ABSTRACT
The original air power theory evolved as it did and was widely accepted by the Anglo-American publics because of a vivid perception of how the world worked and what the future might hold. World War I had painfully shown that:
• the nation states and their interests could clash on a global scale;
• nations could organize and bring to bear enormous industrial resources in their conflicts;
• science and technology were providing new and wondrous means for transport and destruction in warfare; and
• if allowed to stalemate, these conflicts could wipe out a generation of young men, terrorize the population, and devastate a nation's economy.
