Giulio Douhet imagined bombers delivering enormous biological and chemical attacks against cities, making strategic air power the decisive form of warfare. Nuclear weapons later supplied comparable destructive potential without turning every conflict into an all-or-nothing air war. Such arsenals placed a ceiling on escalation while states still used deniable forces, trainers, and observers in politically ambiguous conflicts. The comparison separates the genuine influence of air-power theory from its claim that one technology would subsume every form of war.
Notable Point · 3:01-5:32
Douhet's apocalyptic air war did not abolish limited conflict
Douhet's city-destruction vision and later nuclear weapons show how extreme arsenals changed the ceiling and ambiguity of conflict rather than ending war.