From Wikipedia.org:
"Total war is a neologism to describe an international war wherin countries or nations use all of their resources to destroy another organized
country'
s or nation's ability to engage in war. The practice of total war has been in use for centuries, but it was only in the middle to
late nineteenth century that total war was recognized as a separate
class of warfare. Total war is most easily distinguished from other forms of warfare through a blurring and combining of strategy and grand strategy...
The most identifiable consequence of total war in modern times has been the inclusion of civilians as targets in destroying a
country's ability to engage in war...
The final consequence of total war eventually became, ironically, an
end to war between industrialized nations. After World War
II, industrialized nations' ability to wage war between each other became terribly destructive largely due to nuclear capabilities...There could no longer be an economic impetus for war between industrialized nations. Instead, wars between industrialized nations were fought through
proxy, such as the US war in
Vietnam, the Six Day War, or the Soviet War in Afghanistan."
