sitzkrieg
War without fighting
Sitzkrieg is a period of military inactivity despite a formal state of war—armies facing each other without fighting.
The term arose from the opening months of World War II, when Allied and German forces sat idle along the Western Front after Poland fell.
It plays on *blitzkrieg* (lightning war), substituting German *sitzen* (to sit).
The word now applies to any standoff or stalemate where expected action fails to materialize: The budget negotiations devolved into a sitzkrieg.
Unresolved confrontation between opponents
- impasseSituation without resolution
- deadlockMutual blocking, no progress
- stagnationAbsence of flow or progress
- inertiaResistance to altered motion
paralysis · gridlock · holding pattern · waiting game · cold war · delay · hesitation · passive resistance
Mutual obstruction preventing progress
- inactionDeliberate nonmovement
- defensiveProtective or easily threatened
- Western FrontFranco-Belgian combat zone
- 1939Year preceding global conflict
Maginot Line · waiting · standoff · lull · mobilization · deployment · Wehrmacht · fortifications
standoff
Unresolved confrontation between opponents
- impasseSituation without resolution
- deadlockMutual blocking, no progress
- stagnationAbsence of flow or progress
inertia · paralysis · gridlock · holding pattern · waiting game · cold war · delay · hesitation · passive resistance · negotiations
stalemate
Mutual obstruction preventing progress
- inactionDeliberate nonmovement
- defensiveProtective or easily threatened
- Western FrontFranco-Belgian combat zone
1939 · Maginot Line · waiting · standoff · lull · mobilization · deployment · Wehrmacht · fortifications · border
sitzkriegblitzkrieg
Fast, overwhelming military campaign
lightning war · shock and awe · total war · mobile warfare · hot war
sitzkriegblitzkrieg
Fast, overwhelming military campaign
action · movement · activity · dynamism · aggression
sitzkriegoffensive
Causing displeasure or attack-oriented
attack · advance · aggression · military action · frontal assault