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scorched earth
Sign in to saveAlso known as scorched-earth policy, scorched-earth strategy
military strategy
Scorched earth is a military strategy where a retreating force destroys resources, infrastructure, and supplies in an area to deny them to advancing enemies. This tactic matters because it can slow an enemy's advance and weaken their ability to occupy territory, though it causes severe damage to the local population and environment.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
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Encyclopedic overview
Sherman's March to the Sea by F. O. C. Darley and Alexander Hay Ritchie
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. 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.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “scorched earth” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.