Attrition Warfare: This Is The Weird Strategy Where Winners Lose

Attrition warfare is trying to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses. The word “attrition” comes from Latin atterere, referring to “grinding down” opponent forces in warfare. A side that perceives itself to be at a marked disadvantage is most often going to seek out attrition warfare to neutralize it’s opponent’s resources over time.

While attrition warfare might seem strategic for combatants who have greater resources or advantages over adversaries, it carries considerable drawbacks. The biggest one is the time required to win the war. The shorter the path to victory, the better. It is a strategy where even the winners lose, and is hard to see when you are part of it. Attrition war is and should be a last resort only. Most of the time when you “win”, it’s temporary. By definition, it does not include a decisive blow, meaning the winners leave room for the losers to recover and potentially overthrow them next time.

One of the clearest and best-known examples of attrition warfare is World War I. Military technology evolved at an unprecedented rate, and the maneuvers and tactics of the past were rendered obsolete. Officers were pitted over and over again against machine guns, resulting in unproductive bloodshed. The goal for most of the war remained to amass artillery faster than the enemy troop. It was a fight for the inches. Millions of people died. Vast sums of money were wasted on ammunition. Strategists were in new territory because of the modern technology. It was essentially a repeat cycle of attack-recover. Among the many problems was: high death toll, high cost, potential for abuse, long duration, potential for an undecided outcome, and long-term national impact.

The concept applies outside of war. Bureaucracies grind people out. Competition between businesses is a grind for the companies involved. It’s trench warfare. They provide better services for the same price. You upgrade your services to match theirs. They then lower their prices. Time and resources are wasted needlessly, and the only benefactor is the consumer getting their products and services for an ever-smaller price tag. Attrition warfare is resource-driven. The side with more resources prevails. This is how Microsoft drew many components out of the rat race when the internet was still a baby: it grinded them to the point of exhaustion.

Real life implications of attrition warfare:

• Business: a price war between companies resembles attrition warfare, where each side undercuts the other, aiming to drive competitors out of the market; companies with deeper financial reserves can endure periods of lower profitability during which they suffocate their competitors and force them out of the market;

• Negotiation: a prolonged negotiation where one party seeks to wear down the other through persistence can be viewed as attrition warfare; employ consistent pressure and patience, not falling for the game the other side is playing by trying to exhaust your resources;

• Personal development: building a new skill requires enduring repetitive practice and overcoming setbacks over and over again, like attrition warfare against the clock and limitations; maintain a consistent effort and concentrate on small, gradual improvements;

• Relationships: in interpersonal conflict, one person might rely on persistence to reach resolution, expecting the other to concede due to fatigue; be mindful of emotional and mental costs, concentrating on constructive persistence in lieu of destructive attrition;

• Fitness: we can view weight loss as attrition warfare against the calories, achieved through a consistent caloric deficit and exercise.

How you might employ attrition warfare as a thinking tool: (1) assess your resources, ensuring you have the stamina or endurance to sustain a prolonged effort before you enter such a race; (2) calculate the costs, weighing the potential risks, gains, and losses of an attrition-warfare-resembling approach, to see whether it justifies the investment; (3) monitor the opponent, constantly seeking out their weaknesses, adjusting your strategy to exploit their vulnerabilities; (4) avoid burnout by balancing persistence with breaks to prevent exhausting yourself when trying to exhaust your opponents; (5) know when to stop, recognizing the point of diminishing returns and adjusting your strategy when attrition is no longer sustainable.

Thought-provoking insights. “The last man standing is the winner.” attrition boils down to endurance and the ability to outlast your competition above all else. “Victory is not won in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later win a little more.” is Louis L’Amour capturing the incremental nature of attrition with perfection. “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.” Walter Elliot reflecting on the power of sustained effort. In war, attrition is a last resort. As an individual, team leader, or businessperson, it can be a strategic approach to come out victorious. Employ attrition strategies judiciously. Slap on this thinking tool when you think you are in attrition warfare against somebody or something.