• The Next War in the Air: Civilian Fears of Aerial Bombardment in Britain, 1908-1941

    Author(s):
    Brett Holman (see profile)
    Date:
    2009
    Subject(s):
    Technology, History, Military history, Great Britain, History, Modern
    Item Type:
    Thesis
    Institution:
    University of Melbourne
    Tag(s):
    History of technology, Modern British history
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/rdag-d976
    Abstract:
    During the First World War, several writers began to argue that the main strategic risk to Britain was the possibility of a sudden, intense aerial bombardment of its cities, which would cause tremendous destruction and large numbers of casualties. The nation would be knocked-out of the war very quickly, in a matter of days or weeks, before it could fully realise its military potential. The theory of the knock-out blow solidified into a consensus during the 1920s and by the 1930s had almost become an orthodoxy, accepted by pacifists and militarists alike. My thesis examines the concept of the knock-out blow as it was articulated in the public sphere, the reasons why it came to be so widely accepted in public life, and the way it shaped the responses of the British public to the great issues facing them in the 1930s: armaments and appeasement, war or peace. It mainly draws on published, but little examined, sources — books, journals, newspapers — produced in the period between 1908 (when aviation was first perceived as a threat to British security) and 1941 (when the Blitz ended, and it was obvious that no knock-out blow was coming). And it shows how, after having been taught to fear the bomber as the bringer of destruction to all they knew and held dear, the British people were instead taught to regard it as their best hope for victory.
    Notes:
    Revised and published as Brett Holman, The Next War in the Air: Britain’s Fear of the Bomber, 1908–1941 (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2016).
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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