In a doctoral thesis, Ikle suggested that the proponents of airpower had overestimated the relationship between the intensity of aerial bombing and the density of a city’s surviving population. “…the Royal Air Force strategy of targeting residential areas and ‘de-housing’ civilians proved disappointing. The supply of urban housing was much more elastic than expected, as… Read More
In a doctoral thesis, Ikle suggested that the proponents of airpower had overestimated the relationship between the intensity of aerial bombing and the density of a city’s surviving population. “Before the Second World War, British planners had assumed that for every metric ton of high-explosive bombs dropped on a city, about seventy-two people would be… Read More
“In 1949, [Fred Charles] Ikle left his studies in Chicago and travelled through bombed-out Germany. The war hadn’t touched his family directly, and he wanted to know how people coped with devastation on such a massive scale. One of the cities he visited, Hamburg, had suffered roughly the same number of casualties as Nagasaki [target… Read More
Research Paper Title Operational Art and the German 1918 Offensives. Abstract At the tactical level of war the Germans are widely regarded as having had the most innovative and proficient army of World War I. Likewise, many historians would agree that the Germans suffered from serious, if not fatal, shortcomings at the strategic level of war. It… Read More
Research Paper Title The Influence of the Boer War (1899-1902) on the Tactical Development of the Regular British Army 1902-1914. Abstract This thesis examines the influence of the Boer War 1899 – 1902 upon tactics and training in the regular British Army 1902 – 1914. The work argues that several key lessons drawn from South Africa became… Read More
Research Paper Title Henry Wilson and the Role of Civil-Military Cooperation during the Planning of British Mobilisation for War, 1910-1914. Abstract In August 1910, Henry Wilson became head of the Directorate of Military Operations (DMO) at the War Office. This small and isolated directorate was responsible for planning the mobilisation scheme to be employed by… Read More
Research Paper Title The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Changes in German Tactical Doctrine during the First World War. Abstract This paper is a case study in the wartime evolution of tactical doctrine. Besides providing a summary of German Infantry tactics of the First World War, this study offers insights into the crucial role of leadership… Read More
