Figure 1.--World War II is not the first time that Brirish school children had to be drilled abiyt air attack. Bombs falling on central London, including schools may have had more of an imoact than any war event, even 'Lusitania' and the Somme. The consequences were immeasurable, but not in the way the Germans anticioated. The bombing not only impacted the War and peace treaty, but also the outcome of World War II.

The German Zeppelin and Gotha bombers had no military impact on England. Nor did they cause the Brirish people to demand an end to the War. And the Germans knew this from an early point which might cause one to wonder why they persisted in the effort. We suspect that the 'Gott strife England mentality' was very imprtant in the Gerjan mindset. This is not to say thar the German bombing was not a very significant aspect of the War. In fact it had a powerful impact on the British. There were several very important consequences of the German bombing campaign. First, rather than terrorrizing the British prople into denanding an end to War, it made a negotiated peace very difficult. The British people wanted victory not peace and the bombing was an important factor. Second, the British people also wanted revenge. There was no thiught of morality of bimning cities. And as a resuklt the Allies were peparing a massive boming camapign in 1919. And unlike the Germans, the Allies were capable of building a bomber force that could do real danage to the Germans. The Allies were building a much larger fleet of long-range bombers. And the British were anxious to pay the Germans back in kind for raids on British cities. Had the war continued into 1919, German cities would have been heavily bombed. Third, it created a political climate demanding a hard peace which was relected in the Versailles Peacr Treaty. It of course was nit the only factor, but it as an especiakly powerful one as it occurred at home--in fact in the heart of London and children were part of the casualties. Fourth, while German bombing in World War I had accomplished very little militarily, it had made, however, a significant impression as a terror weapon on the public. Military planners realized that progress in air design would mean that much larger and more powerful bombers would be built. Strategists debated as to if a country could be defeated entirely from the air. The British after the War took several important steps. One was to create the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force. As a result the British began to prepare for aerial war and trained professionals to assess stratehies and tactics. The most significant outcome of this was preparations to defend Britain from another aerial assault. The RAF was underfunded and unprepared for World War II, but it had considerable trechnological skill. And by 1942 they had created arguably the most potent nimnbers if the War--the Avro Lancaster which woulhelp rear the gear out of industrial Geramany. That would they did create a defensive system including the Chain Home radar system which was just enough to defeat the vaunted Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain (1940).

Created: 3:37 AM 12/4/2006
Last updated: 1:40 AM 4/24/2015