To study the bombing of Dresden and the Historians that have studied it, especially David Irving.
1. At the present moment I have read, Irving's Apocalypse 1945: The Bombing of Dresden and Firestorm: The Bombing of Dresden, 1945 As well as researched the topic on numerous websites to compliment my knowledge. 12
David Irving's Apocalypse 1945: The Bombing of Dresden is the main source of the debate surrounding the bombing of Dresden. Irving's research into the bombing was highly praised due to his analysis of German documents but his interpretation of them were not. He lacks the objectivity needed to write history, especially in his book due to the nature of the subject he is writing about. Irving's work was at one time regarded as a classic second world war history but his political views, content of later books and his now exposed less then credible sources has brought the book into light for what it really is, a historical writing loosely based on fact. His book does give details on reasons for the success of the raid3 and claiming between 50,000 and 250,000 people died during the raids.4
Paul Addison and Jeremy A. Crang's Firestorm: The Bombing of Dresden, 1945 offers differing view points of the bombing of Dresden. It intends to “discuss the causes, the conduct and the consequences of the bombing.”5 The book offers the views of 10 different historians, who each deliver their assessment of the bombing. Richard Overy argues that Dresden is singled out due to the large proportion of women, children and refugees.6 Hew Strachan puts the bombings into a perspective that is equivalent to the naval blockade in WW1 which brought Germany to it's knees, and so was a tool the British used to bring about the same result.
I have researched the topic to a large degree on the internet using a variety of sources. I do not as such plan to rely heavily on them but rather to compliment my knowledge. The reason for this is the unreliability of websites and the authors apparent disregard for historical facts.7
The debate of Dresden is not black and white. It is a kaleidoscope of different people examining certain aspects of the bombing. Some Historians go as far as to state that bombing Dresden was a war crime whilst others describe it has a harsh but necessary operation, Hew Strachan defined Strategic bombing thus, “Killing civilians was still a means to an end, not an end in itself. This was not genocide. It was about winning the war, not about racial cleansing.”8
2. My first interest into the bombing campaigns of the Second World War began in 2009, whilst reading Kevin Wilson's, Men of Air: The Doomed Youth of Bomber Command9, which mentioned the use of area bombing in war and outcry of the Papacy when their cathedrals were unfortunately bombed because of the Axis soldiers inside. My initial research, prompted by my history extension teacher, Mr Wright, was an inquiry into the bombing raids of Tokyo. However, insufficient sources were available to me and the sources I had were limited. I then decided to change the event of my research whilst keeping ethics the core focus of my work and so the bombing of Dresden instead. It was also briefly mentioned in Kevin Wilson's aforementioned book.10 Even from the beginning the debate concerning the bombing of Dresden was apparent, stretching back as long as Churchill's loss in faith for strategic bombing.11 After several discussions with my teacher this is now the question I intend to put to myself:
Evaluate different perspectives on the Bombing of Dresden?
Subsidiary Questions:
- Why was Dresden selected by Allied air forces to be raided?
- How has David Irving and his book, The Destruction of Dresden (1963), influenced the debate over Dresden?
- Did the outcome of WW1 influence the decision of bombing Dresden?
- How have historians reacted to Irving's book, then and now?
- Are newer histories of Dresden a reaction against the loss of reputation of Irving and his book?
3. I have a lot of reading and research to do before I can begin to write my project. I still need to read two books including Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and A. C Grayling's Among the Dead Cities:The History and Moral Legacy of the WWII Bombing of Civilians in Germany and Japan. I also want to look at Alexander Mckee's Dresden 1945: The Devil's Tinderbox, Mckee was a very influential British historian who discoved Henry VIII's flagship The Mary Rose and I believe his view of Dresden as a tragedy will lend weight to Irving's debate.
The Sources I have have been examined, but not to the degree with which I would confidently be in a position to write in exquisite detail about and David Irving's book is very difficult to analyze with strict objectivity.
4. I intend to make my project an analysis and evaluation of the historical debate surrounding the bombing of Dresden. My research methods will be to study a source, attempt to correlate it with other sources to determine it's reliability, then use the evidence to provide an objective view of of the various histories I'm studying.
1D. Irving, Apocalypse 1945: The Bombing of Dresden, Focal Point, 1999
2P. Addison and JA Crang (ed.), Firestorm: The bombing of Dresden, 1945, Ivan R. Dee, 2006, p. 16
3D. Irving, op. Cit, p.95-98
4D. Irving, op. Cit, p.255-257
5P .Addison and JA Crang, Preface, op. cit p.IX
6R. Ovary, The Post-War Debate in P Addison and JA Crang (ed.), Firestorm: The bombing of Dresden, 1945, Ivan R. Dee, 2006, pp. 138
7http://www.revisionism.nl/Dresden/The-Mad-Revisionist.htm, date of viewing, 26/1/2012
8H. Strachan, Strategic Bombing and the Question of Civilian Casualties up to 1945 in P Addison and JA Crang (ed.), Firestorm: The bombing of Dresden, 1945, Ivan R. Dee, 2006, p. 2
9K. Wilson, Men of Air: The Doomed Youth of Bomber Command, Pheonix (imprint of Orion publishing), 2008
10K.Wilson, Men of Air, op. Cit, p. 394
11H. Strachan, op. Cit, p. 16
This is really good Paul!! yay!
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