Talk:Carl von Clausewitz
I wonder if we really need to leave the italian version of Muhm's paper in the 'offline sources': IMHO the english & online version would be enough... --CorentinB 22:59, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
Differences in the translations of On War[edit source]
Given in this topic are two out of the vary many versions of On War in English, most of which take from one of the three major translations: (in chronological order) Col. JJ Graham, O. J. Matthijs Jolles and Howard and Paret.
Graham's translation was far closer to the original date of publishing of Vom Krieg than the latter two, with Jolles' translation being made during WWII and Paret and Howard undertaking theirs in the 1970s. It is the closest to the original, too, and this literal translation is actually a boost: you can tell from Graham more of what Clausewitz was thinking than you can with Howard and Paret. This can also be attributed to the chronology. Clausewitz.com considers Graham's translation to be 'long obsolete' - I disagree, and urge you not to take the advice of others too seriously (including mine!) and read the translations for yourselves.
Howard and Paret sparked a debate, still ongoing, with their translation. Rather than translating the famous line as 'war is the continuation of politics by other means', they changed 'poltics' to 'policy'. It is the opinion of Dr. Jan Willem Honig, an internationally recognised Clausewitz expert fluent in, among others, German and English, that this is just one of many examples of Howard and Paret taking Clausewitz out of context and being too free with their translation. This translation may be the 'standard translation'[1] today, but exercise caution if you consider standard textbooks to be the benchmark!