How wars are fought: the framework
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Flip to reveal answersWhat does "practices of war" mean in the IB framework?
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Question
What does "practices of war" mean in the IB framework?
Answer
How a war was actually fought — technology, the air/naval/land domains, total war, and foreign powers — and whether that decided who won.
Question
Name the four headings of the practices-of-war toolkit (T-D-T-F).
Answer
Technology, Domains (air/naval/land), Total war, and Foreign powers.
Question
Define technology in the context of war.
Answer
The new weapons and inventions used in war — e.g. machine guns, tanks, radar, aircraft and the atomic bomb.
Question
How did technology change both the nature and scale of war?
Answer
Nature: from static trenches to mobile blitzkrieg. Scale: aircraft and the atomic bomb let armies destroy whole cities and populations.
Question
What does each fighting domain contribute?
Answer
Land takes and holds ground, naval power controls supply, and air power strikes deep — winners usually combine all three.
Question
Define blitzkrieg.
Answer
"Lightning war" — fast, deep advances using tanks, aircraft and radio together; used by Germany in 1939–41.
Question
Define total war.
Answer
A war in which a state mobilises its entire society and economy — factories, food, civilians, women and propaganda all become part of the war effort.
Question
What is the home front, and why is it a target?
Answer
The civilian population and economy organised for war. Because it feeds the war, blockade and strategic bombing aim at it, not just at armies.
Question
What are the three parts of total-war mobilisation?
Answer
Economic (war production), human (conscription plus women in factories), and morale/propaganda. Break any one and the war effort cracks.
Question
How can foreign powers shape a war's outcome?
Answer
Through alliances, direct intervention, and supplies of money and material — e.g. US Lend-Lease to Britain and the USSR.
Question
Give an example of foreign intervention and material support.
Answer
Spanish Civil War: German and Italian forces intervened for Franco; WWII: US Lend-Lease sent weapons, food and trucks to the Allies.
Question
What single idea should tie a practices-of-war judgement together?
Answer
Strategy — outcomes come from how strategy, resources and technology combine, not from any one factor alone.
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Topic 16.2 hub
Practices of war and their impact on outcome
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