The Allied Bombing of German Cities During the Second World War from a Canadian Perspective

Abstract

This paper addresses the history of the legality of the aerial bombardment of civilians, from the earliest attempts at legalization, through the inter-war period and into the actual bombing campaigns of the Second World War. We then chart the paucity of discussion of the legality of said bombing both during the war and throughout the Cold War, and finish with the occasional interruptions to the legal silence since 1992 in Canada and elsewhere.

Keywords: aerial bombardment, Bomber Command, International Humanitarian Law, Second World War, bombing, civilians, Law of Armed Conflict, History of International Law, Canada, legal history