Strategic Bombing and Restraint in ‘Total War’, 1915–1918
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8958709 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Barros (0000-0002-3523-0514, Université du Québec à Montréal, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 413-431 |
| Publication date | 2009-05-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Historical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0018246x09007523 |
| OpenAlex | W2165496101 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
Recent studies of ‘total war’ depict a process of inexorable expansion leading to an often nebulous linkage of everything to war. This article takes the study of ‘total war’ in the opposite direction by studying a specific example of strategic restraint. It examines how the French bombing strategy that was developed over the course of the First World War went to considerable lengths to maintain a distinction between the civilian and the military. The article studies France's restraint by highlighting the strategic, geographical, institutional, and economic factors upon which it was built. It then goes on to examine the political pressures for an expansion of bombing which proved incapable of overturning this policy. Finally, it contrasts French restraint with that of its key ally, Great Britain. There, bombing developed into a strategic weapon designed to destroy the ‘home front’. This study of restraint underscores the importance of limits, and the attendant choices government has to make, in understanding the course and intensity of a country's mobilization for modern war
Ancient history · First world war · Front (military · Government (linguistics · Home front · Military science · Military strategy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Strategic bombing · Strategic goal · Strategic studies · Total war · World War II · Engineering · French Historical and Cultural Studies · History · Law · Military History and Strategy · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |