Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
OK, now that IS an interesting point, but probably simplistic view, BUT I'll have to go and drink some coffee on the balcony to think about that. Thank you.
Clausewitz is simple! He had a problem with what my English teacher would call the "run on sentence" On another thread about CvC I wrote that the title for his book should have been "Thoughts On War." What we know is CvC wrote every thought On War he had that could be committed to paper. And then in his final notice he clearly stated that his intention was to revise and clarify his thinking. So my thinking is if he had lived he would taken a lot of his wordage out of the final book or at least condensed it down to the very essence of his thinking On War.

Also, I have never read a book that more clearly identifies how criminals think in my life! On War usually makes the top 10 list of books read by inmates in prison. "The Prince" by Machiavelli is usually number one.

But I still say picking the right targets to attack is the essential problem for a General. Criminals do with ease everyday, they very quickly figure out who to hurt or kidnap or what to destroy or steal in order to accomplish their objective. So do good Generals IMO.