About this episode
This episode features historian David M. Kennedy discussing Giulio Douhet's strategic bombing theories and their implications in modern warfare.
Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Thursday, April 16. There was an old idea behind President Trump's threats to annihilate Iran's bridges, power plants, and other civilian infrastructure. It's called strategic bombing, and it was devised more than a century ago by an Italian air power theorist with a French-sounding name. Giulio Douhet said air power should be used to destroy the enemy's capacity to make war while terrorizing its citizens to crush their will to persevere. In this episode, historian David M. Kennedy discusses Douhet's ideas and the sinister purposes to which they can be applied. Recommended reading: Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. Kennedy
People in this episode
Host: Martin Di Caro
Guest: David M. Kennedy
Topics covered
- strategic bombing
- air power
- civilian infrastructure
- war theory
- historical analysis
Keywords
- Giulio Douhet
- strategic bombing
- air power theory
- civilian infrastructure
- David M. Kennedy
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945
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