3 ms·

This makes me think that during wars like those, there isn't a difference between soldiers and civilians. Whats the difference between a conscript and a factory

• ggm 3y ago
  This was the rationale behind total war, and the bombing campaign in ww2. It's started as rationalisations about military infrastructure and simply became a belief it affected morale. And, "drunk man looking for keys under lamppost" since precision bombing wasn't possible, area bombing was post-hoc rationalised as "better" When the allies did target critical supply chains like ballbearings and oil, it had real economic consequence. Postwar bombing survey write-ups are fascinating. "From Apes to warlords" by Solly Zuckerman is well worth reading. Len Deighton has argued German military directed economic production actually continued to rise until very late in the war, bombing notwithstanding. And "Britain can take it" campaigns attempted to maintain the domestic temperament and arguably undermine a belief the bombing campaign against Germany would work: there is no uniquely British "stiff upper lip" and bombed out German workers (and slave workers) continued production under the rubble. Dispersed factories were common both sides.