Scorched earth

Scorched earth was a military strategy whereby a retreating army destroyed their own resources to deny them to an approaching enemy.

In 1812, during the Napoleonic Wars, the Russians set fire to their own capital city of Moscow to before it was captured by Napoléon's forces. (AUDIO: Mother Russia)

Towards the end of the Second World War, in June and July 1944, Adolf Hitler ordered the German forces in France to destroy everything they left behind as they retreated in the face of the Allied advance. (AUDIO: Scorched Earth)