Final answer:
Total war is a military strategy where any and all tactics and resources are used, including targeting civilians and their property, to force an opponent into surrender. General Sherman applied this in his March to the Sea by destroying Confederate resources and infrastructure and freeing slaves, negatively impacting the Southern war effort and will to fight.
Step-by-step explanation:
Total war is a strategy of warfare where all resources and tactics, including those affecting civilians and their property, are regarded as legitimate targets in order to break an adversary’s will to continue fighting. During the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman implemented total war most significantly during his March to the Sea. In 1864, particularly during the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman ordered the evacuation and burning of Atlanta, cut telegraph lines, and his army systematically destroyed railroads, plantations, and farms in Georgia. As they moved towards Savannah, freed slaves began following the Union troops, swelling their numbers by around 20,000. The demoralizing effect on the Confederates was profound, and was part of Sherman’s strategy to end the war quickly by attacking resources that sustained the Confederate war effort.
The implementation of total war extended the reach of government into citizens’ lives like never before as it required the mobilization of all resources. Although both Union and Confederate forces pursued total war to some degree, neither side completely erased the distinction between military and civilian targets. Sherman's march had a significant psychological impact on the South, with Union forces freeing slaves en route and engaged in a deliberate campaign of resource destruction, which greatly impaired the Confederacy's ability to fight.