The Last Conformist
Irresistibly Attractive
I'm surprised "scorched earth" and "destroying the enemy's ability to wage war" have been mentioned as "modern" concepts. Sherman's march was a pretty benign affair compared to the Russians systematic destruction of Chechen villages early in the century, or the Chinese's genocidal campaigns against the Jungars in the mid-18th C. "Eating out" areas so that enemy armies couldn't camp in them was a standard tactic of the 30 Years War. Scorching the enemy's fields and cutting down his orchards was an ancient tactic when the English did it in the 100 Years War, and wasn't exactly new when the Spartans put rural Attica to the torch in the Peloponesian War over a millennium and a half earlier.
