Deliberate destruction in the wooden shoe era (8)
I believe the answer is:
sabotage
'deliberate destruction' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'wooden shoe era' is the wordplay.
'wooden shoe' becomes 'sabot' (I've seen this before).
'era' becomes 'age' (both can mean a long period of time).
'sabot'+'age'='SABOTAGE'
'in the' is the link.
(Other definitions for sabotage that I've seen before include "enemy action" , "cripple" , "Wreck" , "Subversion by inflicting damage" , "Deliberate wrecking" .)