AIR POWER IN THE AGE OF TOTAL WAR (Warfare and History)

This is an excellent, thoughtful, and thorough summary of the history of air power. Prof. Buckley artfully and succinctly weaves the national strategies, technological, and aeronautical industry capabilities of the major air power countries (and their respective and often competing air services) into a coherent story of the progression of air warfare from balloons to Desert Storm, puncturing a number of conventionally-accepted myths along the way. This is not a treatise on hardware, but on the often conflicting expectations and capabilities of air power over 50 years of modern warfare. Warfare in the first half of the 20th century was fundamentally and irrovocably altered by the birth and subsequent development of air power. This work assesses the role of air power in changing the face of battle on land and sea. Utilizing late-1990s research, the author demonstrates that the phenomenon of air power was both a cause and a crucial accelerating factor contributing to the theory and practice of total war. For instance, the expansion of warfare to the homefront was a direct result of bombing and indirectly due to the extent of national economic mobilization required to support first rate air power status. In addition, the move away from the principle of total war with the onset of the Cold War and the replacement of air power by ICBMs is thoroughly examined. This work should provide students of international history, war studies, defence and strategic studies with an insight into 20th-century warfare. Preliminaries......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 List of tables......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Glossary......Page 9 1 Air power in the age of total war......Page 12 2 The birth of air power......Page 33 3 The First World War 1914 18......Page 53 4 The development of air power doctrine and theory 1918 39......Page 81 5 Global air power 1918 39......Page 110 6 The war in Europe 1939 45......Page 136 7 The war in the Far East 1937 45......Page 181 8 Air power and the post war world......Page 209 9 Conclusions......Page 231 Notes......Page 234 Select bibliography......Page 257 Index......Page 262 A study of the military role of air power in the 20th century, this text explores the phenomenon of air power as both a cause and accelerating factor contributing to the theory and practice of total war John Buckley. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 246-250) And Index.