Essay Structure Plan

Extension Essay Plan: Dresden Debate Project.

1. Intro
                                                                                  Was it a war crime?
2. Was it a One Off Attack?

3.Was it a legitimate target?
                                                                                  Misconceptions of these lead to myths in popular
4.Was Dresden bombed legitimately?                            culture and history.

5. Why are the casualty figures important?

6. Conclusion

 2. - Irving - what did he say? - how did he influence debate?
     - McKee - same as above? Why does he stress the pain of the raid?

     - Frederick Taylor + others - how do they counter this argument? - the other bombing raids? why are the significant?

     - What does this mean for history? - Peter Geyl? biasm with Irving for his ideological views? Experiences of war for McKee? CONTEXT!!! Put the Allies into disreput?

 3. - Irving - "The Virgin Target" - descriptive language to emphasize horror of the raid, therefore to evoke sympathy.

     - McKee -aim is to show the terrible nature - .why does he do this?

     - Frederick Taylor - 127 factories - "Industrial Dresden"

     - Hew Strachan - significance of WW1 blockade to Dresden?

     - Communication Hub + context of the war? - Yalta, Battle of the Bulge?

 4. - Was Dresden bombed legitimately?

     - Irving - higher number of incendiaries. - P-51 Mustangs strafed civilians during post raid.

     - Taylor + other historians - British records show it was a regular amount compared to other raids - Taylor provides evidence to show the Mustang reports are unsubstantial - problems of memory as history.

 5. - Irving claims over 100,000, why does he ? what evidence does he use? ---> is it viable? Why doesn't he accept lower casualty figures?

     - McKee - what is his evidence? Assumes 70, 000 people died, not very Rankean - example of Irving's influnce, purpose +aim is flawed.

     - Taylor - Bombing campaign judged by guilty foot soldiers. What sources does he have that Irving didn't?

     - links to Irving to Neo-Nazism + holocaust + Atomic bombings, why does he try to make the connection - what hint of his methodology do we get?

     - Revising casualty figures - corrections of the past histories - Peter Geyl.

 6. - make definitive, conclusive answers to the question - did Irving's influence all or at least most of the debate? - what does the debate show about history?