on the context.

Joseph L. Strange is professor of strategic studies at the Marine Corps War College and has taught at the Air War College; Colonel Richard Iron, British Army, heads the doctrine branch in the Directorate of Land Warfare at the Joint Service Command and Staff College and has commanded an armored infantry battalion.