Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: What is scorched earth strategy?
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy while it is advancing through or withdrawing from a location. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, for example food sources, water supplies, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the locale's people themselves.
During the First Indochina War, the Vietnamese independentists used the Fabian strategy by utilizing delaying and hit-and-run tactics and scorched-earth strategy against the better-equipped French forces, which prolonged the war but later made both the French high command and home front weary against it, much worsened by the eventual Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu.
The Russian Campaign takes place from 1805 to 1813, during the era of the Napoleonic Wars. The main character is Tsar Alexander I, the "Tsar of all Russia". Most of the scenarios focus on giving resources to allies, so the player can build up his or her army in order to defeat the French Army under Napoleon. This occurs in the second to last mission, where Napoleon has invaded Russia. A favored strategy of players playing this mission is to use a strategy similar to the "scorched earth" policy used by Russia in both the Napoleonic Wars and The Great Patriotic War (World War II).
Efraín Ríos Montt utilized this method in the Guatemalan highlands in 1981-1982, though scorched-earth tactics were first used under the previous president Romeo Lucas García. Upon entering office, Ríos Montt implemented a new counterinsurgency strategy that called for the use of scorched earth to combat the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca rebellion, known as Plan Victoria 82 or, more commonly, by the nickname of the rural pacification elements of this strategy – Fusiles y Frijoles (Bullets and Beans).[57] Ríos Montt's policies resulted in the death of thousands (most of them indigenous Mayans).
Notable historic examples of scorched-earth tactics include the Russian army's strategy during the failed Swedish invasion of Russia, the failed Napoleonic invasion of Russia, William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea in the American Civil War, colonel Kit Carson's subjugation of the American Navajo Indians, Lord Kitchener's advance against the Boers, the initial Soviet retreat commanded by Joseph Stalin during the German Army's invasion of the Soviet Union in the Second World War,[1] and the subsequent Nazi German retreat on the Eastern Front.
Thăng Long capital of Đại Việt collapsed every time Mongolian come, but they do not know Vietnamese prepared psychological to leave Thăng Long in soon. Because, early time, Vietnamese understood they could not protect. Scorched earth strategy, Vietnamese carry what they needed and could, and destroy everything they can not bring to, so Mongolian troops can not used anything. This strategy, Vietnamese calls: ""Vườn không nhà trống"" (meaning: Both garden and house are emptys) 
On 24 February 1917, the German army made a strategic scorched-earth withdrawal from the Somme battlefield to the prepared fortifications of the Hindenburg Line, thereby shortening the front line they had to occupy. Since a scorched-earth campaign requires that there be a war of movement, World War I provided little opportunity in general for this policy as it was a stalemated war fought mostly in the same concentrated area for its entire duration.
In 1945, Adolf Hitler ordered his minister of armaments Albert Speer to carry out a nationwide scorched-earth policy, in what became known as the Nero Decree. Speer, who was looking to the future, actively resisted the order, just as he had earlier refused Hitler's command to destroy French industry when the Wehrmacht was being driven out of France and he managed to continue doing so even after Hitler became aware of his actions.[53]
There can be numerous reasons for crop destruction. In scorched-earth strategy, crops and other useful materials are destroyed to prevent the enemy from gaining hold of them. The strategy of destroying the food supply of the civilian population in an area of conflict has been banned under Article 54 of Protocol I of the 1977 Geneva Conventions.
"Scorched Earth" is one of many games in the genre of "turn-based artillery games". Such games are among the earliest computer games, with versions existing for mainframes with only teletype output. "Scorched Earth", with a plethora of weapon types and power-ups, is considered the modern archetype of its format.
In the year AD 363, the Emperor Julian's invasion of Sassanid Persia was turned back by a scorched-earth policy:
The Sudanese government has used scorched earth as a military strategy in Darfur.
The scorched-earth defense is a form of risk arbitrage and anti-takeover strategy. 
There is also a similar game from the same era called "Tank Wars" and another on the Commodore Amiga computer system called "Scorched Tanks". "Tank Wars" was made in 1990 by Kenny Morse, a year before "Scorched Earth". Commodore also released a similar version in their educational software catalog called "Artillery".
Their name supposedly meant "kings of the world". Early in the 1st century BCE, they had been one of the main Gallic tribes, especially in terms of druids and their political influence. But they soon declined in power as the druids were an important target for Julius Caesar in his conquest of Gaul. What is more, the fact that Avaricum (Bourges) was the only Celtic city that Vercingetorix did not burn, contrary to his scorched earth strategy, upon the approach of Caesar's legions is another proof of the political importance of the Bituriges.
Eventually, the town was to be buried by the Roman legions.
As noted above, the fierce charge of the Gauls and their individual prowess is frequently acknowledged by several ancient Roman writers. The Battle of Gergovia however demonstrates that the Gallic were capable of a level of strategic insight and operation beyond merely mustering warriors for an open field clash. Under their war leader Vercingetorix, the Gallics pursued what some modern historians have termed a "persisting" or "logistics strategy" - a mobile approach relying not on direct open field clashes, but avoidance of major battle, "scorched earth" denial of resources, and the isolation and piecemeal destruction of Roman detachments and smaller unit groupings. When implemented consistently, this strategy saw some success against Roman operations. According to Caesar himself, during the siege of the town of Bourges, the lurking warbands of Gauls were:
Area bombing Aerial bombing of cities Area denial Bellum se ipsum alet, the strategy of relying on occupied territories for resources Burmah Oil Co. v Lord Advocate Carthaginian peace Chevauchée Early thermal weapons Ecocide Environmental impact of war Harrying of the North Railroad plough Salting the earth Sherman's neckties Total war
The strategy of destroying the food and water supply of the civilian population in an area of conflict has been banned under Article 54 of Protocol I of the 1977 Geneva Conventions. The relevant passage says:
Scorched earth is the military strategy or operational policy of destroying everything useful to the enemy in areas that cannot be defended.
The strategy was widely used in the Romanian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. Prince Mircea I of Wallachia used it against the Ottomans in 1395 and Prince Stephen III of Moldavia scorched the earth in his country as the Ottoman army advanced in 1475 and 1476.
Scorch Supernova (voiced by Brendan Fraser) is a heroic alien on a mission to rescue captured babies from the Gnarlachs. He rescues them just in time before the Gnarlachs wake up. Scorch returns to Planet Baab where he is known as a famous hero and works at BASA with his older brother Gary (voiced by Rob Corddry). Gary's son Kip (voiced by Jonathan Morgan Heit) is a big fan of his uncle Scorch. Soon, Gary receives a message from Lena Thackleman (voiced by Jessica Alba), the head of BASA, that Scorch will be sent to the "Dark Planet" (the Baabians' name for Earth) due to a SOS call. Scorch decides to go to the Dark Planet, as he already made a press conference and contacted his sponsors. However, Gary opposes as Scorch is not serious and no alien has ever returned from the Dark Planet. After further arguing, Gary finally says that he won't be helping Scorch and quits BASA before Scorch himself fires him. Gary then goes home to his wife Kira (voiced by Sarah Jessica Parker) and Kip only to find out that Scorch has already gone to the Dark Planet, while Kip is watching it on live TV in excitement.
As a counterpoint to European developments in the strategic art, the Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan provides a useful example. Genghis' successes, and those of his successors, were based on manoeuvre and terror. The main focus of Genghis' strategic assault was the psychology of the opposing population. By steady and meticulous implementation of this strategy, Genghis and his descendants were able to conquer most of Eurasia. The building blocks of Genghis' army and his strategy were his tribal levies of mounted archers, scorched earth-style methods, and, equally essential, the vast horse-herds of Mongolia.
Aryeh Neier, the executive director of Americas Watch, wrote in a 1984 review about the scorched earth approach: "This may be an effective strategy for winning the war. It is, however, a strategy that involves the use of terror tactics—bombings, strafings, shellings and, occasionally, massacres of civilians."
Scorched Earth may also refer to:
In World War I, Imperial Russian army forces created a zone of destruction by using a large-scale scorched-earth strategy during their retreat from the German army in the summer/autumn of 1915. The Russian troops, retreating along a front of more than 600 miles, destroyed anything that might be of use to their enemy, including crops, houses, railways and entire cities. They also forcibly removed huge numbers of people. In pushing the Russians back to their homeland, the German army gained a large area of territory from the Russian Empire (in an area that is today Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania).[48]