Roger Chickering, an eminent historian from Georgetown University in the United States of America, argues that total war is “characterized by its unprecedented intensity and extent. The theaters of operations span the globe; the scope of the battle is practically unlimited… Total war requires the mobilization not only of armed forces but also of entire populations. The defining factor of total war is the widespread, indiscriminate, and deliberate inclusion of civilians as legitimate military targets,” furthermore Chickering argues that total war “directs attention to the techniques of modern warfare at every level of combat” and that “The total involvement of civilians in war, as active participants and as victims, is one of the most significant hallmarks of total war” during World War I is an example of total war: the development of military hardware, e.g. aerial from reconnaissance planes to bombers; like Verdun, all demonstrate a hallmark of total war in the French Republic. Furthermore, the French home front, which facilitated the war economy, further validates the thesis that the French fought a total war between 1914 and 1918. For example, the Dalbiez Law of June 1915 exemplifies that the French did not fight exclusively war on the battlefield, like previous wars, such as the Franco-Prussian War, showing its extent, focusing on both industrial and military mobilization. Furthermore, government policy... middle of paper... gave rise to a war economy in the first year of the First World War. Furthermore, state intervention in industry demonstrates the total war aspect of Chickering discussed above. Due to the state of emergency in force in the French Republic, “the Viviani Government established the Direction de l'Artillerie du Ministère de la Guerre”. The War Office's Artillery Directorate was placed under the direction of the socialist Albert Thomas, who apparently combined market principles of free trade and profit with central planning. Centralized planning guaranteed “the enlistment of every single French company” and the “conversion of the entire French industrial structure to war production” demonstrating the centralized state that coordinated the mobilization of the industrial population towards war, a fundamental aspect of total war according to La Chickering definition.