For Clausewitz, the nation-state is characterized by its capacity to harness material and the energy of the people and convert it into the activity of war. His dictum that war is a continuation of politics is inextricably linked to the secondary trinity, the nation-state of his day, consisting of the people, the military, and the government ( On War (1943), pp. War, the primary trinity, is composed of enmity, chance and intelligence ( On War (1943), pp.

It is perhaps impossible to discuss his theory of war without mentioning his theory of the state.

The nation-state permeates the whole of ClausewitzвЂ™s work. In his biography, Clausewitz and the State, Peter Paret elucidates the centrality of the state in ClausewitzвЂ™s thought when he writes, вЂњClausewitz regarded the growth of the modern state as the most significant process in history,вЂќ (pp. Namely, that Clausewitz was not only a theorist of war but, implicitly, a philosopher of the modern nation-state. This reductive image of the Prussian General obscures the vast insight carried in his work. However, Clausewitz offers a notion of grand strategy not in his theory of war but in his theory of the state.ДЄs a theorist, Carl Von Clausewitz is often reduced to his dictum that вЂњwar is a continuation of politics by other means,вЂќ (pp. Appraisals of his formulation aside, this definition of strategy in itself offers little in the way of conceptualizing a definition of grand strategy. Still others, such as Hew Strachan in his work, The Direction of War, have of late called for a return to ClausewitzвЂ™s pointedness and clarity. Others, such as military strategist John Stone, have praised ClausewitzвЂ™s definition while adding what they believed to be much-needed qualifications. Liddell Hart in his work Strategy, have criticized this definitionвЂ™s narrowness and what he perceived as congenital bellicosity. The contemporary reception of the Prussian GeneralвЂ™s formulation of strategy varies greatly. Consequently, states should use this definition of grand strategy accommodated to present political conditions.Д¬arl von Clausewitz defined strategy as вЂњthe use of the engagement to attain the object of warвЂќ (390). The contention of this essay is that Carl von Clausewitz implicitly defined grand strategy in his magnum opus, On War, as the sum of the tools of statecraft. However, Clausewitz offers a notion of grand strategy not in his theory of war but in his theory of the state.ДЄs the affairs of states continue to evolve into a complex web of interdependence, cooperation, and competition, pressure mounts on states to effectively employ the tools of statecraft to attain their political objects.

Example of strategic war