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This article intends to demonstrate that Clausewitz’s famous Formula – “war is merely the continuation of politics by other means” – can be interpreted as supporting three antagonist conceptions of war, which are found all three in the literature and even in Clausewitz’s major book. The Formula leads us to think of war as a political means at the disposal of organized groups, as the overall confrontation of two rival armies, and, eventually, as one of the alternative phases of the commerce between social groups. We support the idea that those three definitions can actually be connected to three distinct concepts: armed violence, the violent confrontation of armies, and war, respectively.