Giulio Douhet

Giulio Douhet , 1869-1930, Italian military officer and early advocate of airpower. He was an early supporter of strategic bombing and the military superiority of air forces . He served in World War I, organizing Italy's bombing campaign, but was court-martialed for criticizing the Italian high command by publicly declaiming Italy's aerial weakness. He was released when his theories were proven true by the defeat of Italian arms by the Austrian Air Force at Caporetto. He was later recalled and was promoted (1921) to general. In 1922 he was appointed head of Italy's aviation program by Benito Mussolini . His book Command of the Air (1921) was very influential, especially in Great Britain and the United States and was regarded as a classic by early airpower theorists. He argued that command of an enemy's air space and subsequent bombing of industrialized centers would be so disruptive and destructive that the pressure for peace would be overwhelming. He maintained that control of the air could win a war regardless of land or sea power. Douhet's theories remain very popular, especially among military aviators. He is known as the father of airpower.

Douhet, Giulio (1869–1930), Italian general and early air power theorist.Giulio Douhet is remembered best for propounding a doctrine of offensive strategic air attack as a preferable, even more humane, form of warfare than the massive battles of attrition that marked World War I. His bold ideas about air warfare injected a tremendous energy into the usual strategic discussions of nations able to produce, or procure, such advanced technology. Although it would be incorrect to say that this approach to armed conflict originated with Douhet, his ability to integrate a rapidly expanding body of concepts about aerial warfare provided airpower advocates with a cogent theoretical foundation upon which to build.

Like American airpower adherent Billy Mitchell (1879–1936), Douhet began his army career at an early age and during a period of national transition. In addition, both men were moved by their advocacy of aviation to dissent vigorously, at times even recklessly, from military orthodoxy. This course eventually led to court‐martial, suspension from active duty, and in Douhet's case im prisonment for one year. Unlike Mitchell, however, World War I resurrected Douhet's career. In 1918, he was made chief of the Italian Army's Central Aeronautical Board, a post he held until retiring from service as a general in 1921. Also in 1921, his seminal work on aerial warfare, The Command of the Air, was published. In 1922, the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini appointed him head of Italy's aviation program.

Douhet's central argument that future conflicts would be decided by the nation most able to destroy an opponent's means and will to resist through airpower still engenders much debate. Moreover, the ongoing struggle to validate or refute the concepts set forth in The Command of the Air suggests a transcendent quality unmatched by other air war theorists. For airmen, in particular, his views gave rise to a tenacious search for the enemy's “vital center”—the perfect target set.

Bibliography

Giulio Douhet , The Command of the Air, 1942; rept. 1938.

Michael L. Grumelli