Since the meltdown of the Soviet Union and its imperial system in the final turn of the XX Century many voices have been raised indicating an incoming change in the nature of war. One branch of the debate was constituted by the reflections about the supposed «revolution in military affairs» promoted by the marvelous technological leap occurred in the intelligence systems, stand-off weapons, and in the command and control chain. On the other hand, the return of civil strife and ethnic conflict on the European landscape, after the tragic failure of the Yugoslavian state as well as in other areas of the world, have drawn new attention on old concepts like «irregular warfare» or «insurgency» and spurred many authors, like Mary Kaldor and Martin Van Creveld, in declaring the impending obsolescence of war in the traditional sense, and inducing others in defining the new concept of «fourth generation warfare». In all the cases these analysis have been supported by a parallel devaluation of Carl von Clausewitz’s classical thinking about the nature of war. In this article the author makes a review of the fortunes of concepts like «guerrilla warfare» from the Napoleonic age to the present, stressing the continuing relevance, even in our chaotic times, of Clausewitz’s analysis of war as a political enterprise.

DIMENTICARE CLAUSEWITZ? CONFLITTI ASIMMETRICI E GUERRE DI QUARTA GENERAZIONE

GIN, Emilio
2009-01-01

Abstract

Since the meltdown of the Soviet Union and its imperial system in the final turn of the XX Century many voices have been raised indicating an incoming change in the nature of war. One branch of the debate was constituted by the reflections about the supposed «revolution in military affairs» promoted by the marvelous technological leap occurred in the intelligence systems, stand-off weapons, and in the command and control chain. On the other hand, the return of civil strife and ethnic conflict on the European landscape, after the tragic failure of the Yugoslavian state as well as in other areas of the world, have drawn new attention on old concepts like «irregular warfare» or «insurgency» and spurred many authors, like Mary Kaldor and Martin Van Creveld, in declaring the impending obsolescence of war in the traditional sense, and inducing others in defining the new concept of «fourth generation warfare». In all the cases these analysis have been supported by a parallel devaluation of Carl von Clausewitz’s classical thinking about the nature of war. In this article the author makes a review of the fortunes of concepts like «guerrilla warfare» from the Napoleonic age to the present, stressing the continuing relevance, even in our chaotic times, of Clausewitz’s analysis of war as a political enterprise.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11386/2285165
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