Completed Synopsis.

'With reference to David Irving, Frederick Taylor and other relevant historians and writers, discuss the different perspectives in the debate over the Bombing of Dresden.'

The essay question that I chose is based upon interest in allied bombing of Germany in WW2. My interest been primarily spurred on by Kevin Wilson's book, Men of Air The Doomed Youth of Bomber Command. It was chosen after research guided by my Extension teacher who showed me the variety of sources available. Other sources I discovered personally. Originally the essay was meant to be an evaluation of the debate but turned into an argument centrally based around the influence of David Irvings's book, The Destruction of Dresden. However I realised I had strayed from my original ideals, and returned to a 'discuss' question.

Rather than immediately discounting the the views in my sources I have still presented them. This suited the current question as it is a discussion of the views. However, I still retained a sense of judgement, voicing my opinion on them and their flaws. The two sources that drove the essay, and the debate, are David Irving's Destruction of Dresden and Frederick Taylor's Dresden: Tuesday 13 February 1945. Other sources were used to compliment the theories of each on the various sub topics of the essay. The sources I studied and used show a fairly balanced debate.

I have organised the debate into 4 sub topics; the contextual view of the raid, the legitimacy of Dresden as a target, the legitimacy of the method by which the city was bombed and casualty figures for the raid. I have done this to provide structure to my essay and to easily compare the different perspectives within each subtopic.