Member Review Total War

[archieclement]

Total war to me is like Walls of Jericho, Stalingrad, Russian-Ukraine war, and number one total war dudes-Huns.

Indeed the Union took steps towards it, but remained well short of it, why I think Indian wars would be better example of closest US has came to total war.

Would think when it comes to national survival, the ends will always justify the means, why "rules of war" always seem rather absurd............Isn't it odd the "rules of war" most often are only applied to the loser? The winning sides actions tend to be rather excusable

 

[7thWisconsin]

Nothing limited about the later Napoleonic wars... especially not in Spain and in Russia.
(I can agree to it for the early wars in central Europe)

And by 1814 Napoleon was basically mobilizing all manpower available to him. (and just as importantly all "horsepower")
Prussia went true an outride revolution of both army and society... And it had very clear progressive or even proto socialistic elements... despite being a revolution from the top and down.

"Germany" was in 1815 a very different place than it had been 25 years earlier... with some sort of elected representation having become common, German nationalism becoming a clear idea and the creation of the germen federation with a parliament.

If one focus on the total mobilization of the entire recourses of a nation and the idea that its a fight for the survival of the nation (and not just a dynasty) then the last years of the war against Napoleon is a better case for a total war... than the civil war is.

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Oh, also if we compare the civil war to rebellions instead of wars between kings/states, then the rebellion in the south was actually suppressed with remarkable restraint from the government forces.
When European governments suppressed rebellions it was not rare to do mass executions, with little or no legal process.
And the loosers who where not executed ended up in prison for years or where deported.
And rollbacks of any civil rights was common.

After the civil war very few where punished. The worst that happened was some loosing their right to be elected to office... until everyone where pardoned... and basically the same group of people ended up in political control of the south.

Yeah, I agree. Even while I was writing, I was mentally excluding both Spain and the Russian campaigns, which were recognized even in their time for uncharacteristic brutality. I think you´re showing very well that the neat categories we make in order to discuss things like historical trends or movements don´t have clear-cut times and places of origin, but more or less evolve as response to conditions. It´s a little off-topic, so I´ll try to rein it in, but would you say there´s a connection between ¨total war¨ and levee en masse?