[Wingman4l7]

It's just basic scorched earth tactics, which have been practiced for centuries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth

It's actually not short-term -- what better way to prevent your enemies from populating an area than to permanently render it unsuitable for habitation?

[pbhjpbhj]

But what is the purpose of that action? Traditionally warfare [it seems to me] has primarily been about geo located resources. That is you want the land or the resources on the land that your neighbour is on. If you destroy the land/resources then you might as well have let the neighbour stay there so long as you ensured they didn't impinge on your resources.

[Wingman4l7]

However, if your end goal is the genocide of a particular out-group, then it makes perfect sense.