Britain's imperial war: a question of totality?

Abstract

Over the last twenty years, historians have come increasingly to recognise the often pivotal role played by war and conflict in historical development, a theme characterised by Leon Trotsky's observation that war was the "locomotive of his- tory". In particular, the concept of "total war" has become generally familiar as a means of describing the nature of the two world wars of the twentieth centnry, and also as a means o f differentiating them from other conflicts. The term itself origina- ted towards the end of the First World War, being associated primarily with Erich Ludendorff, but also with Georges Clemenceau; the French writer, Leon Daudet; Ernst Jiinger; and Giulio Douhet.