![]() The extensive region that lies between the River Tigris and the mountains of Media .was in a very improved state of cultivation. ![]() In the year CE 363, the Emperor Julian's invasion of Persia was turned back by a scorched-earth policy: 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.Ĥth century CE Roman invasion of Persia They thus ravaged the countryside of what are now the Benelux countries and France. The second case shows actual military value: during the Great Gallic War the Gauls under Vercingetorix planned to lure the Roman armies into Gaul and then trap and obliterate them. The first was used when the Celtic Helvetii were forced to evacuate their homes in Southern Germany and Switzerland because of incursions of unfriendly Germanic tribes: to add incentive to the march, the Helvetii destroyed everything they could not bring. Two of the first uses of scorched earth recorded happened in the Gallic Wars. The system of punitive destruction of property and subjugation of people when accompanying a military campaign was known as vastatio. However, the story that they salted the earth is apocryphal. The buildings were torn down, their stones scattered so not even rubble remained, and the fields were burned. 2nd century BCE Third Punic War Īfter the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BCE, the Roman Senate also elected to use this method to permanently destroy the Carthaginian capital city, Carthage (near modern-day Tunis). After the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene, Quintus Fabius Maximus instructed those living in the path of the invading Carthaginians to burn their houses and grain. 3rd century BCE Second Punic War ĭuring the Second Punic War in 218–202 BCE, both Carthaginians and Romans used the method selectively during Hannibal's invasion of Italy. The Greek general Xenophon recorded in his Anabasis that the withdrawing enemy burnt up the grass and everything else that was good for use in front of the Ten Thousand. 4th century BCE March of the Ten Thousand ![]() The Scythians, who were nomadic herders, evaded the Persian invaders and retreated into the depths of the steppes after they had destroyed food supplies and poisoned wells. The Scythians used scorched-earth methods against the Persian Achaemenid Empire, led by King Darius the Great, during his European Scythian campaign. Notable historic examples of successful scorched-earth tactics include the failed Swedish, French and German invasion of Russia, Sherman's march to the sea during the American Civil War, Kit Carson's campaign during the Navajo Wars in 1863 and Lord Kitchener's methods in the Anglo-Boer War.Ħth century BCE European Scythian campaign Nothing remains but wasted villages and towns, fields from which the crops have been gathered, or which are trampled down, empty wells, and muddy brooks.The pursuing army, therefore, from the very first day, has frequently to contend with the most pressing wants. ![]() Īll that the country yields will be taken for the benefit of the retreating army first, and will be mostly consumed. Wellington's campaign in 18 is a good example. Thus we shall disorganize it and force it into a retreat, during which it will necessarily suffer great losses. In defensive just as in offensive warfare, it is necessary to pursue a great aim: the destruction of the enemy army, either by battle or by rendering its subsistence extremely difficult. The retreating Chinese forces burned crops and destroyed infrastructure including cities to sabotage the logistics of the advancing Japanese forces. The term was found in English in a 1937 report on the Second Sino-Japanese War. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive. Scorched earth against non-combatants has been banned under the 1977 Geneva Conventions. 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 against unconventional warfare. A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of 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 of tools and infrastructure.
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