The development of warfare from being mass warfare to the much debated reality if total war occurred out of a sense of greed for undeniable victory and self consumed power. The idea was developed in little more than a century time wise in the post French Revolution world; it reached a fever pitch in World War I before manifesting to its primitive form within the Second World War. The overall idea is in order to obtain a total victory a state must put forth all assets in the pursuit of said victory. This pursuit does not just mean utilizing all military based resources for the war but rather than all aspects of the economy and population (2/3 of the German male population aged 18-45 served in the military for the Second World War) have a focus or involvement in the war, as illustrated by the bonds, rationing and restructuring done during both World Wars. This was because, in reality, the victory of the war was going to come down to who could maintain a higher quality for longer - the long distance runner who starts a tad slower will out last and supersede the glamorous sprinter. The development of Total War becoming a reality over Mass Warfare was also elucidated in how many nations had mass overhauls of leadership in the years after. Germany and Italy both had relatively slow changes in comparison to the Russians who saw a exponential rise of communism, resulting in the idea of strong, dictatorial leaders becoming a consequence of Total War if precautions are not taken. The outcome of the war became less defining of the dignity of a group them it did the potential for an overhaul typically reserved for civil wars; however, the civl war has the succeeding party already mighty and prevalent where as Total War appears to allow for a weakness in a government that a dictator can capitalize on.
On top of this, the military was not only utilized entirely but made extreme leaps forward in lethality and weapon development. The ideal weapon for Total War is air bombing due to its destructive potential in proportion to the amount of people it risks. The problem with it was that between navigation and quality of planes the effectiveness of air bombing was limited. With that said, the utilization of airplanes in a more ambitious and consistent way than in the First World War lead to the rise of firestorm; it effectively destroyed entire cities throughout the war, and the ones that didn't suffered from carbon monoxide. Perhaps the most significant development from Mass War to Total War, was the development of the atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project by the United States. This project embodied the concept of Total War entirely because of the new pinnacle of destruction it reached as an increasing amount of money and science became focused upon the patriotic action of supporting the war.
