Attrition warfare is a
military strategy consisting of
belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in
personnel and
materiel. The word ''attrition'' comes from the Latin root to rub against, similar to the "grinding down" of the opponent's forces in attrition warfare.
Strategic considerations
Attrition warfare represents an attempt of the weaker in some aspect of military strength, like number of soldiers or quality of weapons, to grind down a superior opponent avoiding major battles, which is the opposite of the principles of war in which either opponent attempts to achieve decisive victories by using minimal necessary resources and in minimal amount of time, through
manoeuvre,
concentration of force,
surprise, and related tactics. The side that reinforces his army at a higher speed will normally win the war.
Clausewitz called it the exhaustion of the adversary.
A side that perceives itself to be at a marked disadvantage may deliberately seek out attrition warfare to neutralize its opponent's advantages over time.
Sun Tzu has stated, that there is no country that has benefitted from prolongued warfare, but Russia in 1812 won the war with
attrition warfare against Napoleon. When attritional methods have worn down the enemy sufficiently to make other methods feasible, attritional methods are often complemented or even abandoned by other strategies. But in
World War I military commanders on both sides relied on attrition warfare resulting in terrible casualties without a strategic result.
The difference between war of attrition and other forms of war is somewhat artificial since even a single battle normally contains an element of attrition. One can be said to pursue a strategy of attrition if one makes it the main goal to cause gradual attrition to the opponent eventually amounting to unacceptable or unsustainable levels for the opponent while limiting one's own gradual losses to acceptable and sustainable levels. That should be seen as opposed to other main goals such as the conquest of some resource or territory or an attempt to cause the enemy great losses in a single stroke (such as by encirclement and capture). Attrition warfare also tries to increase the friction in a war for the opponent.
Examples in history
One of the best visual representations of a war based on attrition warfare was created by
Minard. It shows the steady decrease of the number of soldiers of the French Grande Armée during the course of the war.
The
French invasion of Russia (1812) is a textbook example how elements of attrition warfare interfered with Napoleon's
military logistics and won the war without a
decisive battle.
Best known
The best-known example of attrition warfare might be on the
Western Front during
World War I. Both military forces found themselves in static defensive positions in
trenches running from Switzerland to the
English Channel. For years, without any opportunity for maneuvers, the only way the commanders thought that they could defeat the enemy was to repeatedly attack head on and grind the other down.
One of the most enduring examples of attrition warfare on the Western Front is the
Battle of Verdun, which took place throughout most of 1916.
Erich von Falkenhayn later claimed that his tactics at
Verdun were designed not to take the city but rather to destroy the
French Army in its defense. Falkenhayn is described as wanting to "bleed France white" and thus the attrition tactics were employed in the battle.
Attritional warfare in World War I has been shown by historians such as
Hew Strachan to have been used as a ''
post hoc ergo propter hoc'' excuse for failed offensives. Contemporary sources disagree with Strachan's view on this. While the Christmas Memorandum is a post-war invention, the strategy of attritional warfare was the original strategy for the battle.
Most unusual
An example in which one side used attrition warfare to neutralize the other side's advantage in manoeuvrability and unit tactics occurred during the latter part of the
American Civil War, when Union general
Ulysses S. Grant pushed the
Confederate Army continually, in spite of losses; he correctly predicted that the
Union's far superior and more numerous supplies and manpower would overwhelm the
Confederacy to the point of collapse, even if the casualty ratio was unfavorable.
List of wars
* Scythian tactics during the
European Scythian campaign of Darius I of 513 BC, which was in deep steppes retreat, avoiding a direct confrontation with Darius I's army, while spoiling the wells and pastures.
*The Athenians, who were weaker in land warfare during the
Peloponnesian War, employed attrition warfare using their navy.
*The "
delaying" tactics of
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (surnamed "Cunctator", the delayer) against
Hannibal during the
Second Punic War.
* Muhammad Tapar's
campaign against the Nizaris of Alamut in 1109–1118
*
Second Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1285 and 1286
*
Fall of Tenochtitlan by
Hernán Cortés in 1521
*
Swedish invasion of Russia in 1708
* The American strategy during the
American Revolutionary War
* The latter portion of the
American Civil War, notably the siege of Vicksburg, the overland campaign, and the siege of Petersburg
* The
Attrition warfare against Napoleon in the
French invasion of Russia by
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812
* The
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)
*
Tonnage war in the Atlantic and Pacific during
World War II
* The
Air battle for Great Britain in World War II after the
bombing of London
*
Static battles in World War II, including Soviet
urban defense during the
Battle of Stalingrad
*
Battle of Tabu-dong, and the final two years of the
Korean War
* The
Vietnam War (
Body count)
* The "Long War" during the Provisional IRA's
armed campaign against the British Army during
the Troubles.
* The
Israeli–Egyptian War of Attrition from 1967–1970.
* The
Soviet–Afghan War
* The later phases of the
Iran–Iraq War
* The
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
* The
Sri Lankan Civil War after 2005
* The
2011 Libyan civil war
*
Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)
* The
Syrian Civil War(2011–present), in particular the
Battle of Aleppo.
* The fight of the
Polisario Front in
Western Sahara against the Moroccan Army (2020-present).
See also
*
Asymmetric warfare
*
Guerrilla warfare
*
Human wave attack
*
Mexican standoff
*
No-win situation
*
Pyrrhic victory
*
Winner's curse
*
Win-win game
Military theory:
*
Fabian strategy
*
Flypaper theory (strategy)
*
Lanchester's laws
*
Loss Exchange Ratio
*
Maneuver warfare
*
Ivan Bloch (19th century)
Notes
References
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Category:Military strategy
Category:Wars by type