Assess the view that total war was the most significant development in the period 1792-1945
Total War - War that is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, territory or combatants involved, or
objectives pursued
● Was seen in its infancy in the FRWs and the ACW, and by the World Wars it had
○ → transformed the duration and scale of warfare, as well as the involvement of citizens
However development of increasing public support for war was a more significant development
● → it gave the state the powers to precipitate total war
Total War - Convincing evidence that total war was a highly significant development in the period
1792-1945
● Scale of warfare on the battlefield
○ Development of Total War in WW1, with a huge increase in resources used on
battlefield
■ Eg. Somme 1916 - 3 million shells fired in a 5 day artillery bombardment from
1000+ field artillery and 427 heavy artillery
○ Whereas previously the scale of such bombardments had been much smaller
■ Eg Lodi 1796 French bombardment was from 30 light artillery pieces
○ Similarly, there was a striking increase in the scale of combatant numbers
■ eg. Battle of Stalingrad WW2 - 2.2 million combatants (1.7 million casualties)
■ By contrast Battle of Balaclava (1854) in Crimea had only 27,000 British and
French, and 25,000 Russians
● Duration
○ Unrestricted mobilization of weaponry and resources for war led to vastly increased
duration of war
■ Eg. sustained 3 year stalemate in 5 year WWI due to scale of defensive
weaponry and continuous supplying of armies on the front line
● By contrast Austro-Prussian war lasted just 7 weeks as without the
support of its economy, Prussia had to gain a rapid decisive victory
● Impact on home front → increased involvement of civilians in war
○ Whilst when total war was in its infancy civilian targeting was just economic…
■ eg. Sherman's 480km march to the sea his troops only destroyed property and
anything of military value
○ …by WW1 civilians were direct targets, with the starvation of 760,000 Germans due to
the Naval blockade
○ Perhaps most strikingly, by WW2 over ⅔ total casualties were civilian (55 million
killed) from mass use of bombing raids and blockading to specifically target civilans
■ Whereas in 19th C. civilians were generally shielded from war
Total War - War that is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, territory or combatants involved, or
objectives pursued
● Was seen in its infancy in the FRWs and the ACW, and by the World Wars it had
○ → transformed the duration and scale of warfare, as well as the involvement of citizens
However development of increasing public support for war was a more significant development
● → it gave the state the powers to precipitate total war
Total War - Convincing evidence that total war was a highly significant development in the period
1792-1945
● Scale of warfare on the battlefield
○ Development of Total War in WW1, with a huge increase in resources used on
battlefield
■ Eg. Somme 1916 - 3 million shells fired in a 5 day artillery bombardment from
1000+ field artillery and 427 heavy artillery
○ Whereas previously the scale of such bombardments had been much smaller
■ Eg Lodi 1796 French bombardment was from 30 light artillery pieces
○ Similarly, there was a striking increase in the scale of combatant numbers
■ eg. Battle of Stalingrad WW2 - 2.2 million combatants (1.7 million casualties)
■ By contrast Battle of Balaclava (1854) in Crimea had only 27,000 British and
French, and 25,000 Russians
● Duration
○ Unrestricted mobilization of weaponry and resources for war led to vastly increased
duration of war
■ Eg. sustained 3 year stalemate in 5 year WWI due to scale of defensive
weaponry and continuous supplying of armies on the front line
● By contrast Austro-Prussian war lasted just 7 weeks as without the
support of its economy, Prussia had to gain a rapid decisive victory
● Impact on home front → increased involvement of civilians in war
○ Whilst when total war was in its infancy civilian targeting was just economic…
■ eg. Sherman's 480km march to the sea his troops only destroyed property and
anything of military value
○ …by WW1 civilians were direct targets, with the starvation of 760,000 Germans due to
the Naval blockade
○ Perhaps most strikingly, by WW2 over ⅔ total casualties were civilian (55 million
killed) from mass use of bombing raids and blockading to specifically target civilans
■ Whereas in 19th C. civilians were generally shielded from war
