Abstract
Reviewed by: Frederick C. Schneid, High Point University, North Carolina, USA
Carl von Clausewitz’s ubiquitous On War has influenced military strategists for almost two centuries. His observations and analysis are required reading in war colleges and military academies worldwide and have had a profound impact on modern armies. Vanya Eftimova Bellinger uniquely approaches the topic of Clausewitz, his life and writings, from the perspective of his wife and confidant, Marie von Clausewitz (née von Brühl). While other Clausewitz biographers have included Marie’s role in the posthumous preparation and publication of her husband’s seminal work as well as some other of Clausewitz’s military histories, none have placed her narrative centre-stage as a partner to her spouse. Bellinger states that earlier biographies of Marie ‘still describe her in the conventional and acceptable terms of an ever-faithful wife’ (4). The author relates that the memoirs of a couple of Marie’s friends, published respectively in 1899 and 1913, provide greater insight into her contributions, but laments that few historians have taken note of this important fact (5). Bellinger’s biography effectively weaves Carl and Marie’s lives into their historiographical context. Yet, having noted this contribution, still one is left with the question of ‘what is new’ in this work.
Bellinger clearly states that the discovery of 283 letters in the Buttlar-Venedien Archive, now located in the Geheime Staatsarchiv/Preußischer Kulturbesitz, ‘reveals many interesting details that deepen our understanding of Carl’s life, personality, and times’ (7). Indeed, she argues that the correspondence discloses that ‘Marie significantly broadened Carl’s understanding of art and connected him to the cultural endeavors of the time’ (7). These letters are the central pillar of this biography, and Bellinger’s bold assertion that ‘[e]ven if he had not met her, Carl would have fought in the Napoleonic Wars, risen in the ranks of the Prussian military reformers, and probably distilled his experience into a complex theory about politics and war. Yet, without Marie’s critical insight and support, it seems doubtful On War would have become the enduring masterpiece it is today’ (12). This is an extremely ambitious claim and is ultimately not a compelling one at that.
This new interpretation certainly has merits. Bellinger is most successful in placing both Carl and Marie within their political, social and cultural context. It is abundantly clear that Marie’s family and their connections to the Royal court were significant in providing her husband with opportunities once they were married. Carl came from a nondescript and ambiguous social background despite having a noble status. Likewise, Bellinger’s writing is crisp, descriptive and flowing. The author relates her narrative well, despite having to navigate the many details of their respective lives through the complex and troubled times of the late revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. Marie in particular had access to the most prestigious Berlin salons, whereas Carl was enrolled in Scharnhorst’s Kriegsakademie. Bellinger admits that Carl had already become familiar with the Enlightenment writers of the age, and was very much enamoured with new ideas relating to war, politics and society. This linkage with the intelligentsia of the day became the basis for Marie and Carl’s common intellectual interests, and served as the foundation for conversations and later substantive discussions. There is little question that Bellinger makes her case that Marie provided the door to another dimension of life outside the military sphere, and, at the same time, was part of the reform movement with which Carl became intimately associated.
This biography sheds light on Marie von Clausewitz’s role in what was perhaps one of the most important events in Carl’s life – his decision to resign his commission in the Prussian Army and enter Russian service in 1812. Bellinger makes a strong argument that both Marie and Carl ‘believed that the only chance to help Prussia’s survival required them to break away from and even fight against it’ (119). Without doubt, the author believes Marie’s thoughts on this matter gave Carl further support for his monumental decision. Thus, she declares, ‘For Carl to remain in Prussia and subsequently fight on Napoleon’s side would have been not only morally wrong, but also in vain’ (119). This fateful decision kept Carl from returning to Prussian service until after Napoleon’s first abdication in April 1814.
Still, with all of this granted, one returns to Bellinger’s central contention that Marie was instrumental in the writing of On War. In the years after 1815, Carl and Marie remained active in the Berlin social scene, and ‘writing On War was not a substitute for his stalled career, but rather was a parallel intellectual endeavor’ (176). This interpretation places Marie as a ‘junior member’ aiding her husband with the manuscript with ‘research and copywriting’ (sic.) (176). Unfortunately, the remaining discussion of the period in which the book was being written provides little further detail on the nature of their collaboration. The chapter illuminates the social and political context of the time, events and issues that impacted the couple, but there is no further exploration of the specific text or elements of On War to which Marie contributed.
Upon Carl’s untimely death in 1831, Marie was determined to have her husband’s work published posthumously. Bellinger provides a solid narrative of events and Marie’s commitment to publish On War as well as Carl’s historical works ‘without one word being added or deleted’ (225). The author contends ‘Marie’s duty was to present his work to the world just as he had envisioned it’ (225). In this matter, the author is unambiguous and provides ample evidence. Yet, in advancing this argument, Bellinger undermines the thesis of this work. At no point does Bellinger provide evidence for Marie’s specific contributions to the draft or edited versions of On War. Hence, her contention that, ‘without Marie’s critical insight and support, it seems doubtful On War would have become the enduring masterpiece it is today’ appears more as unsubstantiated opinion.
In sum, Belligner’s biography of Marie von Clausewitz succeeds in establishing that Marie did introduce her husband to a social and intellectual circle that was beyond Carl’s rank and station. Further, the biography reveals that Marie and Carl were both emotional and intellectual partners in all things. This is the biography’s strength, and the author’s use of the newly discovered archival evidence certainly offers new insight into the life of the famous military theorist. On the other hand, however, the author assigns a role to Marie in the creation of Carl Clausewitz’s astute analysis, which the evidence presented in this work does not support.