Even in time immemorial, people have learned to interact with each other. Human genius evolved, which led to the formation of language, writing, social consciousness. With the help of their capabilities, people created empires, cultures, communities. However, in the process of inexorable development, mankind has invented yet another important, but very terrible attribute of his life - war. This term symbolizes the time when the individual understood the fact of his own power, which can bring him certain social benefits. War is the easiest way to achieve anything, it can bring a lot, but the price of the fruits of war will be high: destruction, death, suffering. The concept of war and the forms of its implementation developed in parallel with humanity.
It is worth comparing the martial art of the ancient Romans and modern people. Unfortunately, we will see a difference in how people killed each other in ancient centuries, and how they do it today. The war has developed over the centuries, and in the 20th century a new kind of this terrible phenomenon appeared - total war.
a brief description of
What is total war? This question has been bothering many politicians for several decades. To answer it, you should turn to the historical statement of the person who became famous during the First World War.
Erich Ludendorff is the man who published the book Total War in 1935. In it, he outlined in detail the whole essence of this issue. Simply put, this person is the ancestor of the term "total war". In his opinion, it means a military conflict, it does not matter at all which, most importantly, that it uses all the forces and means to completely destroy the enemy. It should be noted that the total war is aimed at the complete defeat, and not at achieving any strategic goals. It all boils down to the banal destruction of the opposing side, whether it be a whole state or a separate community. But there are other opinions that answer the question of what a total war is.
The historical development of the concept
In the military doctrine of the Nazi army, the principle of total war was laid down in the middle of the 20th century, although the essence of this term was formed at the beginning of the century. The theorists of that time saw that the world was extremely unstable, therefore, in an emerging conflict, the one who accepts new, modern principles of warfare will be the winner. Thus, the total war in the understanding of scientists at the beginning of the 20th century was considered in a systematic combination of two main stages: external and internal. A detailed study of these structural elements will make it possible to understand what a total war is.
Stages
There are two main stages of a total war:
- The internal stage is characterized by the complete mobilization of the entire male population of the belligerent, because total war is a war of nations, therefore, for victory in it it is necessary that anyone who can do it fight. Also, the internal stage includes constant propaganda among the population, psychological work, so that people's consciousness is aimed at hatred of the opposite side of the conflict.
- The external stage is not only military operations, as is commonly believed. There are many ways to achieve the complete destruction of the enemy population. In total war, terror and genocide of civilians are used especially vehemently along with classical military operations.
Goebbels: a talk about total war
The fundamental principles of total war were included in the work of the Nazi army only in 1943, when the Nazis began to suffer fatal defeats in Russia. The German propagandist Goebbels proposed a German prototype of the phenomenon in his extremely radical statement.
The total war in the vision of this man had some differences from the classical version. Two basic principles were fully included, but the essence itself was slightly distorted. Goebbels used the concept of total war in the political context of the struggle against Bolshevism in the east, namely in the USSR. Therefore, since the time of Goebbels, the concept has acquired not only a military, but also a political meaning, which characterized a war with representatives of another
social system.Total War in Ancient Rome
The makings of the basic principles of total war were laid long ago, back in ancient Rome. We must pay tribute to the military leaders of that time, since during the conquest of new peoples they used the same tactics that worked flawlessly. When a village or a city met on the way of the Roman legions , all residents were asked to surrender and swear allegiance to Rome. If people did not accept this offer, then the village was completely destroyed, and people became slaves.
In the same way, Julius Caesar captured Gaul. He understood that such warlike people could be defeated only by breaking his spirit. Therefore Rome, total war for which it was the basic principle of warfare, made a great contribution to the development of this concept.
In the article we tried to answer the question "what is total war?" The term can be viewed from the point of view of the military and political principle, as well as give it its own, purely subjective assessment.