01 August 2013

The Influence of Airpower Upon Asian History

Robert Farley, The Influence of Airpower Upon Asian History,” The Diplomat, 31 July 2013.

A recent University Press of Kentucky edited volume, The Influence of Airpower Upon History, attempts to evaluate to impact of airpower since the beginning of manned, powered flight. The book largely avoids theorizing about airpower and instead examines how statesmen have used airpower as a policy instrument, and what the effects of this instrument have been. Although the book includes a chapter (by Andrew Erickson) on the development of Chinese airpower, it concentrates mostly on airpower’s impact on European and American great power politics.