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Guernica shocked the world. It was the start of aerial bombardment of civilians, something which we have sadly normalised since WW2. but which I regard as terro

Guernica shocked the world. It was the start of aerial bombardment of civilians, something which we have sadly normalised since WW2. but which I regard as terrorism. Picasso also painted another great work titled "Korea" in the same vein. War is an abomination, something we should all fight against.

otherme123 6mo ago
There was this new theory at the dawn of air warfare called "Strategic Bombing", one of its main advocates was Giulio Dohet. The idea was that aircrafts could get behind the frontlines and bomb vital centers (civilians and production) freely. Hypothetically the morale would collapse, and lead quickly to surrendering. He even calculated that 300 tons of bombs per city over the most important cities would be enough to end a war in less than a month. This theory couldn't be tested until late 1930's, when everyone was trying variations on the "technique", adding things like explosives, incendiary, gas... and escalating the amount of bombs needed to cause the mythical collapse. I think the record was 5 million tons of bombs over Vietnam (170 kg of bombs per capita), still the collapse didn't happen.
- ninjin 6mo ago
  > I think the record was 5 million tons of bombs over Vietnam (170 kg of bombs per capita), still the collapse didn't happen. Unsure about the tonnage, but the parallels to current events [1] and the illusion that a bombing campaign will suffice to end a war in a matter of weeks is rather eerie to me. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_war
- aaa_aaa 6mo ago
  England and US carries the crown of the barbarism on this subject. And now the state of Israel. Check for names Frederick Lindemann, Arthur "Bomber" Harris and Sir Hugh Trenchard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehousing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehousing
  - Ylpertnodi 6mo ago
    > England and US carries the crown of the barbarism... Germany played a part. Snark aside, v1's and 2's weren't exactly 'targetted'.
    - graemep 6mo ago
      Dehousing was also inspired by the effects of German bombing of the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehousing#Production_and_contents_of_dehousing_paper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehousing#Production_and_conte...
    - aaa_aaa 6mo ago
      These decisions precedes the extensive use of V1 and V2, also volume and scale matters. Thats why they got the crown.
      - hermitcrab 6mo ago
        London, Bristol, Southampton, Coventry and various other English cities were heavily bombed by Germany before the UK's major bomber offensive on Germany.
        aaa_aaa 6mo ago
        Please provide source. V2 rockets used in 1944.
        hermitcrab 6mo ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz
  - deleted 6mo ago
    [deleted]
- edwcross 6mo ago
  Relevant ACOUP (A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, Bret Devereaux's military history blog) post: https://acoup.blog/2022/10/21/collections-strategic-airpower-101/ https://acoup.blog/2022/10/21/collections-strategic-airpower...
germandiago 6mo ago
I am spanish and I know the details better than you I presume. Guernica was in many ways something both the british and republicans made stand out for propaganda. There have been far worse things in the spanish civil wars. For example Cabra was bombed in a day of market with the intention of killing and without being any kind of strategic strategic objective, way further than Guernica from other objectives and with more dead civilians actually. It is just less well known bc of who did it.
- rainingmonkey 6mo ago
  >with the intention of killing and without being any kind of strategic strategic objective Wikipedia says "The airstrike was carried out in the mistaken belief that Italian mechanized troops were stationed in the village. Once over the target, the pilots mistook the market's awnings for military tents." (Carlos Saiz Cidoncha, 2006) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Cabra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Cabra
  - germandiago 6mo ago
    Thanks because I did not know this piece of information. So maybe what I had was incomplete.
baud147258 6mo ago
> It was the start of aerial bombardment of civilians It had already started way before, right when armed forces started using planes, in WW1. (I was thinking even earlier, in Libya during the Italo-Turkish war of 1911, but I haven't found confirmation in a quick search)
rainingmonkey 6mo ago
>It was the start of aerial bombardment of civilians Mine owners hired planes to bomb striking miners at the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921

otherme123 6mo ago

There was this new theory at the dawn of air warfare called "Strategic Bombing", one of its main advocates was Giulio Dohet. The idea was that aircrafts could get behind the frontlines and bomb vital centers (civilians and production) freely. Hypothetically the morale would collapse, and lead quickly to surrendering. He even calculated that 300 tons of bombs per city over the most important cities would be enough to end a war in less than a month. This theory couldn't be tested until late 1930's, when everyone was trying variations on the "technique", adding things like explosives, incendiary, gas... and escalating the amount of bombs needed to cause the mythical collapse. I think the record was 5 million tons of bombs over Vietnam (170 kg of bombs per capita), still the collapse didn't happen.

ninjin 6mo ago
> I think the record was 5 million tons of bombs over Vietnam (170 kg of bombs per capita), still the collapse didn't happen. Unsure about the tonnage, but the parallels to current events [1] and the illusion that a bombing campaign will suffice to end a war in a matter of weeks is rather eerie to me. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_war
aaa_aaa 6mo ago
England and US carries the crown of the barbarism on this subject. And now the state of Israel. Check for names Frederick Lindemann, Arthur "Bomber" Harris and Sir Hugh Trenchard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehousing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehousing
- Ylpertnodi 6mo ago
  > England and US carries the crown of the barbarism... Germany played a part. Snark aside, v1's and 2's weren't exactly 'targetted'.
  - graemep 6mo ago
    Dehousing was also inspired by the effects of German bombing of the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehousing#Production_and_contents_of_dehousing_paper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehousing#Production_and_conte...
  - aaa_aaa 6mo ago
    These decisions precedes the extensive use of V1 and V2, also volume and scale matters. Thats why they got the crown.
    - hermitcrab 6mo ago
      London, Bristol, Southampton, Coventry and various other English cities were heavily bombed by Germany before the UK's major bomber offensive on Germany.
      - aaa_aaa 6mo ago
        Please provide source. V2 rockets used in 1944.
        hermitcrab 6mo ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
edwcross 6mo ago
Relevant ACOUP (A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, Bret Devereaux's military history blog) post: https://acoup.blog/2022/10/21/collections-strategic-airpower-101/ https://acoup.blog/2022/10/21/collections-strategic-airpower...

germandiago 6mo ago

I am spanish and I know the details better than you I presume. Guernica was in many ways something both the british and republicans made stand out for propaganda. There have been far worse things in the spanish civil wars. For example Cabra was bombed in a day of market with the intention of killing and without being any kind of strategic strategic objective, way further than Guernica from other objectives and with more dead civilians actually. It is just less well known bc of who did it.

rainingmonkey 6mo ago
>with the intention of killing and without being any kind of strategic strategic objective Wikipedia says "The airstrike was carried out in the mistaken belief that Italian mechanized troops were stationed in the village. Once over the target, the pilots mistook the market's awnings for military tents." (Carlos Saiz Cidoncha, 2006) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Cabra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Cabra
- germandiago 6mo ago
  Thanks because I did not know this piece of information. So maybe what I had was incomplete.

baud147258 6mo ago

> It was the start of aerial bombardment of civilians It had already started way before, right when armed forces started using planes, in WW1. (I was thinking even earlier, in Libya during the Italo-Turkish war of 1911, but I haven't found confirmation in a quick search)

rainingmonkey 6mo ago

>It was the start of aerial bombardment of civilians Mine owners hired planes to bomb striking miners at the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921