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Total war

Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilises all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combatant needs.

For other uses, see Total war (disambiguation).

The term has been defined as "A war that is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, the territory or combatants involved, or the objectives pursued, especially one in which the laws of war are disregarded."[1]


In the mid-19th century, scholars identified total war as a separate class of warfare. In a total war, the differentiation between combatants and non-combatants diminishes due to the capacity of opposing sides to consider nearly every human, including non-combatants, as resources that are used in the war effort.[2]

as during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War (Operations Barrel Roll, Rolling Thunder and Linebacker II)

Strategic bombing

and sieging of population centres, as with the Allied blockade of Germany and the Siege of Leningrad during the First and Second World Wars

Blockade

policy, as with the March to the Sea during the American Civil War and the Japanese "Three Alls Policy" during the Second Sino-Japanese War

Scorched earth

tonnage war, and unrestricted submarine warfare, as with privateering, the German U-boat campaigns of the First and Second World Wars, and the United States submarine campaign against Japan during World War II

Commerce raiding

pacification operations, and reprisals against populations deemed hostile, as with the execution and deportation of suspected Communards following the fall of the 1871 Paris Commune or the German reprisal policy targeting resistance movements, insurgents, and Untermenschen such as in France (e.g. Maillé massacre) and Poland during World War II

Collective punishment

as with all belligerents in their respective home fronts during World War I and World War II

Industrial warfare

The use of and prisoners of war as forced labour for military operations, as with Japan, USSR and Germany's massive use of forced labourers of other nations during World War II (see Slavery in Japan and forced labour under German rule during World War II)[7]

civilians

Giving (i.e. take no prisoners), as with Hitler's Commando Order during World War II

no quarter

Total war is a concept that has been extensively studied by scholars of conflict and war. One of the most notable contributions to this field of research is the work of Stig Förster, who has identified four dimensions of total war: total purposes, total methods, total mobilisation, and total control. Tiziano Peccia has built upon Förster's work by adding a fifth dimension of "total change." Peccia argues that total war not only has a profound impact on the outcome of the conflict but also produces significant changes in the political, cultural, economic, and social realms beyond the end of the conflict. As Peccia puts it, "total war is an earthquake that has the world as its epicenter."[3][4]


The four dimensions of total war identified by Förster are:


1) Total purposes: The aim of continuous growth of the power of the parties involved and hegemonic visions.


2) Total methods: Similar and common methodologies among countries that intend to increase their spheres of influence.


3) Total mobilisation: Inclusion in the conflict of parties not traditionally involved, such as women and children or individuals who are not part of the armed bodies.


4) Total control: Multisectoral centralisation of the powers and orchestration of the activities of the countries in a small circle of dictators or oligarchs, with cross-functional control over education and culture, media/propaganda, economic, and political activities.


Peccia's contribution of "total change" adds to this framework by emphasising the long-term effects of total war on society.


5) Total change: This includes changes in social attitudes, cultural norms, and political structures, as well as economic and technological developments.


In Peccia's view, total war not only transforms the military and political landscape but also has far-reaching and long-time implications for society as a whole.[5][6]


Actions that may characterise the post-19th century concept of total war include:

Background[edit]

The phrase "total war" can be traced back to the 1935 publication of German general Erich Ludendorff's World War I memoir, Der totale Krieg ("The total war"). Some authors extend the concept back as far as classic work of Carl von Clausewitz, On War, as "absoluter Krieg" (absolute war), even though he did not use the term; others interpret Clausewitz differently.[8] Total war also describes the French "guerre à outrance" during the Franco-Prussian War.[9][10][11]


In his 24 December 1864 letter to his chief of staff during the American Civil War, Union general William Tecumseh Sherman wrote the Union was "not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war, as well as their organized armies," defending Sherman's March to the Sea, the operation that inflicted widespread destruction of infrastructure in Georgia.[12]


United States Air Force General Curtis LeMay updated the concept for the nuclear age. In 1949, he first proposed that a total war in the nuclear age would consist of delivering the entire nuclear arsenal in a single overwhelming blow, going as far as "killing a nation".[13]

History[edit]

Middle Ages[edit]

Written by academics at Eastern Michigan University, the Cengage Advantage Books: World History textbook claims that while total war "is traditionally associated with the two global wars of the twentieth century... it would seem that instances of total war predate the twentieth century." They write:

The bomber will always get through

Conventional warfare

Economic warfare

Roerich Pact

War economy

War of annihilation

Israel's 1948 War of Independence as a Total War

A collection of papers relating to the Sullivan Expedition

Daniel Marc Segesser: , in: 1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.

Controversy: Total War