"Fog of War"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Carl von Clausewitz, _On War_, trans. Michael Howard & Peter Paret (Princeton: P.U.P., 1984) Bk. 1, ch. iii: "War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty."

  Trans. J. J. Graham (London: Trubner, 1873): "War is the province of uncertainty: three fourths of those things upon which action in war must be calculated are hidden more or less in the clouds of great uncertainty."

  Also Grahem trans., Bk. III, ch. xxiv: "All action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition, not unfrequently - like the effect of a fog or moonshine - gives to things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance."

  There may well be a pre-1984 trans. or ref. that translates "clouds" in Book I as "fog," but Clausewitz never quite used the phrase in German.

  JL

Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Jesse Sheidlower
Subject: Re: "Fog of War"
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On Sun, Jun 10, 2007 at 11:26:42AM -0400, Fred Shapiro wrote:
>
> I don't see the phrase "fog of war" included in the OED. Jesse, can you
> tell us whether it is being drafted as an entry, and, if so, what is the
> earliest citation?

We haven't drafted it, and don't have anything particularly early in
the files. I will point out, though, that the four earliest quotations
all explicitly cite Clausewitz as the originator of the expression.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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