“We fought the 1991 Gulf War with dazzling, computer-enhanced weaponry. But lost in the technological pizzazz was the basic wisdom that we need to fight wars with political objectives in mind and that, to conclude them decisively, we must defeat and even humiliate our enemies, so that they agree to abandon their prewar behavior.”
There were two generals of the Civil War that understood this principle of “total war.” Thomas J. Jackson on the Southern Side (but he didn’t live long enough to have the influence), of course the Northern general was William T. Sherman. His “march to the sea” greatly shortened that conflict (apologies to Southern brethren that are still angry about that one). Sherman said, “War is cruelty, there is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”
Sheridan did a number on the Shenendoah Valley in Virginia. That was total war in action.
Bump for later collections.