The Reality of War: A Companion to Clausewitz

THE REALITY OF WAR
A COMPANION TO CLAUSEWITZ
BY MAJOR STEWART L. MURRAY LATE GORDON HIGHLANDERS
POPULAR EDITION EDITED BY A. HILLIARD ATTERIDGE
LONDON HODDER AND STOUGHTON WARWICK SQUARE, E.C.
HUGH REES, LTD. 5 REGENT STREET, S.W.
Reprinted in 1914

Great books, the masterpieces of the special branch of knowledge with which they deal, are often very big books; and busy men, who have not unlimited time for reading, find it helpful to have some one who will give them a general summary of a famous writer's teaching, and point out the most important passages in which the author himself embodies the very essence of his argument.
This is what Major Murray has done for the most important work on war that was ever written. He does not give a mere dry summary of its contents. He sets forth, in language so plain that even the civilian reader or the youngest soldier can read it with interest, the essence of the teaching of Clausewitz, and he embodies in his book the most striking passages of the original work. He adds to each section of his subject some useful criticisms, and at the end of the book he sums up the effect of recent changes on the practice of war.
The book is a popular manual of the realities of war, which should be read not only by soldiers, but by every one who takes an intelligent interest in the great events of our time.
As to the practical value of the writings of Clausewitz, it may be well to quote here the words of Mr. Spenser Wilkinson, the Professor of Military History at Oxford, from his introduction to the original edition of Major Murray's work: