I have tried for days to get the wording of this correct. Still, fools rush in where angels fear to tread ....... Another discussion point of the holidays was how enemy civilians were considered as legitimate targets. Historically haven't they always been seen as fair game? For example raping, murder, looting and pillaging sort of went with every invasion! When did this acceptance of how wars were fought change (if indeed it has) to the extent that some 60 years later the bombing of both Allied and German towns still can result in heated discussion? Is it really reasonable to expect today's conflicts to be conducted with surgical precision solely on military and industrial targets? Hope that makes sense.
I think the idea started to change when the technology of war began to change. Remember int he 19th century an army tended to have to march to the battles, which would be constantly ont he move over a country or continent. They had to get what food and supplies they could on the way, and obviously the civilian population suffered, leading to a sod you attitude on the battlefield as well. This boiled over into the entire population, civilian as well as military were the enemy so everyone was fair game. The Boar War came around, with War Correspondants reporting back on such attitudes and whatnot, leading to a slow change in attitudes in the general public back at home, and when WW2 came around it was a static war. A war of attrition where wveryone dug in and slugged it out in the same areas. The civilian population could get away. WW2 came around and the vast advances in technology led to some believing more targetted bombardements could be undertaken, sparing women and children. If they weren't in a factory or some other site working towards the enemy's war effort then they should be spared. Also remember by 44 the general population here was extremely tired and wanted the war to be over, the area bombardment of Harris' total war was anathema to them by then as they were seeing echoes of the Nazi area bombardement of Coventry and York. They did not want to be the same. Since then technology has come on to such an extent that nearly all bombs can be targeted into a single building, and not fall on civilian targets. The change in attitude has more or less followed the advance in technology and the change in warfare
