Fog of war

The fog of war means the uncertainty of war, and Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian war strategist, defined the concept, if not the actual phrase, in his book Von Kriege (On War) when he wrote, 'Three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty.' The actual phrase 'the fog of war' is attributed to Colonel Sir Lonsdale Hale who published a short book on military strategy in 1896 entitled The Fog of War.