What is total war?

A question i am currently wrestling with is, what is "total war"? In my current TMA i am being asked if total war is an adequate way to describe the First World War. Of course first of all you need to define what total war is.

The term first seems to have popped up in the 19th century and nowadays refers to unlimited warfare using the whole resources of the combatants. Of course in reality total war is very hard to achieve though massive nuclear armouries probably have made the potential for unlimited destruction of an enemy achievable. In WW1 that potential did not exist so can it be called a total war. Well logically no but in reality yes. The conflict was on an unprecedented scale and saw a level of destructive power far beyond the imagination of people even a few decades before. It also saw the line between combatant and non-combatant broken with civilians targetted on purpose such as in the case of the Zeppelin raids on the UK. Nations threw their whole resources into the fight with governments taking over industries, mass conscription and rationing to carry on the fight. The fight itself no longer being "just" to destroy the enemy army but the enemy's ability to wage war, even it's ability to exist.

These differences mark WW1 out from previous conflicts though "total war" surely can be applied to earlier wars. The question comes though with the Second World War. It saw even greater destruction across the world culminating in the first use of atomic weapons. If WW2 is a total war then does that mean WW1 no longer can be? Well that is an argument of some though i feel wars have to be compared with the past and not their future.

Because of that total war does adequately describe WW1. Now i just have to write an essay on this...

Collaboration vs collaborationism

At the moment my course is on the interwar period, this week Stalin in fact but i am also beginning to read on the subject of resistance in WW2 against Nazism for my final TMA. When i come across something interesting i might write it up here, for interest and also to help me remember things when i finally start to write the essay in August!

I am currently reading HR Kedward's Occupied France which is a history of Vichy France and German occupied France from 1940-44. Vichy of course was Marshal Petain's attempt to restore some honour to France and try and make the best of a bad situation in the face of defeat in 1940 though it is likely he totally misjudged the political reality of the time and expected a German occupation like the Franco-Prussian War and for France to pay a part in the new Europe, instead he got an idealogically based occupation and a Hitler who lost interest in France once his attention went east.

Anyway Vichy's form of collaboration is now genuinely regarded by historians as being different to that of the French fascists to whom has been given the name collaborationism (Kedward 1993 p41). This attempts to distinguish between the fascists' ideologically based collaboration and the more pragmatically and nationalistic based flavour of the Vichy regime.

Petain and other Vichy leaders thought it was better to protect French sovereignty if they carried out the arrest of resisters, the deportation of Jews and other acts to assist the Germans instead of the Germans doing it themselves. Their argument was this could act as a "shield" to protect the French people from a greater repression at the hands of the Germans (though of course it is unlikely the resisters, Communists, Jews et cetera who suffered at Vichy's hands really considered this a good thing) who would take the law into their own hands.

Vichy tried to keep it's brand of collaboration distinct from the French fascists though in reality there was a great deal of overlap and no shortage of fascists and Nazi supporters in Vichy. It is interesting to imagine what might have happened if Britain had fallen and there was a British "Vichy", would British people have tried the same brand of collaboration? The nature of resistance is something i will return to another time.

Another page on this subject is here.

Sales of Mein Kamph soar in India

Sales of Mein Kampf, Hitler's autobiography/manifesto written in the 1920s are soaring in India where business students apparently see him as a management guru. 10,000 have been sold in the last six months in New Delhi alone. The surging sales are apparently because students see it as "a self-improvement and management strategy guide for aspiring business leaders". However academics say the students may be influenced by fascist political parties in India.

Sales are also strong in countries like Turkey and Croatia.

Archaeologists discover temple that sheds light on so-called Dark Age

The discovery of a temple in Turkey dating the 9th or 10th century BCE is shedding light on a period of history up until now known for it's upheavals, famine and civilisation collapse, a Dark Age. Sources such as Homer depict the time, the transition of the Bronze to the Iron Age, as one of famine and war, and migrations such as the Sea Peoples which resulted in the collapse of Bronze Age civilisations.

However the excavations at Tayinat indicate a civilisation that was thriving at the time and appears to have been the capital of a Bronze Age kingdom. Though much work remains to be done at the site.

Exam date!

It always feels strange to have your exam date so early in the course but my exam will be in mid-October as always with Open University exams. However as my birthday is also in mid-October i've always had a mild anxiety about the exam falling on my birthday. But once again i am safe and the exam is a couple of days before. Phew!

TMA03 and the big one!

Time to start TMA03 which is due in the first week of May, i haven't had 02 back yet but hopefully that will be soon. I'd like to get some feedback on my last essay before starting the next (which is on Total War).

The long TMA (4K word one) will be on resistance in WW2 against the Nazis. I have ordered 3 books which i need and also "borrowed" a book on special operations in WW2 from my Mum (well it was my Dad's really). Ah its all go eh?!

Researchers find the earliest evidence of domesticated maize

New biological evidence from Mexico’s Central Balsas River Valley indicates maize was first domesticated 8700 years ago, 1200 years earlier than previously thought. Maize derives from teosinte, a wild grass native to central America and Balsas teosinte is the closest species to maize and that is found in the Central Balsas River Valley.


Balsas teosinte

Archaeological analysis has also found very early grinding tools which was used to grind the maize and this enabled the researchers to get a date of 8700 years ago. Remnants of maize starch, which is different to teosinte starch, was found on the tools.

Search on for 'lost' battlefields of England

A major new project is underway to rediscover the "lost" battlefields of England dating back to the Roman invasion and preserve what is left of them (if they arn't already under a carpark or housing estate). It is thought there could be as many as 450 battlefields out there somewhere but Battlefields Trust and English Heritage are aiming to discover the exact location of around 100 and document them on an on-line register. These sites will then have custodians to keep an eye on the battlefield site and promote it to the local community.

Time to decide on the Long TMA

TMA 5 & 6 on my course are one uber-assignment. We are being advised now to decide on which topic we will attempt for the assignment which calls for in-depth research. The problem with choosing now of course is that some topics cover material we haven't touched on yet so it is hard to know if the potential topics could be "the one".

I am considering the topic of resistance however, i do have a couple of books already which could be useful on this. I think i will decide for sure over Easter.