Newsgroups: sci.military
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military
From: texbell!letni!digi!digi.lonestar.org!user1 ("USER1")
Subject: Re: Civil War technology
Organization: SMU
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 90 02:15:06 GMT
Approved: military@att.att.com
Message-ID: <1990Oct18.021506.7493@cbnews.att.com>
Keywords: Ironclads, Civil War
References: <1990Oct11.050851.29295@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military-request@att.att.com
Lines: 43



From: texbell!letni!digi!digi.lonestar.org!user1 ("USER1")

In article <1990Oct11.050851.29295@cbnews.att.com> cognos!geovision!pt@dciem (Paul Tomblin) writes:
>From: cognos!geovision!pt@dciem (Paul Tomblin)
>eos!woody@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Wayne Wood) writes:
>
>>also... the ACW was the first prosecution of the concept of
>>"Total War"  it wasn't enough to destroy the enemies' armed
>>forces, we also had to destroy their ability to make war, hence
>>Sherman's march to the sea.
>
>Gwynn Dwyer's TV series about war (I think it was just called "War") 
>credits Napoleon with inventing "Total War".  Who's right?  (Actually, I'm 
>not even sure about the time scale.  Which came first?)
>
>[mod.note:  Napoleon's campaigns were in the early 1800's (about 1805-1815)
>while the American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865.  - Bill ]

Well, not meaning to nit-pick, but I would say "Total War" was
achieved much earlier than the 1800's in the 3rd Roman-Carthrage
war in which after the Romans defeated Carthrage they looted
and burned the city and then put salt in the soil of the entire area
around Carthrage so that nothing would ever grow there again.
Apparantly this worked pretty well because that is how Rome came
to be the great power it was.

I am sure "Total War" came into being even before that.  As a matter
of fact if anything we have stepped more away from "Total War"
now than any previous time in history, when war was profitable
for if a country won a war the prize was the ability to plunder
the defeated country (like Iraq plundering Kuwait now).

Of course, this all probably goes in something.history.

Rick
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