CAS HI 284 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Dehousing, Strategic Bombing, Total War
Document Summary
New airpower theories proposed rather than targeting armies, we should target the enemy"s strategic rear. Bomber dream - strategic bomber would be the war winning weapon. 1920s-30s airmen in the western countries believed that all war would be settled by bombings. Believed that it was far more moral to target the war industry than to attack each other on the frontline. Responded by threatening to bomb the oppositions cities, peace by threatening aggression. Mass bombing appealed most of all to the democracies. Raf and the usaf were the only two air forces chose to develop pre-war fleets of strategic bombers. The knockout blow - war winning instrument and strategy. Germans first bombed as a method of terror, then the japanese bombed shanghai. Dutch surrendered due to their country being overrun. None of the axis powers were capable of bombing an enemy great power into submission. Strategic bombing is about attrition, wearing down the industrial capacity.
