Commander in each particular case may demand, and this claim is truly
not a trifling one. But however powerfully this may react on political
views in particular cases, still it must always be regarded as only a
modification of them; for the political view is the object, War is the
means, and the means must always include the object in our conception.


25. DIVERSITY IN THE NATURE OF WARS.

The greater and the more powerful the motives of a War, the more it
affects the whole existence of a people. The more violent the excitement
which precedes the War, by so much the nearer will the War approach
to its abstract form, so much the more will it be directed to the
destruction of the enemy, so much the nearer will the military and
political ends coincide, so much the more purely military and less
political the War appears to be; but the weaker the motives and the
tensions, so much the less will the natural direction of the military
element--that is, force--be coincident with the direction which the
political element indicates; so much the more must, therefore, the War
become diverted from its natural direction, the political object diverge
from the aim of an ideal War, and the War appear to become political.

But, that the reader may not form any false conceptions, we must
here observe that by this natural tendency of War we only mean the
philosophical, the strictly logical, and by no means the tendency of
forces actually engaged in conflict, by which would be supposed to be
included all the emotions and passions of the combatants. No doubt in
some cases these also might be excited to such a degree as to be with
difficulty restrained and confined to the political road; but in most
cases such a contradiction will not arise, because by the existence