Edward's chevauchée gave systematic destruction a central place in the campaign. A letter to the Black Prince describes burning and destroying a broad strip of countryside and laying waste to crops, cattle, and other goods around Cambrai. Settlements and their inhabitants bore the consequences as the campaign sought to make continued resistance intolerable. A comparison with William the Conqueror distinguishes punishment for rebellion from a proposed method of waging the wider war. The interpretation is then compared with the coercive arguments for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and with Douhet's ideas about heavy bombers.
Notable Point · 3:17:45-3:19:05
The chevauchée used devastation to compel submission
Destruction of crops and settlements is presented as a means of forcing France to capitulate, followed by a comparison with theories of strategic bombing.