Two Theories on the Use of Air Power: Warden vs. Pape

Abstract

Abstract : Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps because the apparent target audience for John Warden's book, The Air Campaign, is the practitioner of the operational art, while Robert Pape seems to have written for the academic audience in Bombing to Win, this reviewer was compelled by Warden s argument that strategic use of air power is worthwhile and left a bit bewildered by Pape's insistence that only tactical air power used at the theater level is worth the effort. The seeming rightness of The Air Campaign could also be explained by the fact that this generation of Air Force officers was raised on Warden s principles from the earliest days in professional military education classes. Regardless, there is benefit to viewing both sides of the debate to glean what lessons may be learned from history as well as understand current thinking on the appropriate use of air power. This review will first look at each author s thesis and his supporting data and conclusions, as well as critique the information provided. It will then go on to compare and contrast the two works, and discuss why Warden s argument seems more valid than Pape's.