Page 105 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment

Gran Bretagna

JoHn Peaty *

The Place of Douhet: A Reassessment

I n this piece I intend to reassess the relationship between Italian General Giulio
Douhet and Britain’s Royal Air Force before World War II.
Bernard Brodie, in his piece “The Heritage of Douhet”, declared that Douhet
(author of “The Command of the Air”) “possessed the largest and most original mind
that has thus far addressed itself to the theory of airpower”. Ironically, however,
Douhet’s name is certainly more widely known, and his writings are certainly more
often read, today than during his own lifetime.
Our view of the extent and nature of Douhet’s influence on the thinking of airmen
in the 20s and 30s has changed over the years. At one time, during and immediately
after WWII, it was widely believed that Douhet’s influence on the air forces of the
Great Powers had been pervasive and all-embracing. Hence, it was said, the faith in
the bomber that was more or less common to all countries interested in the develop-
ment of airpower in the inter-war years. Brodie strongly endorsed this view in his
piece.
Robin Higham later challenged this view, arguing that, on the contrary, Douhet
was unknown and of no consequence. Higham’s seemingly definitive assessment has
stifled serious debate on this question for decades.
In this piece I intend to examine critically the prevailing orthodoxy as to the
extent and nature of knowledge and influence of Douhet’s ideas in Britain before
WWII, a view epitomised by Higham in an appendix entitled “The Place of Douhet”
in his “The Military Intellectuals in Britain”.
This piece is based upon research carried out some years ago at the Public Record
Office, London and the Caproni Archives, Rome. At the latter I was privileged to be
given access to the diaries of aircraft designer Gianni Caproni, Douhet’s supporter
and advocate. Inevitably, given the nature of much of the evidence, this piece will
raise rather more questions than it can provide answers for. My aim in writing it has
been to provoke a debate, a debate in which this subject is seriously addressed, and
which will hopefully lead to a thorough examination of all the surviving evidence,
both official records and private papers, both in Britain and Italy. I am confident that

*
Dr John Peaty FRGS FRHistS is International Secretary of the British Commission for Military His-
tory. He sits on the Council of the Society for Army Historical Research and is a founder member
of the RAF Historical Society. He holds a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London. He has
lectured and written widely on military history including airpower.