What does scorched earth mean?

Definitions for scorched earth
scorched earth

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word scorched earth.

Wikipedia

  1. Scorched earth

    A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, communication sites, and industrial resources. However, anything useful to the advancing enemy may be targeted, including food stores and agricultural areas, water sources, and even the local people themselves, though the latter group of targets has been banned under the 1977 Geneva Conventions.The practice can be carried out by the military in enemy territory or in its own home territory while it is being invaded. It may overlap with, but is not the same as, punitive destruction of the enemy's resources, which is usually done as part of political strategy, rather than operational strategy.

Wikidata

  1. Scorched earth

    A scorched earth policy is a military strategy which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. It is a military strategy where all of the assets that are used or can be used by the enemy are targeted, such as food sources, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the people in the area. The practice can be carried out by an army in enemy territory, or in its own home territory. It may overlap with, but is not the same as, punitive destruction of an enemy's resources, which is done for purely strategic/political reasons rather than strategic/operational reasons. It was most famously used by Joseph Stalin against the German Army in the Second World War, by William Tecumseh Sherman during his March to the Sea in the American Civil War, by Lord Kitchener against the Boers, and by the Russian army during the failed Napoleonic invasion of Russia. The strategy of destroying the food supply of the civilian population in an area of conflict has been banned under Article 54 of Protocol I of the 1977 Geneva Conventions. The relevant passage says: 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.

Suggested Resources

  1. scorched earth

    Song lyrics by scorched earth -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by scorched earth on the Lyrics.com website.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of scorched earth in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of scorched earth in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of scorched earth in a Sentence

  1. Maura Healey:

    I hope this decision will encourage Exxon to end their scorched earth campaign.

  2. Dave Heller:

    That type of scorched earth policy is going to destroy conservative talk in Florida in the meantime, i work for a privately owned broadcasting group that will not be able to afford a barrage of lawsuits before we wait for it to go before the Supreme Court.

  3. William Barr:

    The fact of the matter is that, in waging a scorched earth, no-holds-barred war of ‘Resistance’ against this Administration, it is the Left that is engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and the undermining of the rule of law. This highlights a basic disadvantage that conservatives have always had in contesting the political issues of the day. It was adverted to by the old, curmudgeonly Federalist, Fisher Ames, in an essay during the early years of the Republic.

  4. Stephen Innes:

    Any sliver of optimism on the trade war front will be viewed in a very positive light, surely both parties can't be happy to move forward with their scorched earth policy.

  5. Luisa Guerra:

    This is a scorched earth campaign, and people don't like it.


Translations for scorched earth

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"scorched earth." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/scorched+earth>.

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