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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 g
by 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 agoEngland 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 agoDehousing 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 agoThese decisions precedes the extensive use of V1 and V2, also volume and scale matters. Thats why they got the crown.
- hermitcrab 6mo agoLondon, 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 agoPlease provide source. V2 rockets used in 1944.
- hermitcrab 6mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- edwcross 6mo agoRelevant 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...