Scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy while it is advancing through or withdrawing from a location. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, for example food sources, water supplies, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the locale's people themselves.
Scorched earth
In 1868, Tūhoe sheltered the Māori leader Te Kooti, and for this were subjected to a scorched-earth policy, in which their crops and buildings were destroyed and their people of fighting age were captured.