Total War and How it Effected Civilians

In the south during the Civil War the Union soldiers decided to use strategies for example a siege which blocks off all the souths resources which also let's nothing leave or come in. I think this was bad but it was necessary to win the war. They also used a total war strategy which meant burning their houses and everything around it. This affected everyone at it was very bad and hardcore. I think they should of not have used the total war strategy at all and use the siege strategy but less hard core. In my opinion these war tactics aren't justified but sometimes you have to sacrifice things to win wars. In my opinion it is not justified to let woman and kids starve or die but maybe the Union could of targeted just the army camps instead which would justified in my opinion.

Is Siege Necessary?

I think that siege in total war is not necessary. The reason why I think that is because civilians that live there, don't need to go through that pain. There were thousands of people on the ground waiting for a doctor to come to them. There were only so many doctors, and they had to wait in the hot sun with no water or food while being sick. The North invaded the South and took all their food and necessary things, then they burned down their house. The Southerners then had to walk with no food or water to get to Virginia after all of the disaster happened. This is the reason why I think the Northerners didn't have to do all of this damage to the South and the people living there. 

Siege and total war in the civil war?

I think that the Union using total war, and siege is definitely not fair to all of the civilians peacefully living near battlefields, and the action of the war. From the people in the movie I saw that what Sherman did was really not fair to all of the innocent people in the Southern towns when you look at it from the south's point of view. Sherman could have just blocked all of the ports and took of train tracks, but they definitely didn't have to set houses on fire and leave civilians homeless. Doing all of this was good for the Union though because after all of the things Sherman and his troops were doing, the Confederates surrendered. I don't think this is justified, with burning houses.

Is using siege and total war justified? Yes it is.

There are many reasons why siege and total war are justified, but there is one big one. In war, you have one goal, to win. Anyone on the enemy side is enemy. The tactics may be gruesome, but the succeeded at winning the war. There is no such thing as civilised war.

No rules of real war

Yes, I think using siege and total war was necessary. People claimed "this is violating the rules of war" but in my opinion, there are no true rules of war. Maybe setting fires on everything was a little over the top it still got confederates to leave and that upped the union chances of winning the war because of the lack of food supplies. The siege did affect the entire war because the union was able to take control of the Mississippi river. This cut off all supplies and recourses from the confederates.  This was basically payback for slave owners because slave owners treated their slaves worse then war treated them.

Siege and total war: Necessary or not?

Siege and total war: Necessary or not?

I think that the siege and total war is unnecessary for ordinary civilians to go through. At least Sherman could have set the military camps on fire, instead of setting ordinary people's homes on fire. It is not fair to them, especially if they don't want anything to do with the war. Another option for Sherman to do could be to plan a surprise attack, involving soldiers, not innocent people. 

Siege made it unfair for civilians as well, because they were starving, and if they were lucky, they could eat a rat. Ew! 

Overall, in my opinion, I don't think that siege and total war is right, nor fair.

Total War and Siege: Is it war strategy or murder and stealing?

I think siege and Total war are not justified because you should not make civilians suffer. Siege is when you make sure no supplies can get in or out of a city. total war is burning everything and taking all enemy supplies . If you were going to make a siege, only siege supply depots with nobody in them. that means you will not kill people and you will still be destroying enemy supplies