Topic summary
War of extermination
Extracted from the Wikipedia article War of annihilation.
A war of annihilation (German: Vernichtungskrieg) or war of extermination is a type of war in which the goal is the complete annihilation of a state or a people through genocide or through the destruction of their livelihood. This is different from other types of warfare, which feature more limited political goals, such as recognition of a legal status (such as in a war of independence), control of disputed territory (as in war of aggression or defensive war), or the total military defeat of an enemy state.