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113-455: One of the strategies of war is to demoralize the enemy so that peace or surrender becomes preferable to continuing the conflict. Strategic bombing has been used to this end. The phrase "terror bombing" entered the English lexicon towards the end of World War II and many strategic bombing campaigns and individual raids have been described as terror bombing by commentators and historians. Because

226-566: A Declaration of Independence . Or actions were widely reported in US and European circles. Another successful example of this was the encouragement of Zionism as a means of securing Jewish support for World War I via the Balfour Declaration . The Central Powers likewise tried to encourage Ukrainian, Irish, Egyptian, North African, and Indian secessionist movements, but all efforts ultimately failed. There are many tactics of pursuing

339-473: A 3 mi (4.8 km) radius from point of aim in any case. The United States Army Air Forces adopted a policy of daylight precision bombing for greater accuracy as, for example, during the Schweinfurt raids. That doctrine, based on the erroneous supposition that bombers could adequately defend themselves against air attack, entailed much higher American losses until long-range fighter escorts (e.g.

452-620: A barrister, and his wife Mary Fenwick Rapier, the only surviving child of Richard Christopher Rapier (1836–1897) of Ransomes & Rapier , Richard Stokes was educated at Downside School , Sandhurst and after the war Trinity College, Cambridge . He served in the Royal Artillery during World War I , winning the Military Cross and bar and the Croix de Guerre . His uncle Sir Wilfred Stokes , chairman and managing director of

565-461: A cause is the simple definition most commonly ascribed to demoralization. It is one aspect of a successful strategic demoralization campaign but is the most pronounced and essential part. Lasswell stated, "the keynote in the preliminary spade work is the unceasing refrain: Your cause is hopeless. Your blood is spilt in vain." Propaganda can be an indispensable tool in fostering an environment of doubt and anxiety. Propaganda may be used to ensure

678-581: A combined-arms attack which would be developed to a significant degree by Germany , and which contributed much to the success of the Wehrmacht during the first four years (1939–42) of World War II. The Luftwaffe became a major element of the German blitzkrieg . Some leading theorists of strategic air warfare , namely strategic bombing during this period were the Italian Giulio Douhet ,

791-428: A common enemy. Such efforts will affect the tendency of the target's citizenry to project their discontent towards a common enemy identified by their government. As a result, frustrations will build until it is necessary to divert them elsewhere, and seeds of doubt are then sown in the minds of the citizenry who now question the capability of their leadership in identifying the most ominous threat. The operations of

904-422: A high proportion of incendiary devices , to bomb the target region indiscriminately—to kill war workers, destroy materiel , and demoralize the enemy. In high enough concentration, it was capable of producing a firestorm . The high explosives were often delay-action bombs intended to kill or intimidate those fighting the fires caused by incendiaries. At first this required multiple aircraft, often returning to

1017-470: A military strategy proved to be an effective and efficient way for the British to police their Middle East protectorates in the 1920s. Fewer men were required as compared to ground forces. Pre-war planners, on the whole, vastly overestimated the damage bombers could do, and underestimated the resilience of civilian populations. Jingoistic national pride played a major role: for example, at a time when Germany

1130-462: A new one. This was completed on 1 April 1945 and started instead with the usual euphemism used when referring to strategic bombing: "It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of the so called 'area-bombing' of German cities should be reviewed from the point of view of our own interests....". Many strategic bombing campaigns and individual raids of aerial warfare have been described as "terror bombing" by commentators and historians since

1243-438: A plethora of food while Germans starved, Germans thought of Austrians as slaves, and the familiar promise of territorial expansion if Austria-Hungary abandoned their German alliance. The antagonist can also attempt to divert hatred and frustration upon the target's government or ruling class, the most widely attempted method. One technique of diverting such frustration is to convince a target that their government or leadership

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1356-421: A positive outlook that helps them work harder for it. High morale can directly contribute to "an economy of food, textiles, fuel, and other commodities, and to stimulate recruiting, employment in war industries, service in relief work, and the purchase of bonds". Writing in 1965, French philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul described the importance of morale in modern society by saying: The modern citizen

1469-427: A rational explanation of facts and is exacerbated by such an approach. The newly-onset anxiety places mass groups of individuals on the border of neurosis and can make them feel conflicts inherent within society or their past. As a result of contradictions and threats, "man feels accused, guilty". The target will then begin their search for a cause that will provide a sense of righteousness. The pivotal moment of

1582-515: A rejection he criticised in his maiden speech. Though he held office under Labour governments he was said to have remained a backbencher at heart. Stokes was chairman (1939) and supporter of the School of Economic Science , an economics study group that expounded the economic theories of the American economist Henry George . He unsuccessfully fought Glasgow Central for Labour in 1935 . He

1695-441: A relative absence of criticism or complaint. While contributors to the level of morale are essentially endless, common examples consist of the level to which individuals identify with a nation or cause; have their basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter met; have confidence in the justness of their cause; have confidence in the ability of their cause to overcome obstacles; the means through which authorities instill discipline; and

1808-504: A result, bomb loads were regularly dropped "blind" using dead-reckoning methods little different from those used by the RAF night bombers. In addition, only the leading bomber in a formation actually utilized the Norden sight, the rest of the formation dropping their bombs only when they saw the lead aircraft's bombload falling away. Since even a very tight bomber formation could cover a vast area,

1921-655: A sense of unity with other supporters of the cause. In an environment in which two belligerents compete, the chances of success greatly diminish if those whose actions are necessary lack faith in the justness of the cause or its chance for success or are discouraged, morally defeated, disconsolate, antagonistic, sullen, inattentive, or lazy. Demoralization can be used to lessen the chances of success for an opponent by fostering these attitudes, and it can generally be done in one of two ways: demoralization through objective conditions or demoralization through perception. Demoralization through objective conditions most commonly takes

2034-618: A strategy of demoralization, the nature of the target and the environment at the time determining the best method to employ. Examples include: Morale can be difficult to maintain, in large part by the diffuse nature of demoralization attacks, but a strong leadership can largely mitigate any such attacks against their group's morale. Morale will quickly deteriorate if members of the group perceive themselves as victims of injustice or indifference on part of their leadership, or they perceive their leadership as being acting ineptly, ignorantly, or for personal ambition. As noted by Angello Codevilla,

2147-419: A successful demoralization campaign is when the target is doubt-ridden and anxious, the point at which individual members of a citizenry or group are detached from their current loyalty to their state or cause, and they are then able to be focused in another direction more suitable to the antagonist's needs. If not executed properly, the manufactured sense of anxiety can both backfire on antagonists and cause

2260-410: A young RAF squadron commander (later nicknamed "Bomber" ), reported after a mission in 1924, "The Arab and Kurd now know what real bombing means, in casualties and damage. They know that within 45 minutes a full-sized village can be practically wiped out and a third of its inhabitants killed or injured". On an official level, RAF directives stressed: In these attacks, endeavour should be made to spare

2373-498: Is Happening in Europe? sent to every member of both Houses of Parliament which was sympathetic to German arguments, explicitly blaming Poland which he called "a state monstrously swollen by aggression" while Czechoslovakia was "a fortress state obviously directed against Germany". With Bishop George Bell and fellow Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Alfred Salter , he opposed area strategic bombing during World War II . Stokes

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2486-459: Is asked to participate in wars such as have never been seen before. All men must prepare for war, and for a dreadful type of war at that – dreadful because of its duration, the immensity of its operations, its tremendous losses, and the atrocity of the means employed. Moreover, participation in war is no longer limited to the duration of the war itself; there is the period of preparation for war, which becomes more and more intense and costly. Then there

2599-417: Is committing unjust and immoral acts, which is especially effective if the antagonist can convince their target that their leadership has forced them to commit equally unjust and immoral acts out of trickery or desperation. If successfully implemented, the leadership of a cause can be made sufficiently troublesome to inspire revolution when there will be insufficient capacity to exercise active hatred towards

2712-596: Is hoped to polarize the sentiment of the enemy". The diversion of hatred can be towards an ally, towards the enemy's government or governing class, or towards antistate sentiment to foster secession of minority nationalities if they exist. The attempt to exacerbate relations between allies is one method of diverting hatred from an enemy and was attempted by both the Allied and Central Powers in World War I. The Germans made efforts to dig up historical animosity between

2825-405: Is such a distinct change, the diversion of hatred towards a new target is necessarily predicated upon the antagonist both diverting hatred away from themselves and fostering a level of anxiety that cannot be mitigated by their existing cause or leadership. Once antagonists meet the two precursors of demoralization, it is possible to "concentrate upon the particular object of animosity about which it

2938-416: Is the period in which to repair the ravages of war. People really live in a permanent atmosphere of war, and a superhuman war in every respect. Nowadays everybody is affected by war; everybody lives under its threat…The more demanded of man, the more powerful must be those motivations. Though variations are possible, the most common indicators of high morale are determination, enthusiasm, self-confidence, and

3051-466: The Avro Lancaster , and 20,000 lb (9,000 kg) B-29 Superfortress , with some specialized aircraft, such as the 'Special B' Avro Lancaster carrying the 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) Grand Slam . During the first year of the war in Europe, strategic bombing was developed through trial and error. The Luftwaffe had been attacking both civilian and military targets from the first day of

3164-575: The Gazette des Ardennes admit that a German atrocity occurred but then publish accounts that the event was exaggerated in earlier reports, that such events occurred in every army, and occurred least often in the German army. Articles that attempted to justify German unrestricted submarine warfare as an unavoidable consequence of the Allied blockade of Germany are also examples of defense by admission and justification. Causing self-doubt or doubt in

3277-597: The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service frequently used strategic bombing over Singaporean, Burmese, and Chinese cities such as Shanghai , Guangzhou , Nanjing , Chongqing , Singapore , and Rangoon . However, the Japanese military in most places advanced quickly enough that a strategic bombing campaign was unnecessary, and the Japanese aircraft industry was incapable of producing truly strategic bombers in any event. In those places where it

3390-569: The Mustang ) became available. Conditions in the European theatre made it very difficult to achieve the accuracy achieved using the exceptional and top-secret Norden optical bombsight in the clear skies over the desert bombing ranges of Nevada and California. Raids over Europe commonly took place in conditions of very poor visibility, with targets partly or wholly obscured by thick cloud, smokescreens, or smoke from fires started by previous raids. As

3503-487: The Parliamentary Peace Aims Group which was critical of the war, although his opposition was regarded as being a "fascist fellow traveller" rather than a pacifist. He was personally friendly with prominent English far-right figures such as Hastings Russell, Marquis of Tavistock and Gerard Wallop, Viscount Lymington . In January 1940, Stokes wrote a self financed pamphlet entitled What

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3616-442: The antagonist is the most feared party, give a feeling of nonworth to the target, exploit internal fissures inherent within the target group or use the element of surprise to show a target population that their leadership and cause are unable to protect them from the impending enemy threat. Many studies have been conducted that indicate fear is one of the most widespread psychological traits, and that trait can be manipulated for

3729-544: The appeasement of Hitler in the late 1930s. During the Spanish Civil War , the bombing of Guernica by German aviators including the Condor Legion , under Nationalist command, resulted in its near destruction. Casualties were estimated to be between 500 and 1500. Though this figure was relatively small, aerial bombers and their weaponry were continually improving—already suggesting the devastation that

3842-683: The law of war , or if within the laws of war are nevertheless a moral crime. According to John Algeo in Fifty Years among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms 1941–1991 , the first recorded usage of "Terror bombing" in a United States publication was in a Reader's Digest article dated June 1941, a finding confirmed by the Oxford English Dictionary . Aerial attacks described as terror bombing are often long range strategic bombing raids, although attacks which result in

3955-552: The 1930s—in the Spanish Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War —they were ineffective. Commentators observed the failures and some air forces, such as the Luftwaffe , concentrated their efforts upon direct support of the troops. Terror bombing is a term used for aerial attacks planned to weaken or break enemy morale. Use of the term to refer to aerial attacks implies the attacks are criminal according to

4068-735: The Allied campaign against Germany only really succeeded when the Allies began targeting oil refineries and transportation in the last year of the war. At the same time, the strategic bombing of Germany was used as a morale booster for the Allies in the period before the land war resumed in Western Europe in June 1944. In the Asiatic-Pacific Theater , the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and

4181-559: The Allied news media did the same. However, at a SHAEF press conference on 16 February 1945, two days after the bombing of Dresden , British Air Commodore Colin McKay Grierson replied to a question by one of the journalists that the primary target of the bombing had been on communications to prevent the Germans from moving military supplies and to stop movement in all directions if possible. He then added in an offhand remark that

4294-536: The Allies regardless of German propaganda, at least some of the outrage did depend on Goebbels' falsification of the casualty figures. Stokes raised other issues after the war relating to Yalta and the forced repatriation of Yugoslavs , and the treatment of Dr George Chatterton-Hill in Germany. He was part of the Hankey lobby that lobbied in favour of Wehrmacht generals so that they would be able to fight against

4407-631: The Belgian city of Liège , killing nine civilians. The second attack was on the night of 24–25 August 1914, when eight bombs were dropped from a German airship onto the Belgian city of Antwerp . The first effective strategic bombing was pioneered by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in 1914. The mission was to attack the Zeppelin production lines and their sheds at Cologne (Köln) and Düsseldorf . Led by Charles Rumney Samson ,

4520-558: The British and Americans (who started the war with predominantly similarly sized bombers) developed their strategic force based upon much larger four-engined bombers for their strategic campaigns. The payload carried by these planes ranged from 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) for the B-17 Flying Fortress on long-range missions, to 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) for the B-24 Liberator , 14,000 lb (6,400 kg) for

4633-601: The British be cowed into making peace. At first the Luftwaffe raids took place in daylight, but changed to night bombing attacks when losses became unsustainable. The RAF, who had preferred precision bombing, also switched to night bombing, also due to excessive losses. Before the Rotterdam Blitz on 14 May 1940 the British restricted themselves to tactical bombing west of the Rhine and naval installations. The day after

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4746-648: The Eastern England towns of Great Yarmouth , Sheringham , King's Lynn , and the surrounding villages. In all, four people were killed and sixteen injured, and monetary damage was estimated at £7,740 (about US$ 36,000 at the time). German airships also bombed on other fronts, for example in January 1915 on Liepāja in Latvia. In 1915 there were 19 more raids, in which 37 tons of bombs were dropped, killing 181 people and injuring 455. Raids continued in 1916. London

4859-592: The French and British, using such themes as the British were just letting the French bleed for them and the British intended to stay on French soil, and they offered a German-French alliance against the British and to expand French colonial domain at the expense of the British Empire. The Allies tried to exacerbate the relationship between Austria-Hungary and Germany, using such themes as separate peace talks were being held with Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary had

4972-555: The German Gazette des Ardennes , published in occupied areas of France during World War I, are an example of this aspect of strategic demoralization. The Gazette des Ardennes regularly published propaganda articles that sought to deny the French of a German enemy image. Articles would carry such themes as: the Kaiser has always been known and respected for promoting peace, even among the British and French intellectual elite;

5085-534: The German Naval Airship Department. By the end of the war, 51 raids had been undertaken, in which 5,806 bombs were dropped, killing 557 people and injuring 1,358. These raids caused only minor hampering of wartime production, by later standards. A much greater impact was the diversion of twelve aircraft squadrons, many guns, and over 10,000 men to air defenses. The raids generated a wave of hysteria, partially caused by media. This revealed

5198-530: The Japanese island of Iwo Jima further enhanced the capabilities that the Americans possessed in their strategic bombing campaign. High-explosive and incendiary bombs were used against Japan to devastating effect, with greater indiscriminate loss of life in the firebombing of Tokyo on March 9–10, 1945 than was caused either by the Dresden mission , or the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki . Unlike

5311-467: The Kaiser and his family were, technical encouragement and amplification of national dissent, Wilsonian propaganda stressing peaceful settlement terms, British planting of stories attesting to underground German resistance movements and their subsequent oppression by the German government, propaganda deflecting war guilt, propaganda exposing or exaggerating the desired postwar peace terms, and the promotion of

5424-447: The Kaiser is a kind and gentle family man; "all the stories about the German barbarities are poisonous lies"; German occupying soldiers are kind to and loved by French children; and Germans have an irrepressible love of music, religion, and morality that permeates wherever they are. The themes are illustrative of "defense by denial". Also possible to use is "defense by admission accompanied by justification". The technique would make

5537-979: The Rotterdam Blitz a new directive was issued to the RAF to attack targets in the Ruhr , including oil plants and other civilian industrial targets which aided the German war effort, such as blast furnaces that at night were self-illuminating. After the Butt Report (released in September 1941) proved the inadequacy of RAF Bomber Command training methods and equipment, the RAF adopted an area-attack strategy, by which it hoped to impede Germany's war production, her powers of resistance (by destroying resources and forcing Germany to divert resources from her front lines to defend her air space), and her morale. The RAF dramatically improved its navigation so that on average its bombs hit closer to target. Accuracy never exceeded

5650-588: The Soviet Union if needed. Stokes was also a prominent critic of the inadequacy of Allied tank design. Following the 1945 general election , Labour were returned to power. Stokes was denied office, possibly because of his war time politics, devoted much of his energy to the Friends of Ireland group, of which he was treasurer. He was a member of the Executive of Save Europe Now , a group formed to improve

5763-536: The Spanish Nationalists, generally agreed. The strategic bombing conducted in World War II was unlike any before. The campaigns conducted in Europe and Asia could involve aircraft dropping thousands of tons of conventional bombs or a nuclear weapon over a single city. Area bombardment came to prominence during World War II with the use of large numbers of unguided gravity bombs , often with

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5876-748: The Trenchard school in Great Britain, and General Billy Mitchell in the United States. These theorists thought that aerial bombardment of the enemy's homeland would be an important part of future wars. Not only would such attacks weaken the enemy by destroying important military infrastructure, they would also break the morale of the civilian population, forcing their government to capitulate. Although area bombing theorists acknowledged that measures could be taken to defend against bombers—using fighter planes and anti-aircraft artillery —the maxim of

5989-540: The USAAF's strategic bombing campaign in Europe, with its avowed (if unachievable) objective of precision bombing of strategic targets, the bombing of Japanese cities involved the deliberate targeting of residential zones from the outset. Bomb loads included very high proportions of incendiaries, with the intention of igniting the highly combustible wooden houses common in Japanese cities and thereby generating firestorms. The final development of strategic bombing in World War II

6102-527: The United Kingdom, and General Billy Mitchell in the United States. These theorists were highly influential, both on the military justification for an independent air force (such as the Royal Air Force ) and in influencing political thoughts on a future war as exemplified by Stanley Baldwin 's 1932 comment that the bomber will always get through . One of the aims of war is to demoralize

6215-520: The United States, where excerpts from his book The Command of the Air (1921) were published. These visions of cities laid waste by bombing also gripped the popular imagination and found expression in novels such as Douhet's The War of 19-- (1930) and H. G. Wells 's The Shape of Things to Come (1933) (filmed by Alexander Korda as Things to Come (1936)). Douhet's proposals were hugely influential among air force enthusiasts, arguing as they did that

6328-650: The Yemeni side, were 65 killed or wounded (one RAF pilot was killed and one airman wounded). Between the wars the RAF conducted 26 separate air operations within the Aden Protectorate. The majority were conducted in response to persistent banditry or to restore the Government's authority. Excluding operations against Yemeni forces—which had effectively ceased by 1934—a total of twelve deaths were attributed to air attacks conducted between 1919 and 1939. Bombing as

6441-654: The acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers. Nuclear weapons defined strategic bombing during the Cold War . The age of the massive strategic bombing campaign had come to an end. It was replaced by more devastating attacks using improved targeting and weapons technology. Strategic bombing by the Great Powers also became politically indefensible. The political fallout resulting from

6554-481: The afternoon of June 22, 1916, the pilots used outdated maps and bombed the location of the abandoned railway station, where a circus tent was placed, killing 120 persons, most of them children. The British also stepped up their strategic bombing campaign. In late 1915, the order was given for attacks on German industrial targets, and the 41st Wing was formed from units of the RNAS and Royal Flying Corps . The RNAS took to

6667-477: The air raids with a series of night infiltration bombings of ADD airfields near Leningrad . Strategic bombing in Europe never reached the decisive completeness the American campaign against Japan achieved, helped in part by the fragility of Japanese housing , which was particularly vulnerable to firebombing through the use of incendiary devices . The destruction of German infrastructure became apparent, but

6780-597: The belief that infidelity was rampant among soldiers and their families back home. The antagonist can attempt to divert frustration towards the growth of secessionist causes, which is possible in heterogeneous nations. Attempts are made to fan the flames of discontent one segment of the nation feels towards another. An example was the Congress of Oppressed Habsburg Nationalities in Rome in April 1918, all delegates signing

6893-521: The bombing air arm was the most important, powerful, and invulnerable part of any military. He envisaged future wars as lasting a matter of a few weeks. While each opposing Army and Navy fought an inglorious holding campaign, the respective Air Forces would dismantle their enemies' country, and if one side did not rapidly surrender, both would be so weak after the first few days that the war would effectively cease. Fighter aircraft would be relegated to spotting patrols but would be essentially powerless to resist

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7006-506: The bombing of railways, trains, canals, and roads more harmful to production than attacks on factories themselves, Sir Roy Fedden (in his report on a postwar British scientific intelligence mission) calling it "fatal" and saying it reduced aero-engine production by two thirds (from a maximum output of 5,000 to 7,000 a month). Strategic bombing was a way of taking the war into Europe while Allied ground forces were unable to do so. Between them, Allied air forces claimed to be able to bomb "around

7119-511: The civilian population , thought to be demoralizing to the enemy, seemed to have the opposite effect. E. B. Strauss surmised, "Observers state that one of the most remarkable effects of the bombing of open towns in Government Spain had been the welding together into a formidable fighting force of groups of political factions who were previously at each other's throats...", a sentiment with which Hitler 's Luftwaffe , supporting

7232-420: The clearest indicators that morale can withstand a demoralization campaign are also hallmarks of a well-led organization, and can be explained through five main questions: Richard Stokes (politician) Richard Rapier Stokes , MC (27 January 1897 – 3 August 1957) was a British soldier and Labour politician who served briefly as Lord Privy Seal in 1951. The second son of Philip Folliott Stokes,

7345-483: The clock". In fact, few targets were ever hit by British and American forces the same day, the strategic isolation of Normandy on D-Day and the bombing of Dresden in February 1945 being exceptions rather than the rule. There were generally no coordinated plans for the around-the-clock bombing of any target. In some cases, single missions have been considered to constitute strategic bombing. The bombing of Peenemünde

7458-556: The conditions for civilians in the British occupation zone in Germany . He was appointed Lord Privy Seal and the new position of Minister of Materials in April 1951, succeeding Ernest Bevin but served only a few months before Labour lost the 1951 general election . He aimed to show that the proposed armaments programme could be carried out, contrary to Aneurin Bevan and Harold Wilson (who had resigned over this and other issues). He

7571-680: The deaths of civilians may also be described as such, or if the attacks involve fighters strafing they may be labelled "terror attacks". German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and other high-ranking officials of Nazi Germany frequently described attacks by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during their strategic bombing campaigns as Terrorangriffe —terror attacks. The Allied governments usually described their bombing of cities with euphemisms such as area bombing (RAF) or precision bombing (USAAF), and for most of World War II

7684-562: The destruction being broadcast on the evening news ended more than one strategic bombing campaign. Demoralization (warfare) Demoralization is, in a context of warfare , national security , and law enforcement , a process in psychological warfare with the objective to erode morale among enemy combatants and/or noncombatants . That can encourage them to retreat , surrender , or defect rather than defeating them in combat . Demoralization methods are military tactics such as hit-and-run attacks , such as snipers disturbing

7797-409: The detachment radius) of communications, their indifference to obstacles, and the unlikelihood of casualties to air personnel combine to encourage their use offensively more often than the occasion warrants. In British strikes over Yemen in over a six-month period, sixty tons of bombs were dropped in over 1,200 cumulative flying hours. By August 1928, total losses in ground fighting and air attack, on

7910-510: The end of World War II, but because the term has pejorative connotations, others have denied that such bombing campaigns and raids are examples of "terror bombing". Defensive measures against air raids include: Strategic bombing was used in World War I, though it was not understood in its present form. The first aerial bombing of a city was on 6 August 1914 when the German Army Zeppelin Z VI bombed, with artillery shells,

8023-469: The enemy with less-lethal weapons and incapacitating agents , and intimidation such as display of force concentration . Some methods on the strategic scale are commerce raiding , strategic bombing , static operations such as sieges and naval blockades , and propaganda . Morale is often perceived as a necessary precursor to success in international relations. Success most often goes to those who believe in their cause, as they more easily maintain

8136-430: The enemy; facing continual death and destruction may make the prospect of peace or surrender preferable. The proponents of strategic bombing between the world wars, such as General Douhet, expected that direct attacks upon an enemy country's cities by strategic bombers would lead to a rapid collapse of civilian morale so that political pressure to sue for peace would lead to a rapid conclusion. When such attacks were tried in

8249-467: The engineering firm Ransomes & Rapier invented the Stokes Mortar in World War I. His uncle Leonard Stokes was an architect who designed the new buildings at Downside School (built 1912, when Richard was at Downside). Another uncle was the landscape painter Adrian Scott Stokes . Richard Stokes was the maternal uncle of Katharine Hull, coauthor of The Far Distant Oxus and its sequels, and

8362-664: The external enemy. Diverting frustration to one's own leadership is often the method most commonly seen in wartime propaganda, as the photographs below attest. With the implementation of modern warfare in World War I and all its associated stresses, "every belligerent took a hand in the perilous business of fomenting dissension and revolution abroad, reckless of the possible repercussions of a successful revolt". Examples from World War I included German forces providing revolutionary literature to Russian prisoners of war that were expected to return through exchange or release, French use of propaganda leaflets to demonstrate how unaffected by war

8475-436: The first independent strategic bombing force, was created in April 1918. By the end of the war, the force had aircraft that could reach Berlin , but these were never used. Following the war, the concept of strategic bombing developed. Calculations of the number of dead to the weight of bombs would have a profound effect on the attitudes of the British authorities and population in the interwar years. As bombers became larger, it

8588-452: The following two decades fighting for survival in an environment of severe government spending constraints. In Italy, the airpower prophet General Giulio Douhet asserted the basic principle of strategic bombing was the offensive, and there was no defense against carpet bombing and poison gas attacks. The seeds of Douhet's apocalyptic predictions found fertile soil in France, Germany, and

8701-406: The force of four aircraft inflicted minor damage on the sheds. The raid was repeated a month later with slightly more success. Within a year or so, specialized aircraft and dedicated bomber squadrons were in service on both sides. These were generally used for tactical bombing; the aim was that of directly harming enemy troops, strongpoints, or equipment, usually within a relatively small distance of

8814-440: The form of a military defeat on the battlefield that has tangible consequences directly resulting in the indicators of a demoralized party, but it can also result from an adverse physical environment where basic needs go unmet. Demoralization through perception, however, is the most commonly referred to means of demoralization even though its operation and results like political warfare and psychological warfare in general, are

8927-463: The front line. Eventually, attention turned to the possibility of causing indirect harm to the enemy by systematically attacking vital rear-area resources. The most well known attacks were those done by Zeppelins over England through the course of the war. The first aerial bombardment of English civilians was on January 19, 1915, when two Zeppelins dropped 24 fifty-kilogram (110-pound) high-explosive bombs and ineffective three-kilogram incendiaries on

9040-442: The hatred normally directed towards the enemy, thereby denying a unified outlet of frustration; sow seeds of self-doubt (classic demoralization); and provide a new focus of hatred and frustration. A strategic demoralization campaign should tailor its strategy to the specific target and situation. An important precursor to successful demoralization is an effort to deny the target the ability to project frustrations and hatred upon

9153-842: The issue and a longtime opponent of strategic bombing, Richard Stokes MP , asked questions in the House of Commons on 6 March. The controversy stirred up by the Cowan news report reached the highest levels of the British Government when on 28 March 1945 the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill , sent a memo by telegram to General Ismay for the British Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff in which he started with

9266-454: The mighty bombers. In support of this theory, he argued for targeting of the civilian population as much as any military target, since a nation's morale was as important a resource as its weapons. Paradoxically, he suggested that this would actually reduce total casualties, since "The time would soon come when to put an end to horror and suffering, the people themselves, driven by the instinct of self-preservation, would rise up and demand an end to

9379-627: The most difficult to gauge. That is the form of demoralization that is referred to as a tool of psychological warfare, and it is most commonly implemented through various forms of propaganda. Propaganda as a tool of demoralization refers to influencing opinion through significant symbols, through means such as rumors, stories, pictures, reports, and other means of social communication. Other means of political and psychological warfare, such as deception , disinformation , agents of influence , or forgeries , may also be used to destroy morale through psychological means so that belligerents start questioning

9492-709: The only answers—a later generation would revisit this, as Mutual Assured Destruction . During the interwar period (1919–1939), the use of aerial bombing was developed as part of British foreign policy in its colonies, with Hugh Trenchard as its leading proponent, Sir Charles Portal , Sir Arthur Harris , and Sidney Bufton . The Trenchard School theories were successfully put into action in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq ) where RAF bombers used high-explosive bombs and strafing runs against Arab forces. The techniques of so-called "Air Control" also included target marking and locating, as well as formation flying. Arthur Harris ,

9605-415: The purposes of demoralization if it can be expanded into anxiety . For anxiety to demoralize, it must result in a distancing of individuals or groups from their cause or leadership because they no longer believe them capable of offering a solution to the source of their anxiety. Real and conscious threats that normally inspire disquiet and fear can be made to cause anxiety and borderline neurosis through

9718-531: The raid also helped destroy "what is left of German morale." Howard Cowan, an Associated Press war correspondent, filed a story about the Dresden raid. The military press censor at SHAEF made a mistake and allowed the Cowan cable to go out starting with "Allied air bosses have made the long awaited decision to adopt deliberate terror bombing of great German population centers as a ruthless expedient to hasten Hitler's doom." There were follow-up newspaper editorials on

9831-444: The scatter of bombs was likely to be considerable. Add to these difficulties the disruptive effects of increasingly accurate anti-aircraft fire and head-on attacks by fighter aircraft and the theoretical accuracy of daylight bombing was often hard to achieve. Accuracy, described as "pinpoint", never exceeded the best British average of about a 3 mi (4.8 km) radius from point of aim in any case. Postwar German engineers considered

9944-574: The sentence "It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed...." Under pressure from the Chiefs of Staff and in response to the views expressed by Chief of the Air Staff Sir Charles Portal , and the head of Bomber Command, Arthur "Bomber" Harris , among others, Churchill withdrew his memo and issued

10057-611: The strategic bombing in a bigger way than the RFC, who were focused on supporting the infantry actions of the Western Front. At first, the RNAS attacked the German submarines in their moorings and then steelworks further in targeting the origin of the submarines themselves. In early 1918 they operated their "round the clock" bombing raid, with lighter bombers attacking the town of Trier by day and large HP O/400s attacking by night. The Independent Force , an expanded bombing group, and

10170-413: The subject to cling more closely to their original cause or government. The most powerful strategy of demoralization is diversion, but it is a very difficult and multifaceted operation. Lasswell says, "To undermine the active hatred of the enemy for its present antagonist, his anger must be distracted to a new and independent object, beside which his present antagonist ceases to matter." Because it

10283-516: The tactic's potential as a weapon that was of use for propagandists on both sides. The late Zeppelin raids were complemented by the Gotha bomber, which was the first heavier-than-air bomber to be used for strategic bombing. The French army on June 15, 1915, attacked the German town of Karlsruhe , killing 29 civilians and wounding 58. Further raids followed until the Armistice in 1918. In a raid in

10396-450: The target in waves. Nowadays, a large bomber or missile can be used to the same effect on a small area (an airfield, for example) by releasing a relatively large number of smaller bombs. Strategic bombing campaigns were conducted in Europe and Asia. The Germans and Japanese made use of mostly twin-engined bombers with a payload generally less than 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg), and never produced larger craft to any great extent. By comparison,

10509-520: The term has pejorative connotations, some, including the Allies of World War II , have preferred to use euphemisms such as "will to resist" and "morale bombings". The theoretical distinction between tactical and strategic air warfare was developed between the two world wars. Some leading theorists of strategic air warfare during this period were the Italian Giulio Douhet , the Trenchard school in

10622-404: The times remained " the bomber will always get through ". These theorists for strategic bombing argued that it would be necessary to develop a fleet of strategic bombers during peacetime, both to deter any potential enemy, and also in the case of a war, to be able to deliver devastating attacks on the enemy industries and cities while suffering from relatively few friendly casualties before victory

10735-406: The toll of many innocent lives. Should We continue to fight, it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects; or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered

10848-574: The unique ability of a modern air force to win wars by unaided strategic bombing. As the speed and altitude of bombers increased in proportion to fighter aircraft, the prevailing strategic understanding became "the bomber will always get through". Although anti-aircraft guns and fighter aircraft had proved effective in the Great War, it was accepted there was little warring nations could do to prevent massive civilian casualties from strategic bombing . High civilian morale and retaliation in kind were seen as

10961-402: The use of such propaganda tools as fables and rumors . Using multiple tools of political warfare, such as deception, disinformation, agents of influence, or forgeries, can expedite the onset of anxiety by overwhelming the target with a constant onslaught of information that the current cause or leadership is incapable of relieving the anxiety now felt. That anxiety cannot be calmed through

11074-558: The validity of their beliefs and actions. While demoralization may use propaganda , deception , disinformation , agents of influence , forgeries , or any other political warfare tool in isolation to accomplish its ends, a strategic demoralization effort will use more than one of these means as determined by its target and will not limit itself to the strict limits of attacking another belligerent's morale. A strategic demoralization campaign will navigate what Harold D. Lasswell describes as roughly three avenues of implementation: divert

11187-564: The war, when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. A strategic-bombing campaign was launched by the Germans as a precursor to the invasion of the United Kingdom to force the RAF to engage the Luftwaffe and so be destroyed either on the ground or in the air. That tactic failed, and the RAF began bombing German cities on 11 May 1940. After the Battle of Britain , the Germans launched their night time Blitz hoping to break British morale and to have

11300-430: The war...". As a result of Douhet's proposals, air forces allocated greater resources to their bomber squadrons than to their fighters, and the 'dashing young pilots' promoted in the propaganda of the time were invariably bomber pilots. Royal Air Force leaders, in particular Air Chief Marshal Hugh Trenchard , believed the key to retaining their independence from the senior services was to lay stress on what they saw as

11413-448: The women and children as far as possible, and for this purpose, a warning should be given, whenever practicable. It would be wrong even at this stage to think that airpower was simply seen as a tool for rapid retribution. A statement clearly pointed out that the ability of aircraft to inflict punishment could be open to abuse: Their power to cover great distances at high speed, their instant readiness for action, their independence (within

11526-460: Was a member of the anti-semitic group, Militant Christian Patriots . Stokes won the Ipswich seat in a 1938 by-election , which he kept in the 1945 , 1950 , 1951 and 1955 elections. He was known for his independence in parliament. Prior to the war, he co-wrote a paper (with Andrew MacLaren and George Lansbury ) analysing the economic forces menacing peace in Europe. He founded and led

11639-540: Was accidentally bombed in May, and in July the Kaiser allowed directed raids against urban centers. There were 23 airship raids in 1916, in which 125 tons of ordnance were dropped, killing 293 people and injuring 691. Gradually British air defenses improved. In 1917 and 1918, there were only 11 Zeppelin raids against England, and the final raid occurred on August 5, 1918, which resulted in the death of KK Peter Strasser , commander of

11752-432: Was achieved. In the period between the two world wars, military thinkers from several nations advocated strategic bombing as the logical and obvious way to employ aircraft. Domestic political considerations saw to it that the British worked harder on the concept than most. The British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service of the Great War had been merged in 1918 to create a separate air force, which spent much of

11865-570: Was also a good friend of author Arthur Ransome , who helped with the books publication. On going down from Cambridge he joined his family's business, Ransomes & Rapier, and was made managing director at the age of 30. When rearmament was proposed by the National Government Stokes offered to charge the nation cost price for all his firm's rearmament work, although it was rejected by the National Government -

11978-410: Was fully expected that deaths would dramatically increase. The fear of aerial attack on such a scale was one of the fundamental driving forces of the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. These early developments of aerial warfare led to two distinct branches in the writings of air warfare theorists: tactical air warfare and strategic air warfare. Tactical air warfare was developed as part of

12091-699: Was involved in the controversy over the Anglo-Persian Oil Company . After Labour lost power to the Conservatives he was elected to the Shadow Cabinet where he served as shadow Defence spokesman , although he was voted out in 1956 . Stokes died at home on 3 August 1957 in London of an apparent heart attack, according to his death notice. A few days before, on 23 July, he had been in a road accident when his car overturned during

12204-588: Was required, the smaller Japanese bombers (in comparison to British and American types) did not carry a bombload sufficient to inflict the sort of damage regularly occurring at that point in the war in Europe, or later in Japan. The development of the B-29 gave the United States a bomber with sufficient range to reach the Japanese home islands from the safety of American bases in the Pacific or western China. The capture of

12317-608: Was seen as the most determined critic of area bombing in the House of Commons. It was Stokes's questions in the House of Commons on the bombing of Dresden that were in large part responsible for the shift in British opinion against this type of raid. Frederick Taylor writes that Stokes repeated information from the German Press Agency (controlled by the Propaganda Ministry) and although the destruction of Dresden would have affected people's support for

12430-427: Was still disarmed and France was Britain's only European rival, Trenchard boasted, "the French in a bombing duel would probably squeal before we did". At the time, the expectation was any new war would be brief and very brutal. A British Cabinet planning document in 1938 predicted that, if war with Germany broke out, 35% of British homes would be hit by bombs in the first three weeks. This type of expectation would justify

12543-642: Was such an event, as was the bombing of the Ruhr dams . The Peenemünde mission delayed Nazi Germany's V-2 program enough that it did not become a major factor in the outcome of the war. Soviet Air Forces conducted strategic bombings of Helsinki , the capital of Finland , between 1939 and 1944, with Finland being subjected to a number of bombing campaigns by the USSR in that period. The largest were three raids in February 1944, which have been called The Great Raids Against Helsinki . The Finnish Air Force responded to

12656-423: Was the use of nuclear weapons. On August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States exploded nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing 105,000 people and inflicting a psychological shock on the Japanese nation. On August 15, Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan , stating : Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking

12769-494: Was to come in the near future. Yet the theory that " the bomber will always get through " started to appear doubtful, as stated by the U.S.  Attaché in 1937, "The peacetime theory of the complete invulnerability of the modern type of bombardment airplane no longer holds. The increased speeds of both the bombardment and pursuit plane have worked in favor of the pursuit ... The flying fortress died in Spain." Large scale bombing of

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