Second World War Prophecies Analysis

After the First World War and airpower’s contribution in dealing with the stalemate warfare, some people recognized its great potential, and started to envision its use in future conflicts. Those people, that can be called theorists, visionaries, or airpower prophets started to think how to further develop an airpower, and how it can be best used in the future warfare. Furthermore, they provided their theories and predictions of its tactical and strategic use in order to give military commanders a powerful tool to gain victory in the future wars. During the interwar years, their prophecies and predictions not only shaped airpower development, but influenced tactics and strategies during the Second World War. In other words, their prophecies …show more content…
That ultimate fulfillment of their prophecies and predictions can be summarized in their vision of airpower use. To win the war, one must first; conquer the air; use airpower as offensive weapon; gain air superiority to provide support to the ground forces; fight in the air, and deny enemy to fly; and destroy enemy support in order to break their capability and will to fight. From all those interwar airpower theorists and prophets, few of them distinguished from others. The famous ones, whose visions of airpower contributed the most to the Allied victory, are Giulio Douhet, Sir Hugh Trenchard, Sir John Slessor, William “Billy” Mitchell, and Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold. This essay will present some of the main predictions and prophecies those above mentioned theorists advocated in order to point out how airpower contributed in Allied victory. Moreover, through examples of the battles, campaigns, and military decisions during the Second World War, it will show how their predictions fulfilled airpower’s role in shaping the path to the final Allied victory in the Second …show more content…
Predicting that “command of the air” can be gained only through offensive airpower, which will lead to air-to-air battles for air supremacy. Gaining air supremacy, will enable protection and support of own surface forces to fight, and possibility to attack enemy’s vital targets from the air. This essay only emphasized the main and specific predictions for each of the famous theorists, and provided just a few examples from Second World War fronts to present fulfillment of their prophecies. Nevertheless, their prophecies and predictions of airpower represented the ultimate fulfillment in airpower’s contribution to the Allied victory in the Second World