New Heights In Human Conflict: Air Power Revolution, 1911-1945

Eric Baumeister, Riley Frackleton, Justin Guo, Alex Hankin, Michael Ruccolo Senior Division Group Website 89912020.nhd.weebly.com

Initially, our group discussed possible topics for our project. Our first agreement: we all have a true interest in a warfare topic. We then narrowed our topic even more to the revolution of airplanes in warfare. With valuable guidance from our history teachers in narrowing our topic even more, our focus is on the emergence (and revolution) of airplanes during the 20th Century, especially focusing on the WWII air power revolution. In order to conduct research, we interpreted and analyzed reputable websites, primary source archival databases, books from local libraries and the Boston Public Library by expert historians on our topic, and also many JSTOR scholarly journal articles. One example of an excellent primary source acquired from JSTOR was a newsman's eyewitness account of German blitzkrieg tactics during the invasion of Belgium of 1940 found on our "Early German Successes" page. It especially emphasized the revolutionary nature of air power. Another valuable primary source was a preserved magazine article, found on our "Radar: New Implications" page, detailing the significance of radar as a reaction to the WWII air power revolution. We borrowed the article from an online old magazine archive. Also, a primary source Popular Mechanics article from 1933, found on our "Inter-war Revolution Page" (part of our historical context), explains the merits and perceived effectiveness of dive bombing as a new airattack tactic before WWII. We also acquired a multitude of primary source quotations found on each of our pages (many pages having many more than one quote). These we borrowed from secondary sources (such as printed books, reputable websites, and journal articles) that contained primary excerpts. One such expert historian on our topic is Walter J. Boyne, author of Clash of Wings: WWII in the Air. Many of the secondary (historian) quotations

found on our site are his, but all of our secondary quotes come from a wide variety of different historians. Choosing a website was the easiest decision, as all of our members have a passion in computer tech, so it fits with our interests. Also, since our group has the maximum number of 5 people, a website is the most efficient and convenient. Group meetings are not always necessary for us to work on the project, and websites also allow us to be able to show our topic using a variety of interactive resources, including primary documents, explanatory videos, and images to underline and demonstrate our claims. Our project supports this years theme because the military air power during WWII truly changed the face of war altogether: the nature, pace, tactical, and strategic aspects of war. The reaction of our topic is the shift in the nature of war: faster pace, larger and at times undefined combat zones, new weapons and technology, and the compromising of civilian safety. The reform consisted of the international community realizing the revolutionary effects of the war airplane, and the attempt to draft new policies for air warfare, such as in the 1922 Rules of Air Warfare. (496 words)