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The '''scorched earth policy''' is a military tactic which involves destroying anything your adversary may find useful before retreating from the battlefield. Originally, this entailed burning food [[crops]] and killing [[livestock]], to deny the enemy supplies. In modern warfare, this tactic has been successfully applied to airfields, [[ammo dump]]s, and [[fuel depot]]s. [[Russia]] has applied the scorched earth policy twice, to great effect.<ref>http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v06/v06p-91_Sanning.html</ref> The first time, Tsarist Russia employed a scorched earth campaign against [[Le Grand Armee]] of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], during his disastrous invasion of Russia. The [[Soviet Union]] applied a very successful scorched earth campaign during [[World War II]], effectively depriving [[Nazi Germany]] from supplies for their invasion. Both of these campaigns were instrumental in defeating the opposing forces. During the [[Gulf War]], Iraqi forces set oil wells alight as they retreated from [[Kuwait]]. [[France]] has never used the scorched earth policy, though it would have helped greatly during the Nazi invasions of [[World War I]] and [[World War II]].

== See also ==

*[[Delaying action]]

==References==
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[[Category:Military]]