- Oct 6, 2022
Recently, after reading the book War and Addiction, I realized that there is no such thing as black and white.
The author, Malcolm Gladwell, uses air warfare as a starting point to describe the history of the air Force during World War II and the debates over its different positions on issues such as bombing.
In the book, different positions, different opinions, the collision of sparks, and the moral judgment in people's minds, the author does not say who is right and who is wrong, who is black and who is white, can see the two sides of things.
On the one hand, they advocate precision bombing, destroying important bases to reduce civilian casualties. On the other side of the spectrum are those who argue that area bombing is not targeted, but aimed at destroying all places, including civilians, in order to achieve a quick end to the campaign.
In view of these two points, the author makes a very relevant evaluation. On the one hand, idealism and innovation of future technology are involved. However, due to the immaturity of technology, it is bound to prolong the time line of war and lead to greater casualties. On the other, realism and a desire to win the battle quickly.
In the end, realism prevailed in World War II, but idealism and technological innovation became the direction of the country's future development.
This is a good history of the Air Force and WWII, worth reading for anyone interested in this topic.