What is total war?

Answer 1

the complete devotion of one establishment's (whether an individual, group,country, whatever) resources and efforts to the destruction of an opponents ability to make war. this can eb through the complete elimination of the opponent (killin them all) the elimination of their ability to right ( get rid of their weapons, supplies, etc.) or the elimination of their will to fight (make them quit from demoralization)

Answer 2

Total war has not been waged for centuries; World War Two was the closest we have been in recent history but even then countries on both sides had both chemical and biological weapons which they did not use. A total war would be use of any and all military assets to including nuclear, chemical and biological; no holds barred and nothing held back. May or may not be declared as if you hit with massive power with everything you had with no warning then why would you warn them by declaring war on them or could gradually over the course of a war grow into a total war. People think total war is using the nuclear weapons but the threat of biological weapons is actually "scarier" to almost everyone who studies warfare because it is genie out of a bottle if ever used; you cannot recall a germ and have no sure way to cure it due to the mutations which would occur in nature after the release. Chemical weapons and even nuclear are limited and you could use one and stop but not the biological.

Answer 3

The most notable example of 'total war' is WWII, and not just the 'Eastern Front' as the Germans referred to the part of the war they started with the former Soviet Union.
It is making war against a nation as a whole, not just its military, but its civilian population as well. The basic premise is to destroy the will of the people to fight or to produce the means to do so.

Answer 4

employing all resources possible in a conflict. The civil war is an example of total war. Sherman is pretty notorious for his implementation of such in his march to the sea. Another example would be that of WWII russia, employing everyone as either a soldier or a factory worker.

Answer 5

Total war is when all the civilains are basically working for the milatary, all the factories change from whatever to supplies and ammunition needed by the military

Answer 6

When total commitment of resources, economy and people are directed at the enemy's ability to make war, including the bombing of civilian infrastructure.

Answer 7

One that would be declared, for a start.