Scorched earth

Ascorched-earth policyis amilitary strategyof destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind oftoolsandinfrastructure. Its use is possible by a retreating army to leave nothing of value worth taking, to weaken the attacking force or by an advancing army to fight againstunconventional warfare.
Scorched earth againstnon-combatantshas been banned under the1977 Geneva Conventions.
The term was found in English in a 1937 report on theSecond Sino-Japanese War. The retreating Chinese forces burned crops and destroyed infrastructure including cities to sabotage the logistics of the advancing Japanese forces.
Clausewitzwrote inPrinciples of War:
Clausewitz wrote inOn War:
Notable historic examples of successful scorched-earth tactics include the failedSwedish,FrenchandGerman invasion of Russia,Sherman's march to the seaduringthe American Civil War,Kit Carson's campaign during theNavajo Warsin 1863 andLord Kitchener's methods in theAnglo-Boer War.
TheScythiansused scorched-earth methods against the PersianAchaemenid Empire, led by KingDarius the Great, during hisEuropean Scythian campaign. The Scythians, who were nomadic herders, evaded the Persian invaders and retreated into the depths of thesteppesafter they had destroyed food supplies andpoisoned wells.
The Greek generalXenophonrecorded in hisAnabasisthat the withdrawing enemy burnt up the grass and everything else that was good for use in front of theTen Thousand.
During theSecond Punic Warin 218–202BCE, both Carthaginians and Romans used the method selectively during Hannibal's invasion ofItaly.After the Roman defeat atLake Trasimene,Quintus Fabius Maximusinstructed those living in the path of the invading Carthaginians to burn their houses and grain.
After the end of theThird Punic Warin 146 BCE, theRoman Senatealso elected to use this method to permanently destroy the Carthaginian capital city,Carthage(near modern-dayTunis). The buildings were torn down, their stones scattered so not even rubble remained, and the fields were burned. However, the story that theysalted the earthisapocryphal.
The system of punitive destruction of property and subjugation of people when accompanying a military campaign was known asvastatio.Two of the first uses of scorched earth recorded happened in theGallic Wars. The first was used when theCelticHelvetiiwere forced to evacuate their homes inSouthern GermanyandSwitzerlandbecause of incursions of unfriendlyGermanic tribes: to add incentive to the march, the Helvetii destroyed everything they could not bring.
The second case shows actual military value: during theGreat Gallic WartheGaulsunderVercingetorixplanned to lure the Roman armies into Gaul and then trap and obliterate them. They thus ravaged the countryside of what are now theBeneluxcountries and France. This caused immense problems for the Romans, but the Roman military triumphs over the Gallic alliance showed that the ravaging alone was not to be enough to save Gaul from subjugation by Rome.
In the year CE 363, the EmperorJulian'sinvasion of Persiawas turned back by a scorched-earth policy:
During theFirst Fitna(656–661),Muawiyah IsentBusr ibn Abi Artatto a campaign in theHejazandYemento ravage territory loyal to Muawiyah's opponentAli ibn Abi Talib. According toTabari, 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed during that campaign of the civil war. Muawiyah also sentSufyan ibn AwftoIraqto burn the crops and homes of Ali's supporters.
During theViking invasion of England, the Viking chieftainHasteintried to occupy the ruined Roman fortress ofChesterin late summer 893, planning to raid northernMerciafrom the refortified fortress. But the Mercians destroyed all crops and livestock in the surrounding countryside and expelled the Vikings successfully.
In theHarrying of the North,William the Conqueror's solution to stop a rebellion in 1069 was the brutal conquest and subjugation ofnorthern England. William's men burnt whole villages from theHumbertoTeesand slaughtered the inhabitants. Food stores and livestock were destroyed so that anyone surviving the initial massacre would soon succumb to starvation over the winter. The destruction is depicted in theBayeux Tapestry.The survivors were reduced tocannibalism,with one report stating that theskullsof the dead were cracked open so that their brains could be eaten. Between 100,000 and 150,000 perished, and the area took centuries to recover from the damage.
During theHundred Years' War, both the English and the French conductedchevauchéeraids over the enemy territory to damage its infrastructure.
Robert the Brucecounselled using scorched earth to frustrate the invasion of Scotland byEdward I of England, according to an anonymous 14th-century poem:
Aslightingis the deliberate destruction, whether partial or complete, of afortificationwithout opposition. Sometimes, such as during theWars of Scottish Independenceand theEnglish Civil War, it was done to render the structure unusable as a fortress.In England,adulterine (unauthorised) castleswould usually be slighted if captured by a king.During theWars of Scottish Independence, Robert the Bruce adopted a strategy of slighting Scottish castles to prevent them from being occupied by the invading English.
A strategy of slighting castles in Palestine was also adopted by theMamlukesduring their wars with theCrusaders.
Stephen the Greatused scorched earth in the Carpathians against theOttoman Armyin 1475 and 1476.
In 1462, a massive Ottoman army, led bySultanMehmed II, marched into Wallachia.Vlad the Impalerretreated toTransylvania. During his departure, he conducted scorched-earth tactics to ward off Mehmed's approach. When the Ottoman forces approachedTirgoviste, they encountered over 20,000 peopleimpaledby the forces of Vlad the Impaler, creating a "forest" of dead or dying bodies on stakes. The atrocious, gut-wrenching sight caused Mehmed to withdraw from battle and send instead Radu, Vlad's brother, to fight Vlad the Impaler.
Further use of scorched-earth policies in war was seen during the 16th century inIreland, where it was used by English commanders such asWalter DevereuxandRichard Bingham.
TheDesmond Rebellionswere a famous case in Ireland. Much of the province ofMunsterwas laid waste. The poetEdmund Spenserleft an account of it:
In early 1565, GrandmasterJean Parisot de Valetteordered the harvesting of all the crops in Malta, including unripened grain, to deprive the Ottomans of any local food supplies since spies had warned of an imminent Ottoman attack. Furthermore, the Knightspoisoned all of the wellswith bitter herbs and dead animals. The Ottomans arrived on 18 May, and theGreat Siege of Maltabegan. The Ottomans managed to capture one fort but were eventually defeated by the Knights, the Maltese militia and a Spanish relief force.
In 1630,Field-Marshal GeneralTorquato Contiwas in command of theHoly Roman Empire's forces during theThirty Years' War. Forced to retreat from the advancing Swedish army of KingGustavus Adolphus, Conti ordered his troops to burn houses, destroy villages and cause as much harm generally to property and people as possible.:
In 1688, France attacked the GermanElectoral Palatinate. The German states responded by forming an alliance and assembling a sizeable armed force to push the French out of Germany. The French had not prepared for such an eventuality. Realising that the war in Germany was not going to end quickly and that the war would not be a brief and decisive parade of French glory,Louis XIVand War MinisterMarquis de Louvoisresolved upon a scorched-earth policy in thePalatinate,BadenandWürttemberg. The French were intent on denying enemy troops local resources and on preventing the Germans from invading France.By 20 December 1688, Louvois had selected all the cities, towns, villages and châteaux intended for destruction. On 2 March 1689, theCount of TessétorchedHeidelberg, and on 8 March,MontclarlevelledMannheim.OppenheimandWormswere finally destroyed on 31 May, followed bySpeyeron 1 June, and Bingen on 4 June. In all, French troops burnt over 20 substantial towns as well as numerous villages.
In theMaratha Empire,Shivaji Maharajhad introduced scorched-earth tactics, known asGanimi Kava.His forces looted traders and businessmen fromAurangzeb'sMughal Empireand burnt down his cities, but they were strictly ordered not to rape or hurt the innocent civilians and not to cause any sort of disrespect to any of the religious institutes.
Shivaji's son,Sambhaji Maharaj, was detested throughout the Mughal Empire for his scorched-earth tactics until he and his men were captured byMuqarrab Khanand hisMughal Armycontingent of 25,000.On 11 March 1689, a panel of Mughalqadisindicted and sentenced Sambhaji to death on accusations of casualtorture,arson, looting and massacres but most prominently for giving shelter to Sultan Muhammad Akbar, the fourth son of Aurangzeb, who had sought Sambhaji's aid in winning the Mughal throne from the emperor, his father. Sambhaji was particularly condemned for the three days of ravaging committed after the Battle of Burhanpur.
During theGreat Northern War, Russian EmperorPeter the Great's forces used scorched-earth tactics to hold back Swedish KingCharles XII's campaign towardsMoscowin 1707–1708.
In 1779 Congress decided to defeat the four British allied nations of theIroquoisdecisively during theAmerican Revolutionary Warwith theSullivan Expedition. General John Sullivan used a scorched earth campaign by destroying more than 40 Iroquois villages and their stores of winter crops resulting in many deaths by starvation and cold in the following winter.
In a letter toJean-Jacques Dessalines,Toussaint Louvertureoutlined his plans for defeating the French in theHaitian Revolutionstarting in 1791 using scorched-earth: "Do not forget, while waiting for the rainy reason which will rid us of our foes, that we have no other resource than destruction and fire. Bear in mind that the soil bathed with our sweat must not furnish our enemies with the smallest sustenance. Tear up the roads with shot; throw corpses and horses into all the foundations, burn and annihilate everything in order that those who have come to reduce us to slavery may have before their eyes the image of the hell which they deserve".
During the thirdNapoleonic invasion of Portugalin 1810, thePortuguesepopulation retreated towardsLisbonand was ordered to destroy all the food supplies the French might capture as well as forage and shelter in a wide belt across the country. (Although effective food-preserving techniques had recently been invented, they were still not fit for military use because a suitably-rugged container had not yet been invented.)The command was obeyed as a result of French plundering and general ill-treatment of civilians in the previous invasions. The civilians would rather destroy anything that had to be left behind, rather than leave it to the French. When the French armies reached theLines of Torres Vedrason the way to Lisbon, French soldiers reported that the country "seemed to empty ahead of them". Low morale, hunger, disease and indiscipline greatly weakened the French army and compelled the forces to retreat, see alsoAttrition warfare against Napoleon.
In 1812, EmperorAlexander Iwas able to renderNapoleon's invasion of Russiauseless by using a scorched-earth policy.As Russians withdrew from the advancing French army, they burned the countryside over which they passed (and allegedly Moscow),leaving nothing of value for the pursuing French army. Encountering only desolate and useless land Napoleon'sGrande Arméewas prevented from using its usual doctrine of living off the lands that it conquered. Pushing relentlessly on despite dwindling numbers, the Grand Army met with disaster as the invasion progressed. Napoleon's army arrived in a virtually-abandonedMoscow, which was a tattered starving shell of its former self, largely because of scorched-earth tactics by the retreating Russians. Having conquered essentially nothing, Napoleon's troops retreated, but the scorched-earth policy came into effect again because even though some large supply dumps had been established on the advance, the route between them had both been scorched and marched over once already. Thus, the French army starved as it marched along the resource-depleted invasion route.
In August 1812,ArgentineGeneralManuel Belgranoled theJujuy Exodus, a massive forced displacement of people from what is nowJujuyandSaltaProvinces to the south. The Jujuy Exodus was conducted by the patriot forces of theArmy of the North, which was battling aRoyalistarmy.
Belgrano, faced with the prospect of total defeat and territorial loss, ordered all people to pack their necessities, including food and furniture, and to follow him in carriages or on foot together with whatever cattle and beasts of burden that could endure the journey. The rest (houses, crops, food stocks and any objects made of iron) was to be burned to deprive the Royalists of resources. The strict scorched-earth policy made him ask on 29 July 1812 the people of Jujuy to "show theirheroism" and to join the march of the army under his command "if, as you assure, you want to be free". The punishment for ignoring the order was execution, with the destruction of the defector's properties. Belgrano labored to win the support of the populace and later reported that most of the people had willingly followed him without the need for force.
The exodus started on 23 August and gathered people fromJujuyandSalta. People travelled south about 250 km and finally arrived at the banks of the Pasaje River, inTucumán Provincein the early hours of 29 August. They applied a scorched-earth policy and so the Spaniards advanced into a wasteland. Belgrano's army destroyed everything that could provide shelter or be useful to the Royalists.
In 1827,Ibrahim Pasha of Egyptled an Ottoman-Egyptian combined force in a campaign to crush Greek revolutionaries in thePeloponnese. In response to Greek guerrilla attacks on his forces in thePeloponnese, Ibrahim launched a scorched earth campaign that threatened the population with starvation and deported many civilians into slavery inEgypt.The fires of burning villages and fields were clearly visible from Allied ships standing offshore. A British landing party reported that the population of Messinia was close to mass starvation.Ibrahim's scorched-earth policy caused much outrage inEurope, which was one factor for theGreat Powers(United Kingdom, theKingdom of Franceand theRussian Empire) decisively intervening against him in theBattle of Navarino.
In theAmerican Civil War, Union forces underPhilip SheridanandWilliam Tecumseh Shermanused the policy widely:
General Sherman used that policy during hisMarch to the Sea.
Another event, in response toWilliam Quantrill'sraid on Lawrence, Kansas, and the many civilian casualties, including the killing of 150 men, Brigadier GeneralThomas Ewing Jr., Sherman's brother-in-law, issued US ArmyGeneral Order No. 11 (1863)to order the near-total evacuation of three-and-a-half counties in westernMissouri, south of Kansas City, which were subsequently looted and burned byUS Armytroops.Under Sherman's overall direction, GeneralPhilip Sheridanfollowed that policy in theShenandoah ValleyofVirginiaand then in theIndian Warsof theGreat Plains.
When GeneralUlysses Grant's forces broke through the defenses ofRichmond, Virginia, Confederate PresidentJefferson Davisordered the destruction of Richmond's military supplies. The resulting fires quickly spread to other buildings, as well as to the Confederate warships docked on theJames River. Civilians in panic were forced to escape the city as it quickly burned.
During the wars withNative Americantribes of theAmerican West,Kit Carson, underJames Henry Carleton's direction, instituted a scorched-earth policy, burning  fields and homes destroying any livestock. He was aided by other Indian tribes with long-standing enmity toward the Navajos, chiefly theUte tribe. The Navajo were forced to surrender because of the destruction of their livestock and food supplies. In the spring of 1864, 8000 Navajo men, women, and children were forced to march 300 miles toFort Sumner, New Mexico. Navajos call it "The Long Walk."
During theSecond Boer War(1899–1902), British forces applied a scorched-earth policy in the occupiedBoer republicsunder the direction of GeneralLord Kitchener. NumerousBoers, refusing to accept military defeat, adopted guerrilla warfare despite the capture of both of their capital cities. As a result, under Lord Kitchener's command British forces initiated a policy of the destruction of the farms and the homes of civilians in the republics to prevent the Boers who were still fighting from obtaining food and supplies.Boer noncombatants inhabiting the republics (mostly women and children) were interned inconcentration campsto prevent them from supplying guerillas still in the field.
The existence of the concentration camps was exposed by English activistEmily Hobhouse, who toured the camps and began petitioning theBritish governmentto change its policy.In an attempt to counter Hobhouse's activism, the British government commissioned the Fawcett Commission, but it confirmed Hobhouse's findings.The British government then claimed that it perceived the concentration camps to be humanitarian measure and were established to care for displaced noncombatants until the war's end, in response to mounting criticism of the camps in Britain. A number of factors, including outbreaks of infectious diseases, a lack of planning and supplies for the camps, and overcrowding led to numerous internees dying in the camps.A decade after the war, historian P. L. A. Goldman estimated that 27,927 Boers died in the concentration camps, 26,251 women and children (of whom more than 22,000 were under the age of 16) and 1,676 men over the age of 16, with 1,421 being above the age of 16.The number of Black Africans who also suffered the same is unknown.
In 1868, theTūhoe, who had sheltered theMāorileaderTe Kooti, were thus subjected to a scorched-earth policy in which their crops and buildings were destroyed and the people of fighting age were captured.
On theEastern FrontofWorld War I, theImperial Russian Armycreated a zone of destruction by using a massive scorched-earth strategy during their retreat from theImperial German Armyin the summer and the autumn of 1915. The Russian troops, retreating along a front of more than 600 miles, destroyed anything that might be of use to their enemy, including crops, houses, railways and entire cities. They also forcibly removed huge numbers of people. In pushing the Russian troops back into Russia's interior, the German army gained a large area of territory from theRussian Empirethat is nowPoland,Ukraine,Belarus,LatviaandLithuania.
In late 1916 the British army set fire to theRomanianoil fields in order to prevent the central powers from capturing them. 800 million litres of oil were burned.
On theWestern Fronton 24 February 1917, theGerman armymade a strategic scorched-earth withdrawal (Operation Alberich) from theSomme battlefieldto the prepared fortifications of theHindenburg Lineto shorten the line that had to be occupied. Since a scorched-earth campaign requires awar of movement, theWestern Frontprovided little opportunity for the policy as the war was mostly astalemateand was fought mostly in the same concentrated area for its entire duration.
During theGreco-Turkish War (1919–1922), the retreatingGreek Armycarried out a scorched-earth policy while it was fleeing fromAnatoliain the final phase of the war.The historianSydney Nettleton Fisherwrote, "The Greek army in retreat pursued a burned-earth policy and committed every known outrage against defenceless Turkish villagers in its path".
Norman Naimarknoted that "the Greek retreat was even more devastating for the local population than the occupation".
During theSecond Sino-Japanese War, theImperial Japanese Armyhad a scorched-earth policy, known as "Three Alls Policy", which caused immense environmental and infrastructure damage to be recorded. It contributed to the complete destruction of entire villages and partial destruction of entire cities.
The ChineseNational Revolutionary Armydestroyed dams and levees in an attempt to flood the land to slow down the advancement of Japanese soldiers, which further added to the environmental impact and resulted in the1938 Yellow River flood. In the1938 Changsha fire, the city ofChangshawas put on fire by theKuomintangto prevent any wealth from falling into enemy hands.
At the start of theWinter Warin 1939, the Finns used the tactic in the vicinity of the border in order to deprive the invading SovietRed Army's provisions and shelter for the forthcoming cold winter. In some cases, fighting took place in areas that were familiar to the Finnish soldiers who were fighting it. There were accounts of soldiers burning down their very own homes and parishes. One of the burned parishes wasSuomussalmi.
WhenGermany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, many district governments took the initiative to begin a partial scorched-earth policy to deny the invaders access to electrical, telecommunications, rail, and industrial resources. Parts of the telegraph network were destroyed, some rail and road bridges were blown up, most electrical generators were sabotaged through the removal of key components, and many mineshafts were collapsed.
The process was repeated later in the war by the German forces ofArmy Group NorthandErich von Manstein'sArmy Group Don, which stole crops, destroyed farms, and razed cities and smaller settlements during several military operations. The rationale for the policy was that it would slow pursuing Soviet forces by forcing them to save their own civilians. The best-known victims of the German scorched-earth policy were the people of the historic city ofNovgorod, which was razed during the winter of 1944 to cover Army Group North's retreat fromLeningrad.
Near the end of the summer of 1944,Finland, which had made aseparate peacewith theAllies, was required to evict the German forces, which had been fighting against the Soviets alongside Finnish troops in northern Finland. The Finnish forces, under the leadership of GeneralHjalmar Siilasvuo, struck aggressively in late September 1944 by making a landfall atTornio. That accelerated the German retreat, and by November 1944, the Germans had left most of northern Finland. The German forces, forced to retreat because of an overall strategic situation, covered their retreat towardsNorwayby devastating large areas of northern Finland by using a scorched-earth strategy. More than a third of the area's dwellings were destroyed, and the provincial capitalRovaniemiwas burned to the ground. All but two bridges inLapland Provincewere blown up, and all roads were mined.
Innorthern Norway, which was also being invaded by Soviet forces in pursuit of the retreatingWehrmachtin 1944, the Germans also undertook a scorched-earth policy of destroying every building that could offer shelter and thus interposing a belt of "scorched earth" between themselves and the allies.
In 1945,Adolf Hitlerordered his minister of armaments,Albert Speer, to carry out a nationwide scorched-earth policy, in what became known as theNero Decree. Speer, who was looking to the future, actively resisted the order, just as he had earlier refused Hitler's command to destroy French industry when the Wehrmacht was being driven out of France. Speer managed to continue doing so even after Hitler became aware of his actions.
During the Second World War, therailroad ploughwas used during retreats inGermany,Czechoslovakiaand other countries to deny enemy use of railways by partially destroying them.
Britain was the first nation to employherbicidesanddefoliants(chieflyAgent Orange) to destroy the crops and the bushes ofMalayan National Liberation Army(MNLA) insurgents inMalayaduring theMalayan Emergency. The intent was to prevent MNLA insurgents from utilizing rice fields to resupply their rations and using them as a cover to ambush passing convoys of Commonwealth troops.
In response toIndia's invasion ofPortuguese Goain December 1961 during theannexation of Portuguese India, orders delivered fromPortuguese PresidentAmérico Tomáscalled for a scorched-earth policy for Goa to be destroyed before its surrender to India.
However, despite his orders fromLisbon, Governor GeneralManuel António Vassalo e Silvatook stock of the superiority of the Indian troops and of his forces' supplies of food and ammunition and took the decision to surrender. He later described his orders to destroy Goa as "a useless sacrifice" (um sacrifício inútil)".
The United States usedAgent Orangeas a part of itsherbicidal warfareprogramOperation Ranch Handto destroy crops and foliage to expose possible enemy hideouts during theVietnam War.Agent Bluewas used on rice fields to deny food to theViet Cong.
Efraín Ríos Monttused the policy inGuatemala's highlands in 1981 and 1982, but it had been used under the previous president,Fernando Romeo Lucas García. Upon entering office, Ríos Montt implemented a new counterinsurgency strategy that called for the use of scorched earth to combat theGuatemalan National Revolutionary Unityrebels.Plan Victoria 82was more commonly known by the nickname of the rural pacification elements of the strategy,Fusiles y Frijoles(Bullets and Beans).Ríos Montt's policies resulted in the death of thousands, most of them indigenousMayans.
TheIndonesian militaryused the method duringIndonesian National Revolutionwhen the British forces inBandunggave an ultimatum for Indonesian fighters to leave the city. In response, the southern part of Bandung was deliberately burned down in an act of defiance as they left the city on 24 March 1946. This event is known as theBandung Sea of Fire(Bandung Lautan Api).
TheIndonesian militaryandpro-Indonesia militiasalso used the method in the1999 East Timorese crisis. The Timor-Leste scorched-earth campaign was around the time ofEast Timor's referendum for independence in 1999.
The method was used during theYugoslav Warsthat started in 1991, such as against theSerbsinKrajinaby theCroatian Army,and bySerbian paramilitary groups.
The Soviet army used scorched-earth tactics against towns and villages in 1983 to 1984 in theSoviet–Afghan Warto prevent the return of theMujahideenby a migratorygenocide. The Soviet army used mines extensively in the bordering provinces to Pakistan to cut off weapon supply.
The government ofSudanused scorched earth as a military strategy in theDarfur Warthat started in 2003.
During the 2009Sri Lankan Civil War, theUnited Nations Regional Information Centreaccused the government ofSri Lankaof using scorched-earth tactics.
In March 2023, theOffice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rightscondemned theBurmese military's use of a scorched earth strategy, which has killed thousands of civilians, displaced 1.3 million people and destroyed 39,000 houses throughout the country since the2021 Myanmar coup d'état, as the military has deniedhumanitarian accessto survivors, razed entire villages, and used indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery shelling.
The concept ofscorched-earth defenseis sometimes applied figuratively to the business world in which a firm facing atakeoverattempts to make itself less valuable by selling off its assets.