Modern warfare is warfare using the concepts, methods, and military technology that have come into use during and after World War II and the Korean War. The concepts and methods have assumed more complex forms of the 19th- and early-20th-century antecedents, largely due to the widespread use of highly advanced information technology, and combatants must modernize constantly to preserve their battle worthiness. Although total war was thought to be the form of international conflicts from the experience of the French Revolutionary Wars to World War II, the term no longer describes warfare in which a belligerent use all of its resources to destroy the enemy's organized ability to engage in war. The practice of total war which had been in use for over a century, as a form of war policy, has been changed dramatically with greater awareness of tactical, operational, and strategic battle information.

War in modern times has been the inclusion of civilians and civilian infrastructure as targets in destroying the enemy's ability to engage in war. The targeting of civilians developed from two distinct theories. The first theory was that if enough civilians were killed, factories could not function. The second theory was that if civilians were killed, the enemy would be so demoralized that it would have no ability to wage further war. However, UNICEF reports that civilian fatalities are down from 20 percent prior to 1900 AD to less than 5 percent of fatalities in the wars beginning in the 1990s.

Modern warfare generally refers to post-World War II military history.

Warfare of the modern era more generally:

Modern Warfare as a proper noun:

Several video games in the Call of Duty series of first-person shooters:

Modern Warfare was an early-1980s punk rock band from Long Beach, California. It featured Jim Bemis (guitar and lead vocals), Tim Gaines (bass), Steve Sinclair (bass), Ron Goudie (lead guitar), Randy Scott (drums), and Tish Lucca (Keyboards).

Bemis wrote most of the songs, and also lent his name to the band's label, Bemisbrain Records (sometimes written as two words, "Bemis Brain"). Bemisbrain (the name was reportedly a play on the Bemis Manufacturing Company, maker of toilet seats, though this was never confirmed by the band) issued records by several other punk and deathrock bands, including Tex & the Horseheads, Nip Drivers, Mnemonic Devices, and Super Heroines, as well as the two Hell Comes to Your House compilation albums.

Discography

Compilation appearances