Editing Total war (section)

=====Nazi Germany=====
{{see also|Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War}}

In 1935 [[General Ludendorff]] in the book ''Der Totale Krieg'' gave life to the term "Total War" in the German lexicon.{{sfn|Eriksson|2013}} However, being followers of the [[stab-in-the-back myth]], military and Nazi leadership believed that Germany hadn't lost World War I on the battlefield but solely on the [[Home front during World War I|home front]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Overy |first1=Richard |title=War and Economy in the Third Reich |date=1994 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |pages=28–30|isbn=978-0198202905}}</ref>

Therefore, [[Germany]] started the war under the concept which was later named [[blitzkrieg]]. Officially, it did not accept that it was in a total war until [[Joseph Goebbels]]' [[Sportpalast speech]] of 18 February 1943—in which the crowd was told "''Totaler Krieg – Kürzester Krieg''" ("Total War – Shortest War”.)<ref>Statement from the banner in Sportpalast, 18 February 1943, Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J05235 / Schwahn / CC-BY-SA 3.0</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J05235, Berlin, Großkundgebung im Sportpalast.jpg|thumb|left|Nazi rally on 18 February 1943 at the [[Berlin Sportpalast]]; the sign says "{{lang|de|Totaler Krieg – Kürzester Krieg}}" ("Total War – Shortest War").]]

Goebbels and Hitler had spoken in March 1942 about Goebbels' idea to put the entire home front on a war footing. Hitler appeared to accept the concept, but took no action. Goebbels had the support of minister of armaments [[Albert Speer]], economics minister [[Walther Funk]] and [[Robert Ley]], head of the [[German Labour Front]], and they pressed Hitler in October 1942 to take action, but Hitler, while outwardly agreeing, continued to dither. Finally, after the holidays in 1942, Hitler sent his powerful personal secretary, [[Martin Bormann]], to discuss the question with Goebbels and [[Hans Lammers]], the head of the [[Reich Chancellery]].  As a result, Bormann told Goebbels to go ahead and draw up a draft of the necessary decree, to be signed in January 1943. Hitler signed the decree on 13 January, almost a year after Goebbels first discussed the concept with him. The decree set up a steering committee consisting of Bormann, Lammers, and General [[Wilhelm Keitel]] to oversee the effort, with Goebbels and Speer as advisors; Goebbels had expected to be one of the triumvirate.  Hitler remained aloof from the project, and it was Goebbels and [[Hermann Göring]] who gave the "total war" radio address from the Sportspalast the next month, on the 10th anniversary of the [[Nazi seizure of power|Nazi's "seizure of power"]].<ref>[[Ralf Georg Reuth|Reuth, Ralph Georg]] (1993) ''Goebbels'' Translated by Krishna Winston.  New York: Harcourt Brace. pp. 304, 309–313. {{isbn|0-15-136076-6}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|I ask you: Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even imagine today?|source=[[National Socialist|Nazi]] [[propaganda]] minister [[Joseph Goebbels]], 18 February 1943, in his [[Sportpalast speech]]}}

The commitment to the doctrine of the short war was a continuing handicap for the Germans; neither plans nor state of mind were adjusted to the idea of a long war until the failure of the [[Operation Barbarossa]]. A major strategic defeat in the [[Battle of Moscow]] forced Speer to nationalise German war production and eliminate the worst inefficiencies.<ref>A. S. Milward (1964) "The End of the Blitzkrieg". ''The Economic History Review'', New Series, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 499–518.</ref>