The Emerging Terror
Mark Clapson
Chapter from the book: Clapson, M. 2019. The Blitz Companion: Aerial Warfare, Civilians and the City since 1911.
Chapter from the book: Clapson, M. 2019. The Blitz Companion: Aerial Warfare, Civilians and the City since 1911.
Premonitions of disaster about flight and aerial attacks existed before humanity had even taken to the air. Pessimism about the impact potential of air warfare was duly proved during the First World War, when airship raids upon London and other cities provided dress rehearsals in history for later, larger bombing events. Between the wars, advances in airplane and bombing technology were and cruelly evidenced during the fascist air raids on Spain, and Japanese attacks on China, during the later 1930s. Focusing mostly but not exclusively upon Britain, this chapter highlights elite fears, expressed by leading military thinks, writers and politicians. It also examines official preparations for air raids during the interwar years. By the end of the 1930s, most people in Britain and across Europe were aware of or involved in in raid precautions. Fear that ‘the bomber will always get through’ was both a national and international phenomenon.
Clapson, M. 2019. The Emerging Terror. In: Clapson, M, The Blitz Companion. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book26.b
This chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution + Noncommercial + NoDerivatives 4.0 license. Copyright is retained by the author(s)
This book has been peer reviewed. See our Peer Review Policies for more information.
Published on April 2, 2019