Bombing of Dresden in World War II

A series of Allied air raids on Dresden on 13–15 February 1945 caused extensive destruction and civilian deaths. The attacks remain disputed over their military rationale, scale, and place in the history of strategic bombing.

Area bombing: An aerial strategy that attacks broad urban or industrial areas rather than only individual military targets. The Dresden raids applied this strategy through attacks on the city center.
Yalta Conference: A February 1945 meeting of Allied leaders to coordinate postwar plans and wartime strategy. The raids followed claims that Allied leaders discussed supporting Soviet advances with air attacks.
Winston Churchill: The British prime minister who led the United Kingdom through most of World War II. Churchill later questioned the policy of bombing German cities after the destruction at Dresden.
Dresden: A city in eastern Germany on the Elbe River and the capital of Saxony. The raids destroyed large parts of its historic center and damaged transport infrastructure.
Firestorm: A large conflagration that generates its own intense winds and spreads rapidly through an area. Fires from the raids merged into a major blaze amid Dresden’s dense buildings.
Eastern Front (World War II): The major theater of land warfare between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1945. Soviet forces were advancing westward when the Allies planned attacks on eastern German cities.
Franklin D. Roosevelt: The United States president from 1933 until his death in April 1945. Roosevelt’s administration participated in Allied strategic bombing policy during the campaign.
Strategic bombing during World War II: The sustained use of air attacks against industrial, military, and urban targets during World War II. Dresden became one of the most contested episodes in this wider air war.
Incendiary bomb: A weapon designed to start fires using combustible materials or chemical reactions. Incendiaries helped ignite the fires that destroyed much of the city center.
Combined Bomber Offensive: The Anglo-American air campaign against Germany’s military and industrial capacity during World War II. Dresden was attacked within the wider Allied bomber campaign against Germany.

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