Quotation by

William Tecumseh Sherman

This war differs from other wars, in this particular. We are not fighting armies but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.

War

Understanding this quote AI Analysis

Sherman is saying that this conflict is unique because the enemy is not just organized soldiers but the entire population, including civilians of all ages and social classes. Therefore, the strategy must involve affecting everyone involved, not just the military forces, to weaken their ability to continue fighting.

More by this author

All quotes by William Tecumseh Sherman →

More quotes about War

See all →

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.

One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hill…

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.