Holocaust and strategic bombing: case studies in the psychology, organization, and technology of mass killing in the twentieth century
Abstract
After preliminary discussion of the unprecedented scale of mass killing in the twentieth century, the threat of nuclear war, and the widespread neglect of these issues, the literature on two major types of government sanctioned mass killing is reviewed; genocide, in which a government slaughters its own citizens or subjects, and total war, in which two or more governments slaughter each other's civilian citizens or subjects. This literature review reaches two basic conclusions: (1) there is considerable inconsistency and ambiguity among definitions of genocide and total war; and (2) there is a controversy regarding how distinct or similar the two forms of mass killing actually are. A comparative historical analysis was undertaken in which the Nazi Holocaust was selected as an example of genocide, and the Allied strategic bombing campaigns during World War II were selected to exemplify total war. The two cases are compared in terms of a conceptual framework of five hypothesized facilitating factors. On the basis of this comparative analysis, four or the five hypothesized facilitating factors are found to have played important roles in both cases. The findings of the study are discussed, and their implications for the threat of nuclear holocaust are explored.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis (USA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 5341281
- Resource Type:
- Thesis/Dissertation
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY; DEATH; GOVERNMENT POLICIES; NUCLEAR WEAPONS; WARFARE; HUMAN POPULATIONS; PSYCHOLOGY; POPULATIONS; WEAPONS; 290600* - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy
Citation Formats
Markusen, E R. Holocaust and strategic bombing: case studies in the psychology, organization, and technology of mass killing in the twentieth century. United States: N. p., 1986.
Web.
Markusen, E R. Holocaust and strategic bombing: case studies in the psychology, organization, and technology of mass killing in the twentieth century. United States.
Markusen, E R. 1986.
"Holocaust and strategic bombing: case studies in the psychology, organization, and technology of mass killing in the twentieth century". United States.
@article{osti_5341281,
title = {Holocaust and strategic bombing: case studies in the psychology, organization, and technology of mass killing in the twentieth century},
author = {Markusen, E R},
abstractNote = {After preliminary discussion of the unprecedented scale of mass killing in the twentieth century, the threat of nuclear war, and the widespread neglect of these issues, the literature on two major types of government sanctioned mass killing is reviewed; genocide, in which a government slaughters its own citizens or subjects, and total war, in which two or more governments slaughter each other's civilian citizens or subjects. This literature review reaches two basic conclusions: (1) there is considerable inconsistency and ambiguity among definitions of genocide and total war; and (2) there is a controversy regarding how distinct or similar the two forms of mass killing actually are. A comparative historical analysis was undertaken in which the Nazi Holocaust was selected as an example of genocide, and the Allied strategic bombing campaigns during World War II were selected to exemplify total war. The two cases are compared in terms of a conceptual framework of five hypothesized facilitating factors. On the basis of this comparative analysis, four or the five hypothesized facilitating factors are found to have played important roles in both cases. The findings of the study are discussed, and their implications for the threat of nuclear holocaust are explored.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5341281},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1986},
month = {Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1986}
}