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Strategic studies have retained the thinking of Karl von Clausewitz at its core. The Prussian General's understanding of war by reference to the political process saw wars as the "continuation of politics by other means" (Clausewitz, 1997). In conflict research, this has become the most widely quoted definition of war. What made Clausewitz's work 'On War' so successful was that he wrote about war by focusing on its general aspects, or more simply, on the spirit of war as he saw it. In this way, war no longer drew on narrow and specific contexts, but rather became understood, as an enduring phenomenon, in general terms.

" When he came to power, Hitler inherited vast potential. By the twentieth century Germany's large population and industrial might gave the country a natural pre-eminence in west-central Europe, and the Versailles settlement of 1919 was an artificial absurdity that was bound to unravel. This unraveling could have been done rationally, as in the early stages of British and French appeasement over the Rhineland, Germany's anschluss with Austria, and so on; but after Munich, in 1938, it was increasingly bungled. Having appeased Berlin over more-contestable territorial issues, the British changed their stance and decided to fight over Danzig and the Polish Corridor, where the German case for revision was stronger. The result, Taylor maintained, was a war in Europe that nobody wanted and that personally dismayed Hitler. World War II was simply an accident: Hitler never imagined that the democracies would actually go to war over Poland, especially because London and Paris could do almost nothing to defend the Poles. Great Britain and France had in the past vacillated between policies of appeasement and resistance."

Legacy of the Great War

Outstanding Resource on everything about the Great War

"How Significant Was the Contribution of Guerrilla Warfare to the Chinese Civil War?"

The Great War saw the introduction of new technology and weapons. Some were designed to break the deadlock caused by trench warfare. Others actually contributed to trench warfare in the first place!

Photographs of modern conflicts. Use for research or discussions for IB history

Historiography of Nature, Practices, Effects

Excellent teaching and learning resource for FWW