Clausewitz's Timeless Trinity

’Colin Fleming has written one of the most important studies on Clausewitz to appear in recent years. It is a masterly dissection of Clausewitz’s timeless trinity, tied to real events - the war in the western Balkans in the 1990s. It is also a striking refutation of those who would deny the world’s greatest phenomenologist on war - a voice in the understanding of contemporary conflicts.’ Christopher Coker, London School of Economics, UK ’Those who believe that Clausewitz’s ideas are passé and hopelessly narrow should read Colin Fleming’s insightful book very carefully. He explores the foundations of the Trinitarian model by examining the ways in which hostility, chance, and rationality influence war, how they interact, and the consequences that make war so difficult and dangerous an activity. These micro-foundations that define war’s nature rather than its evolving character, he argues, are timeless. Clausewitz’s Timeless Trinity deepens our understanding of the Balkan Wars in 1991-1995 and illuminates the relevance of the Prussian strategist’s theory of war. All serious students of strategy and war will be informed and stimulated by this clear and sound challenge of the conventional wisdom.’ Pascal Vennesson, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore