Synonym for overdoing something/taking too wide an approach
I'm looking for an idiom or a synonym for a situation when someone has taken a heavy handed measure that achieves the desired effect, but also goes above this, affecting things that aren't a problem.
For example:
If one tree is diseased, but the surrounding ones are fine, chopping down all of the trees.
I'm sure there's a phrase for this. I thought of "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut" but I'm sure there's something specific.
"use a sledgehammer to crack a nut" is appropriate to use.
to do something with more force than is necessary to achieve the result you want
overkill can be used also.
An excess of what is necessary or appropriate for a particular end
There is the old unattributed and contested pseudo-quote by reporter Peter Arnett in the Vietnam War
"We had to destory the village in order to save it"