Total War

General William Tecumseh Sherman is possibly one of the most famous and yet still infamous public figures to exist in America. Depending on who (and where) you ask, you will receive extremely different responses on a person's thoughts of General Sherman. General Sherman is credited with great military victories in Tennessee and the deep South which led to his fame as a Union General. This success and more specifically the methods he used to achieve this success branded Sherman with infamy and enraged many Southerners with his strategy.
The tale of General Sherman's infamy starts at the liberation of Chattanooga Tennessee in November of 1863. After then General Grant's successful campaign in Tennessee, Grant was promoted to General-in-chief of the army. After Grant's promotion, William Sherman was promoted to the General for the new campaign for the invasion of Georgia. Sherman was characterized as a grim faced and ruthless commander. Piercing into the depths of the Confederacy, Sherman and his army marched toward Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman swiftly captured Georgia and savored his victory. When Sherman was ready to move on, he razed the city of Atlanta to the ground on Nov. 16 1864. Sherman then made a daring move and pushed onward abandoning most of his supply lines. Sherman's army had to live off the surrounding country on their march towards Savannah. In order for the troops to eat, they had to pillage and steal anything they could find. These troops did not just steal food, however. Sherman's ¨blue bellies¨ were given the initiative to pillage, steal, and destroy anything in their way. Sherman was so infamous for his destruction that the burned remains of buildings in the wake of the army were called ¨Shermans sentinels.¨ They were called this because only the chimneys remained of the buildings. Sherman and his troops were known for the brutality and evil acts they committed on Sherman's infamous March to the Sea. Sherman's goal was the city of Savannah, and he steamrolled through the country side destroying everything and anyone in his way. Sherman eventually did make it to Savannah, which he captured in Dec 22 1864. Sherman's destruction continued northward, where he lay waste to the state of South Carolina, which many considered the instigator of secession. Sherman's brutality was again seen in the burning of Columbia, the capitol city of the Confederacy.
Sherman's form of warfare is categorized as Total War. Sherman helped pioneer the practice of total war. Total war is practicing war against an entire population. The ideology is that civilians help contribute to the war effort, and that in order to win the war faster and save the lives of troops, it is necessary to wage war against all parts of a nation. Sherman showed this by his rampaging through Georgia. By killing, burning, and looting, Sherman created massive economic damage. Besides economic damage, Sherman hoped to derail the morale of Confederate soldiers by striking at the heart of the confederacy and where they lived. If the confederate soldiers knew that they would come home to nothing, many would question if what they are fighting for is worth it. Sherman's use of total war is seen more recently in the use of the atomic bomb against Japan. Estimates for the amount of troops needed to invade mainland Japan and the amount of lives lost would be huge. President Truman and his cabinet decided that the use of a weapon of mass destruction against a civilian population would break the will of the Japanese people and prevent the loss of hundreds of thousands of American soldier's lives if the mainland invasion of Japan actually occurred. Sherman's brutal tactics are cruel to the civilian populace, but they were effective. The war against civilians and all parts of a nation is effective in breaking the morale and will of the population to fight.