NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Aerial bombing of cities

The aerial bombing of cities began in 1911, developed through World War I, grew to a vast scale in World War II, and continued to the present day. Image File history File links Wesel_1945. ... Image File history File links Wesel_1945. ... Wesel is a city (population about 61,689 in 2004) in Germany, located at the point where the Lippe River empties into the Rhine. ... â€œThe Great War â€ redirects here. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Aerial bombing before World War II

Italian-Turkish War of 1911-1912

The very first aerial act of aggression occurred during the Italian-Turkish War of 1911-1912 in North Africa. Italy had been using aircraft to monitor enemy troop movements and search for Turkish artillery positions. One Italian pilot, a Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti, realized that the aircraft could be used for more than simple reconnaissance. The event occurred over a Turkish camp at Ain Zara in Libya on November 1, 1911. Lt. Gavotti was flying his Taube monoplane at an altitude of 600 ft (185 m) when he took four small 4.5 lb (2 kg) grenades from a leather pouch, screwed in the detonators he had carried aboard in his pocket, and threw each bomb over the side by hand. Although no one was injured and little damage was done, Lt. Gavotti earned his place in history for conducting the first aerial bombing raid ever recorded. Combatants Italy Ottoman Empire Commanders Carlo Caneva Ismail Enver Strength 100. ... is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Rumpler Taube is a pre-World War I monoplane aircraft, and the first mass produced military plane in Germany. ... A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. ...

Mexican Revolution

The city of Mazatlan then got the distinction of being the 2nd city in the world after Tripoli, Libya of being one of the first to suffer aerial bombardment. During the revolution of 1910-17 General Venustiano Carranza (later president) intent on taking the city of Mazatlan, ordered a biplane to drop a crude bomb of nails and dynamite wrapped in leather to the target of Neveria Hill adjacent to the down town area of Mazatlan. The bomb landed not on target but on the city streets of Mazatlan and in the process killed two citizens and wounded several others, becoming the first aerial bombing to result in fatalities. Mazatlán is a city (population 340,000 as of 2000) located on the Pacific coast of Mexico, just across from the southernmost tip of Baja California. ... Venustiano Carranza Garza (December 29, 1859 â€“ May 21, 1920) was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. ... Reproduction of a Sopwith Camel biplane flown by Lt. ...

World War I

The first ever aerial bombardment of civilians was on January 19, 1915, in which two German Zeppelins dropped 24 fifty-kilogram high-explosive bombs and ineffective three-kilogram incendiaries on the English towns of Great Yarmouth, Sheringham, King's Lynn, and the surrounding villages; in all, four people were killed, 16 injured, and monetary damage was estimated at £7,740, although the public and media reaction were out of proportion to the death toll.^[1] London was accidentally bombed in May and in July 1916, the Kaiser allowed directed raids against urban centres, sparking 23 airship raids in 1916 in which 125 tons of ordnance were dropped, killing 293 people and injuring 691. Gradually British air defences improved. In 1917 and 1918 there were only eleven Zeppelin raids against England, and the final raid occurred on August 5, 1918, which resulted in the death of KK Peter Strasser, commander of 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. It has been argued that the raids were effective far beyond material damage in diverting and hampering wartime production, and diverting twelve squadrons and over 10,000 men to air defences. is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Zeppelins are a type of rigid airship pioneered by German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century, based in part on an earlier design by aviation pioneer David Schwarz. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Great Yarmouth, often known to locals simply as Yarmouth, is an English coastal town in the county of Norfolk. ... Sheringham from the mound Sheringham is a seaside town (population 7143[1]) in Norfolk, England, west of Cromer. ... , Kings Lynn is a town and port in Norfolk, England. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... USS Akron (ZRS-4) in flight, November 2, 1931 An airship or dirigible is a buoyant lighter-than-air aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air. ... is the 217th day of the year (218th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Portrait of Peter Strasser in 1914, commander of the Luftschiffer German Airforce Peter Strasser (April 1, 1876 - August 6, 1918) Chief Commander of Germanys Luftschiffer airforce during World War I. He was the main leader of the Zeppelins command and in charge, operating bombing campaigns from 1915 to 1918. ...

Second Italo-Abyssinian War

The Italians used aircraft against the Ethiopian cities in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. Combatants Kingdom of Italy Ethiopian Empire Commanders Benito Mussolini Emilio De Bono Pietro Badoglio Rodolfo Graziani Haile Selassie Ras Imru Strength 800,000 combatants (only ~330,000 mobilized) ~250,000 combatants Casualties 10,000 killed1 (est. ...

Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War, the Nationalists under Francisco Franco made extensive use of aerial bombing on civilian targets. Nazi Germany gave aircraft to Franco to support the overthrow of the Spanish Republican government. The first major example of this came in November 1936, when German and Spanish aircraft pounded Republican held Madrid; this bombardment was sustained throughout the Siege of Madrid. Barcelona and Valencia were also targeted in this way. On April 26, 1937, the German Luftwaffe (Condor Legion) bombed the Spanish city of Guernica carrying out the most high profile aerial attack of the war. This act caused world-wide revulsion and was the subject of a famous painting by Picasso, but by the standards of bombings during WWII, casualties were fairly minor (estimates ranging from 500 to 1,500); however, it remains significant as it was the first-ever saturation bombing of a civilian population. Not to be confused with the Spanish Civil War of 1820-1823. ... â€œFrancoâ€ redirects here. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Anthem El Himno de Riego Capital Madrid Language(s) Spanish Government Republic President - 1931â€“1936 Niceto AlcalÃ¡-Zamora - 1936â€“1939 Manuel AzaÃ±a Legislature Congress of Deputies Historical era Interwar period - Monarchy abolished April 14, 1931 - Spanish Civil War 1936â€“1939 - Republic in exile dissolved July 15, 1977 Currency Spanish... This article is about the Spanish capital. ... The Siege of Madrid was a three year siege of the Spanish capital Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. ... Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Barcelona (Catalan) Spanish name Barcelona Nickname Ciutat Comtal (City of Counts) Postal code 08001â€“08080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 93 (Barcelona) Website http://www. ... Location Coordinates : 39Â°29â€² N 0Â°22â€² W Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name ValÃ¨ncia (Catalan) Spanish name Valencia Founded 137 BC Postal code 46000-46080 Website http://www. ... is the 116th day of the year (117th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Deutsche Luftwaffe or (German: air force, IPA: ) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ... Hermann GÃ¶ring delivering an honour (likely to be the Spanienkreuz, Spanish Cross) to a member of the Legion Condor (April 1939) The Condor Legion was a unit of Nazi Germanys air force which was sent as volunteers to support the right wing Nationalists (i. ... The bombing of Guernica was an aerial attack on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War by planes of the German Luftwaffe Condor Legion and subordinate Italian Fascists from the Corpo Truppe Volontarie expeditionary force organized as Aviazione Legionaria. ... Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso, depicting the Nazi German bombing of Guernica, Spain, by twenty-eight bombers, on April 26, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. ... A young Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, (October 25, 1881 - April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art. ... Aerial area bombardment is the policy of indiscriminate bombing of an enemys cities, for the purpose of destroying the enemys means of producing military materiel, communications, government centres and civilian morale. ...

Second Sino-Japanese War

Casualties of a mass panic during a Japanese air raid in Chongqing

During the Manchurian Incident of 1931, the Japanese widely used airplanes to indiscriminately bomb key targets and cities, such as Mukden. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, in conjunction with the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, began relentlessly bombing Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and other populated cities on the Chinese coast from the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. These earlier mass raids were to be repeated against the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, and against the then Chinese capital of Nanjing immediately preceding the barbarous Nanjing Massacre and the unrelenting aerial bombing of Chongqing. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Bombing of Chongqing (February 18, 1938 - August 23, 1943) was a Japanese strategic bombing campaign against the Chinese provisional capital of Chongqing that lasted 5 1/2 years. ... One aspect of the Manchurian Incident (January 1931) was an engagement of the Imperial Japanese Army with Chinese forces. ... Major districts of Shenyang. ... Belligerents National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China Imperial Japanese Army, Empire of Japan Commanders Song Zheyuan Kanichiro Tashiro Strength 100,000 - Casualties and losses 16,700 - The Marco Polo Bridge Incident (ç›§æºæ©‹äº‹è®Š; also known as ä¸ƒä¸ƒäº‹è®Š, ä¸ƒä¸ƒç›§æºæ©‹äº‹è®Š or the Lugouqiao Incident) was a battle between the Republic of Chinas National Revolutionary Army... The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, or more traditionally called the Japanese Army Air Force (é™¸è»èˆªç©ºæœ¬éƒ¨ Rikugun KÅkÅ« Hombu), was Imperial Japans land-based aviation force. ... The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service or Dai Nippon Teikoku Kaigun Koku Hombu was a major force in the Pacific War during World War II. The Japanese military acquired their first aircraft in 1910 and followed the development of air combat during World War I with great interest. ... For other uses, see Shanghai (disambiguation). ... Peking redirects here. ... (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Postal map spelling: Tientsin) is one of the four municipalities of China. ... Combatants China United States1 Soviet Union2 Empire of Japan Collaborationist Chinese Army3 Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren, Xue Yue, Bai Chongxi, Peng Dehuai, Joseph Stilwell, Claire Chennault, Aleksandr Vasilevsky Hirohito, Fumimaro Konoe, Hideki Tojo, Kotohito Kanin, Matsui Iwane, Hajime Sugiyama, Shunroku Hata... Guangzhou is the capital and the sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the Peoples Republic of China. ... For other uses, see Nanjing (disambiguation). ... The Nanking Massacre (Chinese: 南京大屠殺, pinyin: Nánjīng Dàtúshā; Japanese: 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu), also known as the Rape of Nanking and sometimes in Japan as the Nanking Incident (南京事件, Nankin Jiken), refers to what many historians recognize as widespread atrocities committed by the Japanese army in and around Nanking (now Nanjing... The Bombing of Chongqing (February 18, 1938 - August 23, 1943) was a Japanese strategic bombing campaign against the Chinese provisional capital of Chongqing that lasted 5 1/2 years. ...

Aerial bombing during World War II

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European theatre

See also: Strategic bombing during World War II

At the beginning of World War II, the bombing of cities was a normal practice of the German Luftwaffe. In the first stages of war, the Germans carried out many massive indiscriminate bombings of towns and cities in Poland (1939), killing tens of thousands people, with Wieluń being the first city destroyed by 75%. Soviet Union also attempted terror bombing tactics against Finland, bombing Helsinki, but without any massive loss of life. Strategic bombing during World War II was greater in scale than any wartime attack the world had previously witnessed. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Deutsche Luftwaffe or (German: air force, IPA: ) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ... WieluÅ„ is a town in central Poland with 25,500 inhabitants (1995). ... Bombing of WieluÅ„ in World War II refers to the German bomb raid on a Polish city of WieluÅ„ at the outbreak of World War II. On September 1, 1939 at 4. ... Terror bombing is a strategy of deliberately bombing and/or strafing civilian targets in order to break the morale of the enemy, make its civilian population panic, bend the enemys political leadership to the attackers will, or to punish an enemy. ... An 88 mm AA-gun at the Finnish anti-aircraft museum Search lights at the Finnish anti-aircraft museum The capital of Finland, Helsinki was bombed several times during the second World War. ...

Similar tactics was also used by the Germans during the Rotterdam Blitz in 1940. After the Germany victory in the Battle of France, German turned its attention to Great Britain. After Hitler dropped the invasion plans, the Luftwaffe carried out an intensive bombing of cities in Britain, including London and Coventry to weaken the morale of the population, in a bombing campaign known in Britain as "the Blitz", from September 1940 through to May 1941 with the goal of forcing the British government to accept peace without the need for an invasion. The city heart of Rotterdam after the bombing, the ruin of the (now restored) Laurens Kerk is the only building that reminds people of the Rotterdams medieval architecture. ... Combatants France United Kingdom Canada Czechoslovakia Poland Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg Germany Italy Commanders Maurice Gamelin, Maxime Weygand Lord Gort (British Expeditionary Force) Leopold III H.G. Winkelman Gerd von Rundstedt (Army Group A) Fedor von Bock (Army Group B) Wilhelm von Leeb (Army Group C) H.R.H. Umberto di... Operation Sealion (Unternehmen (Undertaking) SeelÃ¶we in German) was a World War II German plan to invade the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Coventry (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Blitz. ... A logo of Her Majestys Government. ...

In response, the British started intensive night air raids on Berlin and other cities. In 1942, the goals of the British attacks were defined: the primary goal was the so called "morale bombing", to weaken the will of the civil population to resist. Following this directive an intensive bombing of highly populated city centers and working class quarters started. On 30 May 1942, the RAF Bomber Command launched the first "1,000 bomber raid" when 1,046 aircraft bombed Cologne in Operation Millennium, dropping over 2,000 tons of high explosive and incendaries were dropped on the medieval town and burning it from end to end. Only 384 civilians and 85 soldiers were killed, but thousands left the city. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... is the 150th day of the year (151st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bomber Command badge RAF Bomber Command was the organisation that controlled the RAFs bomber forces. ... Cologne in 1945 The City of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids by the Allies during World War II. During the war the Royal Air Force (RAF) bombed Cologne more than thirty one times. ...

Two further 1,000 bomber raids were executed over Essen and Bremen, but neither so utterly shook both sides as the scale of the destruction at Cologne. The effects of the massive raids using a combination of blockbuster bombs and incendiaries created firestorms in some cites. The most extreme examples were caused by the bombing of Hamburg in Operation Gomorrah (45,000 dead), and the bombings of Kassel (10,000 dead), Darmstadt (12,500 dead), Pforzheim (21,200 dead), Swinemuende (23,000 dead), and Dresden (estimated 25,000 to 35,000 dead). Essen is a city in the center of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... This article is about the city in Germany. ... A Lancaster drops bundles of incendiary bombs (left), incendiary bombs and a â€œcookieâ€ (right) on Duisburg on 15 October 1944 Blockbuster or Cookie was the name given to several of the largest conventional bombs used in World War II by the Royal Air Force (RAF). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The large port city of Hamburg, Germany, was very heavily bombed many times by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. During one of the attacks in July 1943 a firestorm was created that caused tens of thousands of mostly... The city of Kassel in Germany was severely bombed during World War II and more than 10,000 civilians died during these raids. ... Darmstadt was bombed a number of times during World War II. The most defestating air raid on Darmstadt occured on the night of 11/12 September 1944 when No. ... During the latter stages of World War II Pforzheim, a town in south west Germany was bombed on a number of times. ... Świnoujście (pronounce: [,ɕvinɔujɕtɕȋe], German Swinemünde) is a town in Pomerania, north-western Poland, situated on the islands of Uznam and Wolin with about 41,000 inhabitants (2004). ... The bombing of Dresden, led by Royal Air Force (RAF) and followed by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945, remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of World War II. The exact number of casualties is uncertain, but most historians agree...

Pacific theatre

Nagasaki before and after bombing

In the Pacific theatre, the U.S. bombing of Tokyo created firestorms which killed 73,000, while many other Japanese cities were bombed (eg. Kobe, 8,800 dead). In addition, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed over 200,000 people. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1000x1095, 869 KB) Adjusted version of Nagasaki_1945_-_Before_and_after. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1000x1095, 869 KB) Adjusted version of Nagasaki_1945_-_Before_and_after. ... Nagasaki ) ( ) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. ... For other uses, see Pacific War (disambiguation). ... B-29 bombers were used to drop hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives onto Japanese cities during the war. ... On March 17th, 1945, three hundred and thirty-one American B-29 bombers launched a firebombing attack against the city of Kobe, Japan. ... The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima after the dropping of Little Boy. ...

Aerial bombing since World War II

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The Cold War (theoretical)

During the Cold War, the threat of destruction of cities by nuclear weapons carried on bombers or ICBMs became the main instrument of the balance of terror that allegedly kept the United States and Soviet Union from open warfare with one another. (See mutual assured destruction.) For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. ... A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ... Balance of Terror, written by Paul Schneider and directed by Vincent McEveety, is a first-season episode of the original Star Trek series that first aired on December 15, 1966. ... Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ...

Bombing by Iraq

Saddam Hussein's Iraq attacked civilian targets in Iranian cities in the "War of the Cities" during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, with Iranians retaliating in kind (both sides soon switched to ballistic missile attacks). Iraqi aircraft also bombed the Iraqi Kurdistan city of Halabja with conventional and chemical weapons in 1988, killing more than 5,000 people in the largest aerial poison gas attack in history. Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (28 April 1937 â€“ 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq and Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council from 1979 until his overthrow by US forces in 2003. ... Combatants Iran Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Iraq Peoples Mujahedin of Iran Commanders Ruhollah Khomeini Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Ali Shamkhani Mostafa Chamran â€ Saddam Hussein Ali Hassan al-Majid Strength 305,000 soldiers 500,000 Pasdaran and Basij militia 900 tanks 1,000 armored vehicles 3,000 artillery pieces 470 aircraft... Diagram of V-2, the first ballistic missile. ... For other uses, see Kurdistan (disambiguation). ... Halabja (Kurdish: HelepÃ§e or , Arabic: or Turkish: HalepÃ§e ) is a Kurdish town in Iraq or Southern Kurdistan about 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Baghdad and 8-10 miles from the Iranian border. ... Early detection of chemical agents Sociopolitical climate of chemical warfare While the study of chemicals and their military uses was widespread in China, the use of toxic materials has historically been viewed with mixed emotions and some disdain in the West (especially when the enemy were doing it). ... Photo said to have been taken in the aftermath of the attack. ...

Bombing by Israel

Lebanese capital of Beirut was attacked on a large scale by the Israeli aircarft during the Siege of Beirut, killing several thousand people in 1982 and, on a much smaller scale, during the 2006 Lebanon War (using guided munitions). This article is about the Lebanese city. ... Belligerents Israel Defense Forces Palestine Liberation Organization Commanders Ariel Sharon Yasir Arafat Strength 30,000 15,000 Casualties and losses 368 soldiers killed, 2,383 wounded 1000 PLO guerillas killed, 6000 captured. ... Combatants Hezbollah Amal[1] LCP[2] PFLP-GC[3] Israel Commanders Hassan Nasrallah Dan Halutz Moshe Kaplinsky[10] Udi Adam Strength 600-1,000 active fighters 3,000-10,000 reservists[4] Up to 10,000 ground troops. ...

Bombing by the Soviet Union and Russia

In 1979, the Soviets carpet-bombed the city the Afghan third-largest city of Herat, causing massive destruction^[2] and some 5,000 to 25,000 deaths.^[3] HerÄt (Persian: â€Ž ) is a city in western Afghanistan, in the province also known as HerÄt. ...

Post-Soviet Russia heavily bombed the Chechen capital of Grozny from air with mostly unguided munitons (including fuel-air explosives) as well as bombarding it with a massive artillery barrages (1994-1995, 1996 and 1999-2000), killing thousands of people (some estimates say 27,000 civilians were killed during the 1994-1995 siege alone^[4]). In 2003, the United Nations still called Grozny the most destroyed city on earth.^[5] The Chechen Republic (IPA: ; Russian: , Chechenskaya Respublika; Chechen: , NoxÃ§iyn Respublika), or, informally, Chechnya (; Russian: ; Chechen: , NoxÃ§iyÃ§Ã¶), sometimes referred to as Ichkeria, Chechnia, Chechenia or NoxÃ§iyn, is a federal subject of Russia. ... For other uses of Grozny, see Grozny (disambiguation). ... A high-impulse thermobaric weapon (HIT), also known as a fuel-air explosive (FAE or FAX), a heat and pressure weapon, or a vacuum bomb, consists of a container of a volatile liquid, in some designs including a finely powdered explosive component as a slurry, and (typically) two separate explosive... Look up Barrage in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Combatants Russian Federation Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Commanders Pavel Grachev Ivan Babichev Vadim Orlov Lev Rokhlin Vladimir Shamanov Viktor Vorobyov â€ Aslan Maskhadov Turpal-Ali Atgeriev Shamil Basayev Ruslan Gelayev Strength 60,000 in all (est. ... UN and U.N. redirect here. ...

Bombing by the United States

During the Korean War of 1950-1953, United States bombed the cities in North Korea and the North-occupied South Korea, including their respective capital cities. There were also plans to use nuclear weapons against North Korea and the People's Republic of China. Belligerents United Nations: Republic of Korea Australia Belgium Canada Colombia Ethiopia France Greece Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Philippines South Africa Thailand Turkey United Kingdom United States Naval Support and Military Servicing/Repairs: Japan Medical staff: Denmark Italy Norway India Sweden DPR Korea PR China Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee Chung...

During the Vietnam War the United States from 1965 to 1968 conducted an aerial campaign known as Operation Rolling Thunder. The campaign began with interdiction of supply lines in rural areas of southern North Vietnam but incrementally spread northward throughout the country. On June 29, 1966, restrictions against bombing the capital city of Hanoi and the country's largest port, Haiphong were lifted, and they were bombed by the USAF and Navy.^[6] The bombing of their city centres continued to be prohibited.^[7] These restrictions didn't regard South Vietnamese cities seized by the communists and they were bombed, including the former capital of Huế in 1968. Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam Peopleâ€™s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... Combatants United States Republic of Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam Commanders Joseph H. Moore, William W. Momyer, George S. Brown Phung The Tai (Air Defense), Nguyen Van Tien (Air Force) Casualties United States: ~835 killed, captured, or missing VNAF: Unknown ~20,000 military, ~72,000 civilian Operation Rolling Thunder was... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... Hanoi (Vietnamese: HÃ Ná»™i, HÃ¡n Tá»±: æ²³å†…) , estimated population 3,145,300 (2005), is the capital of Vietnam. ... Haiphong (Vietnamese: Háº£i PhÃ²ng, Chinese æµ·é˜², HÇŽifÃ¡ng) is the third most populous city in Vietnam. ... â€œThe U.S. Air Forceâ€ redirects here. ... USN redirects here. ... Anthem Thanh niÃªn HÃ nh KhÃºc (Call to the Citizens) Capital Saigon Language(s) Vietnamese Government Republic Last PresidentÂ¹ Duong Van Minh Last Prime minister Vu Van Mau Historical era Cold War - Regime change June 14, 1955 - Dissolution April 30, 1975 Area - 1973 173,809 kmÂ² 67,108... Huáº¿ (åŒ– in Vietnamese Chá»¯ nÃ´m, é †åŒ– in Chinese characters) is the former modern capital of Vietnam. ...

The United States has also bombed city areas during a number of military operations, including Tripoli (1986), Belgrade (Kosovo War 1999) and Baghdad (1991 and 2003). These attacks were made using precision-guided munitions (or "smart bombs") and cruise missiles. Following the September 11, 2001 attack the United States attacked the urban targets in Afghanistan in Iraq, including the Shock and Awe campaign of precision bombing. The United States government maintained that it has a policy of striking only militarily-significant targets while doing all possible to avoid what it terms "collateral damage" to non-military areas and persons. Neverthless, thousands of civilians were reportedly killed,^[8] including some 500 confirmed deaths in Serbia and Kosovo (in both urban and rural locations).^[9] Tripoli (Arabic: Ø·Ø±Ø§Ø¨Ù„Ø³ TarÄbulus) is the capital city of Libya. ... For other uses, see Belgrade (disambiguation). ... The term Kosovo War or Kosovo Conflict is often used to describe two sequential and at times parallel armed conflicts (a civil war followed by an international war) in the southern Serbian province called Kosovo (officially Kosovo and Metohia), part of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. ... Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... BOLT-117 laser guided bomb Precision-guided munitions (smart munitions or smart bombs) are self-guiding weapons intended to maximize damage to the target while minimizing collateral damage. Because the damage effects of an explosive weapon scale as a power law with distance, quite modest improvements in accuracy (and hence... A Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile of the German Luftwaffe A cruise missile is a guided missile which carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system, usually a jet engine, to allow sustained flight; it is essentially a flying bomb. ... The World Trade Center on fire The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. ... Shock and awe, technically known as rapid dominance, is a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming decisive force, dominant battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of power to paralyze an adversarys perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight. ... Collateral damage is a U.S. Military term for unintended or incidental damage during a military operation. ... Not to be confused with Republika Srpska. ... For other uses, see Kosovo (disambiguation). ...

Aerial bombardment and international law

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International law relating to aerial bombardment before and during World War II rests on the treaties of 1864, 1899, 1907 which constituted the definition of most of the laws of at that time — which, despite repeated diplomatic attempts, was not updated in the immediate run up to World War II. The most relevant of these treaties are the Hague Conventions of 1907 because they were the last treaties ratified before 1939 which specify the laws of war on aerial bombardment. Of these treaties there are two which have a direct bearing on this issue of bombardment. These are "Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV); October 18, 1907"^[10] and "Laws of War: Bombardment by Naval Forces in Time of War (Hague IX); October 18, 1907"^[11]. It is significant that there is a different treaty which should be invoked for bombardment of land by land (Hague IV) and of land by sea (Hague IX) ^[12]. Hague IV which reaffirmed and updated Hague II (1899) ^[13] contains the following clauses: The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the Geneva Conventions, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of international law. ... is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Article 25: The attack or bombardment of towns, villages, habitations or buildings which are not defended, is prohibited.
Article 26: The Commander of an attacking force, before commencing a bombardment, except in the case of an assault, should do all he can to warn the authorities.
Article 27: In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps should be taken to spare as far as possible edifices devoted to religion, art, science, and charity, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not used at the same time for military purposes.
The besieged should indicate these buildings or places by some particular and visible signs, which should previously be notified to the assailants.^[13]

In 1923 a draft convention, promoted by the United States was proposed: The Hague Rules of Air Warfare, December, 1922-February, 1923",^[14] There are number of articles which would have directly affected how nations used aerial bombardment and defended against it; these are articles 18, 22 and 24. It was, however, never adopted in legally binding form. ^[15]

The subordination of the law of air warfare to the law of ground warfare was arguably established by the Greco-German arbitration tribunal of 1927-30. It found that the 1907 Hague Convention on "The Laws and Customs of War on Land" applied to the German attacks in Greece during World War I:^[16] This concerned both Article 25 and Article 26.

The U.S. Air Force Law Review argues that "if international law is not enforced, persistent violations can conceivably be adopted as customary practice, permitting conduct that was once prohibited"^[17] Even if the Greco-German arbitration tribunal findings had established the rules for aerial bombardment, by 1945, the belligerents of World War II had ignored the preliminary bombardment procedures that the Greco-German arbitration tribunal had recognized.^[18]

In response to a League of Nations declaration against bombardment from the air^[19], a draft convention in Amsterdam of 1938^[20] would have provided specific definitions of what constituted a "undefended" town, excessive civilian casualties and appropriate warning. This draft convention makes the standard of being undefended quite high - any military units or anti-aircraft within the radius qualifies a town as defended. This convention, like the 1923 draft, was not ratified, nor even close to being ratified, when hostilities broke out in Europe. While the two conventions offer a guideline to what the belligerent powers were considering before the war, neither of these documents came to be legally binding.

After the war the judgement of the Nuremberg Trials,^[21] the records the decision that by 1939 these rules laid down in the 1907 Hague Convention were recognised by all civilised nations, and were regarded as declaratory of the laws and customs of war. Under this post-war decision, a country did not have to have ratified the 1907 Hague conventions in order to be bound by them ^[22]. For the 1947 Soviet film about the trials, see Nuremberg Trials (film). ...

In 1963 the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the subject of a Japanese judicial review in Ryuichi Shimoda et al. v. The State. The review draws several distinctions which are pertinent to both conventional and atomic aerial bombardment. Based on international law found in Hague Convention of 1907 IV - The Laws and Customs of War on Land and IX - Bombardment by Naval Forces in Time of War, and the Hague Draft Rules of Air Warfare of 1922–1923 the Court drew a distinction between "Targeted Aerial Bombardment" and indiscriminate area bombardment, that the court called "Blind Aerial Bombardment", and also a distinction between a defended and undefended city.^[23] "In principle, a defended city is a city which resists an attempt at occupation by land forces. A city even with defence installations and armed forces cannot be said to be a defended city if it is far away from the battlefield and is not in immediate danger of occupation by the enemy."^[24] The court ruled that blind aerial bombardment is only permitted in the immediate vicinity of the operations of land forces and that only targeted aerial bombardment of military installations is permitted further from the front. It also ruled that, in such an event, the incidental death of civilians and the destruction of civilian property during targeted aerial bombardment was not unlawful.^[25] The court acknowledged that the concept of a military objective was enlarged under conditions of total war, but stated that the distinction between the two did not disappear.^[26] The court also ruled that when military targets were concentrated in a comparatively small area, and where defence installations against air raids were very strong, that when the destruction of non-military objectives is small in proportion to the large military interests, or necessity, such destruction is lawful.^[25] So in the judgement of the Court, because of the immense power of the bombs, and the distance from enemy (Allied) land forces, the bombing of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki "was an illegal act of hostilities under international law as it existed at that time, as an indiscriminate bombardment of undefended cities".^[27] The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima after the dropping of Little Boy. ... Judicial review is the power of a court to review the actions of public sector bodies in terms of their legality or constitutionality. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ryuichi Shimoda et al. ... The aerial bombing of cities became a common tactic in World War II. World War I The first ever aerial bombardment of civilians was on January 19, 1915, in which two German Zeppelins dropped 24 fifty-kilogram high-explosive bombs and ineffective three-kilogram incendiaries on Great Yarmouth, Sheringham, Kings... The Hague Conventions were international treaties negotiated at the First and Second Peace Conferences at The Hague, Netherlands in 1899 and 1907, respectively, and were, along with the Geneva Conventions, among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of secular international... Total war is a military conflict in which nations mobilize all available resources in order to destroy another nations ability to engage in war. ... This article is about the independent states that comprised the Allies. ...

Not all governments and scholars of international law agree with the analysis and conclusions of the Shimoda review, because it was not based on positive international humanitarian law. Colonel Javier Guisández Gómez, at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, points out: International humanitarian law (IHL), also known as the law of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus comprised of the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law. ... The name San Remo can refer to several different things: San Remo, Italy – a large town in Italy San Remo, Victoria – a town in Victoria, Australia The San Remo – an apartment building in New York City This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might...

In examining these events [Anti-city strategy/blitz] in the light of international humanitarian law, it should be borne in mind that during the Second World War there was no agreement, treaty, convention or any other instrument governing the protection of the civilian population or civilian property, as the Conventions then in force dealt only with the protection of the wounded and the sick on the battlefield and in naval warfare, hospital ships, the laws and customs of war and the protection of prisoners of war.^[18]

This leaves the legal status of aerial bombardment during World War II ambiguous and open to other interpretations, for example one of the reasons given by John Bolton, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, for the USA not agreeing to be bound by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is that There are several people named John Bolton, including: John Gatenby Bolton â€“ British-Australian astronomer (1922â€“1993) John R. Bolton â€“ U.S. politician and diplomat U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. (2005-current) (b. ... ... Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Opened for signature June 17, 1998[1] at Rome Entered into force July 1, 2002 Conditions for entry into force 60 ratifications Parties 99[2] The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (or Rome Statute) is the treaty which established the International...

A fair reading of the [Rome Statute], for example, leaves the objective observer unable to answer with confidence whether the United States was guilty of war crimes for its aerial bombing campaigns over Germany and Japan in World War II. Indeed, if anything, a straightforward reading of the language probably indicates that the court would find the United States guilty. A fortiori, these provisions seem to imply that the United States would have been guilty of a war crime for dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is intolerable and unacceptable.^[28] This page includes English translations of several Latin phrases and abbreviations such as . ...

International law since 1945

In the post war environment, a series of treaties governing the laws of war were adopted starting in 1949. These Geneva Conventions would come into force, in no small part, because of a general reaction against the practices of the Second World War. In 1977 Protocol I was adopted as an amendment to the Geneva conventions. The two parts of the laws of war (or Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC)): Law concerning acceptable practices while engaged in war, like the Geneva Conventions, is called jus in bello; while law concerning allowable justifications for armed force is called jus ad bellum. ... Original document. ... Protocol I: Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts. ...

The International Court of Justice gave an advisory opinion in July 1996 on the Legality of the Threat Or Use Of Nuclear Weapons.^[29] The International Court of Justice (known colloquially as the World Court or ICJ; French: ) is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. ...

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