Allied strategic bombing played an undeniably significant role in Germany's defeat in World War II, however it did not fully achieve its objectives until the end of the war in 1944. Although immoral, Allied strategic bombing terrorized civilian populations, achieving its goal of damaging morale. The strategic bombing also helped to restore relations between the British and the USSR, which had been damaged after the British failure to help them at the start of the Battle of Stalingrad, giving the Soviet Union the enthusiasm to carry on the fighting with persistence, resulting in a decisive victory. Although there was a huge personal cost to the Allies, including 57,000 deaths and 10% of the total cost of the war, strategic bombing in 1945 succeeded in hitting the heart of German industrial production, ending in the Allies' defeat of Nazi Germany. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayIn terms of morale, the bombings directly terrorized the German population, wearing down the enemy's livelihoods, and towards the end of the war in particular had an immense impact on the success of the Allies. Bombers dropping millions of tons of explosives on industrial units and cities damaged the enemy's ability to wage war, meaning historians such as Richard Overy believe that "the air offensive was one of the decisive elements in the Allied victory ". On July 27, 1943, a catastrophic attack on Hamburg resulted in the deaths of approximately 30,000 German civilians. One victim said the roads were unusable because “the asphalt had melted” and people were lying alive but stuck in the asphalt. A hot summer and the proximity of buildings like St. Nicholas Church added to the firestorm's apocalyptic aftermath. Its impact was shocking across Europe and even German leaders such as Albert Speer had to admit that “six more Hamburgs and the war will be over”. While the strategic bombing of Germany was undeniably significant in the short term, in the long run innocent German civilians were unjustifiable and immoral. With more casualties in the bombing of Hamburg than in the entire German campaign in England, it has remained controversial since it was embodied in "Bomber" Harris who had planned the "destruction of homes, public services, transport and lives" at the time of the his appointment in 1942, without shying away from the importance of strategic bombing. Equally chilling was Churchill's directive in February 1945, ordering the destruction of Dresden. 1,249 bombers dropped 4,000 tons of explosives, destroying Germany's cultural center and killing around 30,000 people. Although Dresden exceeded Allied expectations, the British knew that the strategic bombing was indiscriminate, terrible, and unethical. Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, exaggerated the death toll, claiming that there were 200,000 deaths in Dresden, and considered it an innocent victim of the Allies, provoking the anger of some German civilians against the Allies. This was significant because it countered Allied goals of damaging morale and instead strengthened it as German civilians united around leaders ready to protect them, such as Hitler. Furthermore, the bombing did not damage morale to the point that civilians rebelled against their government until 1944, when German officer von Stauffenberg believed that Hitler was dishonoring Germany, which we can hypothesize led to the July bomb plot failingin killing the Führer. There were 635,000 German casualties due to the bombing campaigns which caused long-term controversy since, although the Allied objectives of breaking down "morale both at home and on the battle front" had been achieved, it was immoral to turn German cities into ruins in flames, killing large numbers of people. innocent civilians. Strategic bombing was a way to secure Allied support for Stalin by removing Nazi troops from the USSR and rebuilding relations with the Soviet Republic. The British failed to help the Soviets during "their hour of greatest need", failing to dislodge Nazi troops from the Eastern Front during the Battle of Stalingrad in August 1942. During the Moscow Conference of 12-15 August 1942, Stalin provoked Churchill, advocating the idea of ​​Western cowardice to the point of insult, forcing Churchill to offer to bomb Germany. This was significant as it reassured the Soviet of the Allies' support, diverting German resources away from Russia, leading them to a victory. decisive at Stalingrad. This ended Germany's advance on the Eastern Front, marking Germany's first defeat of World War II. Surprisingly, Hitler also wanted to "hide this news from the German people" fearing that it would harm German efforts to enter at war. German resources were considerably drained and reduced in the 5 months that the battle lasted, substantially weakening Germany's ability to continue the war, while also providing a new reason for the Allies to persist with strategic bombing. Because of the new motif, more attention was paid to bombing, initiating the production of new technologies that ultimately helped the Allies win the war. Four-engine Lancaster planes replaced twin-engine bombers, allowing larger bomb loads to travel farther and fire larger quantities of ammunition into industrial areas. Planes began carrying specially trained bombers, taking the burden off navigators. Although 1942 could be considered an experimental year, for the first time since 1939 priority was given to bombing. The United States brought further excitement with heavily armed aircraft such as the B-17 “Flying Fortress,” allowing the Allies to engage in daytime bombing alongside night campaigns. Although the Allies still suffered losses at Berlin and Nuremberg, Roosevelt and Churchill reconsidered their strategy, due to the need to support the Soviets, and changed their approach. There was an urgency to destroy the German Luftwaffe. Disposable fuel tanks were created, increasing the range the planes could travel by 1500 miles. Production of P-51 Mustang aircraft that flew farther than “any fighter had flown” increased rapidly, quadrupling the strength of the U.S. Eighth Force in 8 months. By November 1943, 21% of the Luftwaffe had been lost and by December this figure rose to 23%, destroying the German air force and killing a quarter of the pilots every month, forcing Germany to fight at a ratio of 1:7. The German economy had finally been exposed, as the Allies had destroyed railways, oil supplies and chemical production. This was significant as much of the resources used for the German war effort were lost in the destruction of the air force, which was probably a major cause of the Allied victory. The bombings also came at a huge personal cost to the Allies, causing long-term controversy. whether the resources used for the bombing could have been put to better use. Consideringthat the campaign began in 1939, it took 5 years before it proved useful. The Allied forces caused fear, but not to the point of completely damaging German industry. Hitler noticed this and introduced anti-aircraft guns, or Flaks, which proved their worth at Hamburg, where they damaged 78 Allied planes. Strategic bombing imposed a heavy and unsustainable financial burden on Britain, leading to post-war impoverishment. Attacks during the war cost £2.78 billion, equivalent to £2,911.00 for each operational aircraft flown by Bomber Command and £5,914.00 for each German civilian killed by the offensives. This was probably a waste of money that could have been used to fight other methods of warfare such as mechanized warfare. Instead the Allies poured resources into producing 488 light bombers that were unlikely to reach the Ruhr from British bases, with bomb loads too small to cause significant damage. These bombers weighed less than 250 pounds because the bases could not handle large aircraft. After the attacks on Rotterdam in May 1940, 96 twin-engine bombers were deployed to destroy oil and energy facilities in the Ruhr, only 24 of the crew found the target areas and 6 failed to return. This was significant since strategic bombing constituted approximately 10% of the cost of the entire war, and with an overall mortality rate of 46% and with 60% of airmen wounded, killed or taken prisoner, it appears that the personal cost to the Allies was vast and unsustainable. Of 125,000 crew members, 57,205 were killed, 8,403 wounded in action, and 9,838 became prisoners of war. Allied forces were unable to complete daylight raids after attacks constantly threatened the loss of entire forces and night bombings could only take place if the skies were clear and moonlit as there was difficulty locating targets, which meaning that there were only short periods of time in which bombing could sustainably take place. American Major Alexander Seversky stated that “the random destruction of cities, a severe blow to morale, is costly and wasteful in relation to the tactical results achieved.” The success of the Allied attacks came at a price, shocking the world into believing that the British were bloodthirsty and did not care about killing innocent German civilians. Ultimately, it took the Allies 5 years of experimentation to successfully execute a series of attacks against Germany and to finally expose the core of the German economy, factories and infrastructure, but it remains questionable whether the resources could have been better expenses and whether the injuries or killing 76,000 bombers was worth it. Strategic bombing devastated the German economy, obliterating infrastructure, demolishing the Nazis' ability to continue to persevere in the war. While Germany was becoming an economic superpower in 1939, with an unemployment rate falling from 6 million in 1933 to 300,000 in 1939 and industrial production rates higher than those in pre-Depression Weimar Germany, in 1945 strategic bombing destroyed the the German economy, ultimately preventing Germany from maintaining the fighting. Although the bombings undermined German resistance, they did not reverse German production until 1944. Before 1944 only 17% of German production had been lost, however, after numerous losses and the creation of new technologies, in the last year of the war the Allies were able to attack the water, gas and electricity industries, reducing the amount of Nazi equipment and.