The Allied Bombing of German Cities in World War Two Was Unjustifiable

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🗓️ 12 May 2014

⏱️ 88 minutes

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Summary

No one doubts the bravery of the thousands of men who flew and died in Bomber Command. The death rate was an appalling 44%. And yet until the opening of a monument in Green Park this year they have received no official recognition, with many historians claiming that the offensive was immoral and unjustified. How can it be right, they argue, for the Allies to have deliberately targeted German cities causing the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians? Even on a strategic level the offensive failed to bring about the collapse of civilian morale that was its intention. Others, however, maintain that the attacks made a decisive contribution to the Allied victory. Vast numbers of German soldiers and planes were diverted from the eastern and western fronts, while Allied bombing attacks virtually destroyed the German air force, clearing the way for the invasion of the continent. In this debate from October 2012, philosopher and author A C Grayling and Professor of History at Exeter University Rochard Overy... Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:40.0	The Allied bombing of German cities in World War II was unjustifiable.
0:45.0	This debate took place on the 25th of October 2012
0:48.5	at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London.
0:52.0	Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
0:55.0	So nice to see so many of you here today for this first and highly crucial historical debate, the first in our historical debate series on this important
1:07.9	subject and with our four very distinguished speakers here.
1:12.0	It's not just, it occurs to me, a historical debate.
1:16.2	It could equally well be starting off a philosophy debate, which is why we have both philosophers and historians on our panel here tonight and I think
1:27.3	tonight is all going to be about the intersection of moral principle and historical fact and the extent to which historical fact may or may not incline you to change your mind from the great historical principle that Anthony Graling cites in the title of his own book on this subject whether it is ever justifiable to bomb civilians.
1:55.0	And some of the questions that you will probably be asking yourself tonight
2:00.0	as we get more and more into the history of this is for example if it were the case
2:08.8	that the bombing of civilians was crucial in stopping Hitler becoming victorious.
	...

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