Carl von Clausewitz

Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) entered Prussian military service at twelve and fought through the Napoleonic Wars, resigning his commission to serve with the Russian army in 1812 rather than fight alongside Napoleon. He spent his later career as administrative head of the Prussian War College in Berlin, where most of On War was drafted. He died of cholera in 1831 with his revisions unfinished, and his wife Marie von Bruehl edited and published the manuscript.