Tremendous friction

Clausewitz listed eight major sources of the “tremendous friction” that makes even the simplest plans and actions so difficult to execute in war:

■ insufficient knowledge of the enemy

■ rumors (information gained by remote observation or spies)

■ uncertainty about one’s own strength and position

■ the uncertainties that cause friendly troops to tend to exaggerate

             their own difficulties

■ differences between expectations and reality

■ the fact that one’s own army is never as strong as it appears on  paper

■ the difficulties in keeping an army supplied

■ the tendency to change or abandon well-thought-out plans when confronted with the  vivid physical images and perceptions of the battlefield.12

"Clausewitzian Friction and Future War" ; Barry D. Watts