On War cover art

On War

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

On War

By: Carl von Clausewitz
Narrated by: Nadia May
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.28

Buy Now for £15.28

About this listen

 A Prussian soldier and writer, von Clausewitz is said to have distilled Napoleon into theory. Perhaps best known among his numerous pronouncements is that war is a continuation of politics by other means. His theories and observations included in this work have been heeded by military strategists for nearly 200 years. Most have considered this to be the "Bible" of military strategy and tactics.

This abridged version of Clausewitz's magnum opus follows the text of the New and Revised Edition (edition by F.N. Maude in 1908) of Col. J.J. Graham's translation. Of the original three volumes, this version includes all of Volume I (except for the last chapter on night fighting) and six of the nine chapters of Book Eight of Volume III (The Plan of War). The editor's objective was to select those portions which most closely relate to our own time.

©1990 Blackstone Audiobooks (P)1990 Blackstone Audiobooks Military Military Science Political Science Politics & Government War

Critic reviews

"What makes On War so timely is that, unlike most military strategists and theoreticians, Clausewitz did not advocate war or recommend specific courses of action, but merely thought to describe war's character and dynamics." ( Harper's Magazine)
All stars
Most relevant
And since his wife both encouraged his writing *and* edited his published work posthumously, it seems particularly apt to have a female narrator.

ps. If too fast, just slow it down!

Loved this version.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The woman spoke so fast it was hard for me to understand what she was talking about. Out of the 30+ books I've listened to on Audible, this was the worst by far.

Not a fan

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I am a native English speaker and after listening to this book for over an hour I have absolutely no idea what it is trying to convey. The language is super outdated and very hard to follow even for someone who understands the individual words.

a very outdated translation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.