Many materials are anisotropic in their failure. Examples of such materials include hexagonal close‐packed metals such as zirconium, directional structures such as fiber‐reinforced composites and extrusions of metals such as aluminum and beryllium. In general failure is difficult to model, but there are added complications for materials with anisotropic failure behavior. This paper presents a damage model that can be applied regardless of the magnitudes of the failure strains in the various material directions. The damage model also applies to situations where the failure strains are different in tension and compression. The actual anisotropic failure model was implemented in the hydrocode CTH. The theory for the model is discussed and some representative calculations are presented. The failure model is a strain‐based model, and requires the use of Lagrangian strains for the material. Extensions of the technique to stress‐based failure models are discussed.