scorched earth

(adjective)

A military strategy or operational method that involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area.

Related Terms

Examples of scorched earth in the following topics:

  • Sherman's March

    • Sherman therefore applied the principles of scorched earth throughout his successful Atlanta campaign from May to September of 1864; he ordered his troops to burn crops, kill livestock, and consume supplies.
    • Sherman's scorched earth policies remain highly controversial, and many Southerners have long reviled Sherman's memory.

  • Philadelphia and Saratoga

    • In June 1777, Burgoyne marched south from Quebec toward Albany with 8,000 troops severely weakened by Patriot efforts to cut off British supply lines via raids and scorched earth tactics.

  • Union Victories in the Western Theater

    • Sherman therefore applied the principles of scorched earth: ordering his troops to burn crops, kill livestock, consume supplies, and destroy civilian infrastructure along their path.

  • Quebec, New York, and New Jersey

    • Cornwallis’ troops were attacked as they attempted to forage for provisions and the Continental Army employed scorched earth tactics to further deny supplies to the British.

  • Conclusion: Reasons for Union Victory

    • Sherman’s scorched earth policies throughout the Atlanta Campaign traumatized the South.

  • The Collapse of Nazi Germany

    • Hitler also ordered the intentional destruction of transport, bridges, industries, and other infrastructure—a scorched earth decree—but Armaments Minister Albert Speer was able to keep this order from being fully carried out.

  • Dolley Madison and Washington City

    • The thick sandstone walls of the White House and Capitol survived, although scarred with smoke and scorch marks.

  • Hispanics in WWII

    • These Hispanic and non-Hispanic soldiers endured the 12-day, 85-mile (137 km) Bataan Death March from Bataan to the Japanese prison camps, where they were force-marched in scorching heat through the Philippine jungle.

  • Environmental Protests

    • Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization whose goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity."
    • A major milestone in the environmental movement was the establishment of Earth Day, which was first observed in San Francisco and other cities on March 21, 1970, the first day of Spring.
    • On March 21, 1971, United Nations Secretary-General U Thant spoke of a spaceship Earth on Earth Day, hereby referring to the ecosystem services the earth supplies to us and hence our obligation to protect it (and with it, ourselves).

  • The Revolution and Churches

    • At the beginning of the war, some ministers were persuaded that, with God's help, America might become "the principal Seat of the glorious Kingdom which Christ shall erect upon Earth in the latter Days".
    • Victory over the British was taken as a sign of God's partiality for America and stimulated an outpouring of millennialist expectations—the conviction that Christ would rule on earth for 1,000 years.