Economic warfare

War
Part of a series about
History Prehistoric Ancient Medieval Early modern Industrial Modern Fourth-generation warfare
Battlespace Air Cyber Information Land Sea Space
Weapons Armor Artillery Biological Cavalry Conventional Chemical Cyber Electronic Infantry Nuclear Psychological Unconventional
Tactics Aerial Battle Cavalry Charge Cover Counter-attack Counter-insurgency Foxhole Guerrilla warfare Morale Siege Tactical objective Trench warfare
Operational Blitzkrieg Deep battle Maneuver warfare Operational manoeuvre group
Strategy Attrition Deception Defensive Offensive Counter-offensive Goal Naval
Grand strategy Containment Economic warfare Limited war Military science Philosophy of war Strategic studies Total war
Organization Command and control Doctrine Education and training Engineers Intelligence Ranks Staff Technology and equipment
Logistics Materiel Supply chain management
Related Asymmetric warfare Broken-Backed War Theory Cold war Irregular warfare Mercenary Military campaign Military operation Network-centric warfare Operations research Principles of war Proxy war Religious war Slavery Theater War crimes War film War novel Wartime sexual violence World war
Lists Battles Military occupations Operations Sieges Wars War crimes Weapons Writers

The Oxford English Dictionary defines economic warfare or economic war as involving "an economic strategy based on the use of measures (e.g. blockade) of which the primary effect is to weaken the economy of another state".^[1] In military operations, economic warfare may reflect economic policy followed as a part of open or covert operations during or preceding wartime. Economic warfare aims to capture or otherwise control the supply of critical economic resources so that the military and intelligence agencies can operate at full efficiency or deprive enemy forces of those resources so that they cannot function properly.

The concept of economic warfare is most applicable to conflict between nation states, especially in times of total war - which involves not only the armed forces of an enemy nation, but mobilization of that nation's entire economy towards the war effort. In such a situation, causing damage to the enemy's economy directly damages the enemy's ability to fight the war.

Policies and measures in economic warfare may include blockade, blacklisting, preclusive purchasing, rewards and the capturing or control of enemy assets or supply lines.

Clear examples of economic warfare occurred during World War II when the Allied powers followed these policies to deprive the Axis economies of critical resources. In turn, the Axis powers attempted to damage the Allied war effort via submarine warfare and through the sinking of supply ships carrying supplies, raw materials, and essential war-related items such as food.

References

↑ "economic war - definition of economic war in English from the Oxford dictionary". Retrieved 26 February 2016.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, March 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.

Economic warfare

See also

References