Beschreibung
In this first interdisciplinary study of this contentious subject, leading experts in politics, history, and philosophy examine the complex aspects of the terror bombing of German cities during World War II. The contributors address the decision to embark on the bombing campaign, the moral issues raised by the bombing, and the main stages of the campaign and its effects on German civilians as well as on Germanys war effort. The book places the bombing campaign within the context of the history of air warfare, presenting the bombing as the first stage of the particular type of state terrorism that led to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and brought about the Cold War era balance of terror. In doing so, it makes an important contribution to current debates about terrorism. It also analyzes the public debate in Germany about the historical, moral, and political significance of the deliberate killing of up to 600,000 German civilians by the British and American air forces. This pioneering collaboration provides a platform for a wide range of viewssome of which are controversialon a highly topical, painful, and morally challenging subject.
Autorenportrait
Igor Primoratz is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University, Canberra. His publications includeBanquos Geist: Hegels Theorie der Strafe (Bouvier, 1986),Justifying Legal Punishment (Humanities Press, 1989, 1997), andEthics and Sex (Routledge, 1999), and a number of edited books, includingTerrorism: The Philosophical Issues (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) andCivilian Immunity in War (Oxford University Press, 2007).
Inhalt
Contributors
Introduction
Igor Primoratz
Part I: The bombing
Chapter 1. The bombing campaign: the RAF
Stephen A. Garrett
Chapter 2. The bombing campaign: the USAAF
Douglas Lackey
Chapter 3. Under the bombs
Earl R. Beck
Chapter 4. Firestorm
Martin Middlebrook
Part II: The moral issues
Chapter 5. Can the bombing be morally justified?
Igor Primoratz
Chapter 6. Four types of mass murderer: Stalin, Hitler, Churchill, Truman
Douglas Lackey
Chapter 7. Was it genocidal?
Eric Markusen andDavid Kopf
Part III: The debates
Chapter 8. The British debate
Mark Connelly
Chapter 9. The German debate
Lothar Kettenacker
Index
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