Taxonomical Framework and Types of War

A taxonomical framework helps compare and contrast elements of various wars, leading to deeper insight.
The type of war can change based on perspective; e.g., the Korean War was a limited war for the US but a total war for North and South Korea.

Definition: A war in which combatants commit all resources (economic, industrial, natural, material, educational, and human) to the war effort.
The term doesn't generally refer to the geographic scope.
World Wars I & II were total wars due to committed resources, not global reach.
Implications:
- Resources become targets.
- In the 20th century, civilians become targets, both intentionally and due to proximity to industrial targets.
- Allows for economic blockade and cyber attacks as part of warfare.
- Anything the enemy uses to further war aims becomes a legitimate target.

Definition: Armed disputes erupting over radically different ideas about a country's direction, governmental system, or composition.
National fault lines can be ideological, regional, political, economic, or religious.
Differences alone don't cause civil wars.
Key ingredient: lack of a political system with a monopoly of force or perceived legitimacy to address competing interests.
Established democracies have representation models providing a say for differing positions.
Example: Canada's representative democracy allows members of parliament to represent regional interests, maintaining stability.
When faith in democracy's legitimacy is insufficient, governments use a monopoly of force (military, police) to impose order.
Authoritarian governments primarily rely on a monopoly of force.
If a country has a mechanism to address faction concerns or force compliance, divisions won't become civil wars.

Definition: A struggle led by a grass roots movement to overthrow an oppressive authority (foreign or domestic).
Characterized by its goals, it can encompass other types of war (total war, civil war).
When directed against a foreign occupier, it often involves nationalism and competing ideologies.
Revolutionary wars can spawn from larger conflicts, creating opportunities for nationalist movements.
Example: World War I set off the Arab Revolt, aligning Arab and British interests against the Ottoman Empire.
Nationalist movements employing terror tactics complicate matters, blurring lines through perspective.
Example: IRA or Tamil Tigers consider terror campaigns justified revolutionary struggle, opposed by British and Sri Lankan officials.
Revolutionary war distinguished from localized revolts by scope and duration.
Example: Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917 not a revolutionary war, but the Russian Civil War that followed could be seen as both a civil and revolutionary war.

Seen more as a tactic employed in war rather than a distinct type of war itself.
Used in civil wars (Chinese Civil War), revolutionary wars (Cuban Revolution), and total war (Yugoslav theatre of WWII).
Mao Zedong: tactic used when one is too weak to fight conventionally; the ultimate goal is to gain strength and support to evolve into a regular army.

Divided into prescribed subjects, world history topics, and regional depth studies.
Prescribed subjects: document-based case studies (all candidates study one).
World history topics: comparative world history (candidates study two out of 12 topics).
Higher level history: requires one regional depth study.
All candidates (higher or standard level): complete an historical investigation as internal assessment.
Key historical concepts:
- Continuity
- Change
- Cause
- Consequence
- Perspective
- Significance
Focus on