Chapter 12 The Art of War from the Point of View of Georg Wilhelm von Valentini
The works written by Georg Wilhelm von Valentini are virtually forgotten to- day. According to his biographer, Roswitha Poll, the misfortune of writing on subjects closely related to those of Clausewitz, like many other Prussian mili- tary theoreticians of the time, were overshadowed by the author of Vom Kriege.1 Valentini is primarily remembered for his lively correspondence with Georg Heinrich von Berenhorst,2 an excellent source of knowledge about the age of reforms for many German scholars,3 in addition to his service on the staffs of Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg and Friedrich Wilhelm Bülow von Dennewitz during the Wars of Liberation.4 Remaining aspects of his biography, in particu- lar his theoretical opinions and service after 1815, remain virtually unknown.5 Apart from the unpublished biography by Poll, no one has carried out a thor- ough analysis of Valentini’s theoretical views, and references to him are of a casual nature. An analysis of studies prior to 1945 lead one to conclude that his writings and achievements were depreciated. Although Troschke described him as an insightful writer, excellent soldier, friend of Yorck and Berenhorst, and patron of Brandt, his description of Valentini’s Lehre vom Kriege is brief, the assessment limited to the number of republications and reviews in mlz.6 In 1873, Beiheft zum Militär-Wochenblatt included Valentini among the classics of reflection on tactics, but his works were deemed to be ‘craftsmanlike’ with- out taking into account spiritual aspects.7 Max Jähns was positive about Valen- tini’s contribution to the development of the theory of the ‘small war’, stressing
1 Poll, Valentini, 1, 182. 2 G.H. von Berenhorst, Aus dem Nachlasse von Georg Heinrich von Berenhorst, ed. E. von Bülow, vol. 1–2 (Dessau, 1845–1847). 3 J.G. Droysen, Das Leben des Feldmarschalls Grafen York von Wartenburg, vol. 2 (Berlin, 1854); Meinecke, Das Leben, vol. 2, 171; Poll, Valentini, 1. 4 Cf. Troschke, Die Militär-Literatur, 107; Böckmann, ‘Das geistige Erbe’, 127. 5 Poll also devotes little space in her work to the post-1815 period; Poll, Valentini, 170–181. Despite a very earnest approach to the research, most probably for quite objective reasons, she did not have full access to his military correspondence in the Boyen collection, mainly concerning the fortification of Glogau, e.g. GStA pk, vi. ha, Boyen, No. 1, Valentini to Boyen, Glogau, 7th September 1816, 7. On the problem of access to archive sources: Poll, Valentini, 2–4. 6 Troschke, Die Militär-Literatur, 107. 7 [Meerheimb], ‘Ueber Militair-Bildung’, 34.
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8 Jähns, Geschichte, vol. 21 (Munich and Leipzig, 1891), 2724–2725. 9 Caemmerer, Die Entwickelung, 56–57. 10 Böckmann, ‘Das geistige Erbe’, 125–126. 11 Cochenhausen, ‘Klassiker’, 243. 12 Carrias, La pensée, 179; Marwedel, Carl von Clausewitz, 190. 13 Poll, Valentini, 1, footnote 5, 182, footnote 900. 14 Gat, The Development, 46–49; Langendorf, ‘Ernst von Pfuel’, 285, 297; Langendorf, ‘Karl Wilhelm von Willisen: le stratégiste qui voulut être stratège’, Langendorf, La pensée, 472; Langendorf, Krieg führen, 323, 364. 15 Coutau-Bégarie, Traité, 199, 212; Langendorf, Krieg führen, 364. 16 Jomini, Précis, 19–20.