What Size is My War? Examining the Concepts of Total and Limited War

Very good article looking at how that size of a war is judged - and by who. Good read.
"When it comes to scale, Korea was a total war for Koreans and limited war for the U.S. The same can be said of World War II, in fact. In Egypt, it was a limited war in that it was limited to a few months of combat operations in the extreme north west of the country. On the other hand, for Germany and the USSR, the war’s totality is undeniable. Even the 2003 Iraq War, consuming a mere 1% of U.S. GDP, over 7 years that included a global recession, was a total war for Iraq itself. The first few months the entire state was geared to resist the U.S. invasion. After that, the state ceased to exist functionally until reconstituted at the end of the Coalition Provisional Authority."