Air Power & Civilian Casualties from World War I to the Atomic Bomb

A Distinguished Scholar Seminar featuring Gerhard L. Weinberg 

Civilian casualties have always been a feature of war, but nothing in history compared to the devastation inflicted upon noncombatants during the two World Wars of the twentieth century.  With the introduction of air power, new strategic thinking about valid targets of military action put civilians in danger as collateral damage of bombings aimed at economic assets, or directly in the crosshairs as the intentional victims of attacks on “enemy morale.”  Join esteemed historian Gerhard Weinberg as he discusses the development of air power and its role in civilian casualties, from its low-impact origins in World War I to the unimaginable destruction of the atomic bombs that brought World War II to a close.  This seminar will explore how it became common practice to kill non-combatants despite international injunctions against the practice, and provide important historical context for the ongoing problem of intended and unintended civilian casualties in war.

TOPICS

The World War I Experience of Air Power and the Peace Treaty Response

Germany’s Development of the Luftwaffe and its Deployment

British and American Bombing Policy in World War II and its Effects

The Development and Usage of the Atomic Bomb

Gerhard L. Weinberg is the William Rand Kenan, Jr., Professor of History Emeritus. He is the world’s leading scholar of World War II, author of the award-winning global history of the conflict, A World at Arms, and Hitler’s Foreign Policy 1933-1939: The Road to World War II.

TIME  & COST

9:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, June 10, 2017. The optional lunch is $15.00. The tuition is $125 ($110 by May 24). Tuition for teachers is $62.50 ($55 by May 24). Teachers can also receive a $75 stipend after attending (click here for more information) and 10 contact hours for 1 unit of renewal credit. The optional lunch is $15.00.

For information about lodging click here.

Co-Sponsored by the General Alumni Association.

For information about GAA discounts and other scholarships available to Humanities Program participants, click here.

Online registration is now closed. Call us at 919.962.1544 to register.