Trinity.

This is coolbert:

From the prior blog entry:

"the press is a vital channel of communication within Clausewitz's trinity of government, the army, and the people."

The trinity of Clausewitz and NOT the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of Christianity.

The trinity of people, government and the army as essential elements of war fighting as recognized by American military scholars, theoreticians and analysts.

"Clausewitz’s brief (five-paragraph, 300-word) discussion of the 'trinity'—an interactive set of three forces that drive the events of war in the real world—represents the capstone of Clausewitzian theory"

According to Clausewitz:

It is 'composed of primordial violence, hatred, and enmity, which are to be regarded as a blind natural force; of the play of chance and probability within which the creative spirit is free to roam; and of its element of subordination, as an instrument of policy, which makes it subject to reason.'"

For further reading on the trinity refer to these web sites:

1. "RECLAIMING THE CLAUSEWITZIAN TRINITY"

2. "TEACHING THE CLAUSEWITZIAN TRINITY"

3. "TIP-TOE THROUGH THE TRINITY"

Comments:

* That actual term trinity was not used by Clausewitz. Can be reasonably inferred but that term as such is not found in the text.

* Clausewitz never did finish his magnum opus. It remains an unfinished work, the man expiring during a cholera epidemic before completion.

* Varying degrees of translation from the original German to English exist? There is no one agreement? That form of German as written and understood two hundred years ago is not the same as the modern language, translation and understanding of the particular text within the context of the time is difficult?

* Clausewitz has warfare in the classical sense in mind. The mustered and massed armies of the nation-state in mortal combat against other mustered and massed armies of the adversary nation-state!

* Clausewitz must be recognized more than anything else as a philosopher on a par with and as a peer with the great philosophers of history? According to Dupuy: "Clausewitz was an intellectual giant worthy of comparison [to] . . .  Kant and Hegel." An intellect [Clausewitz] mixing with and engaging in discourse with other civilian intellectual company of the period in a manner not found among modern military men.

coolbert.