Chronology

Some significant events.

1900: flight of the first Zeppelin.
1903: first heavier-than-air flight, by the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk.
1908: Rudolf Martin’s proposals for a German aerial invasion of Britain published in the Times. H. G. Wells, The War in the Air.
1909: Aerial (later Air) League of the British Empire formed, as is the Parliamentary Aerial Defence Committee. Blériot flies the English Channel.
1909, 1912-3 and 1914-7: the phantom airship scares.
1911-2: Italy bombs Turkish troops in Libya from airships and aeroplanes.
1912-3: aircraft used by all sides in the Balkan wars.
1914: H. G. Wells, The World Set Free.
1915-8: Zeppelin raids on Britain.
1917-8: Gotha raids on Britain; British raids on Germany.
1918: the RAF is formed, partly due to outcry over success of the Gotha raids.
1919: the Treaty of Versailles prohibits Germany from possessing an air force.
1919-1926: Spain uses gas bombs against rebellious Moroccan tribes during the Rif War.
1920: a RAF bombing campaign helps to expel the ‘Mad Mullah’, Sayyid Muhammad, from British Somaliland.
1922: a scare ensues when P. R. C. Groves claims that France has more bombers than there are aircraft in the entire RAF.
1922-1932: ‘Air Control’ is implemented in Iraq, mainly via RAF bombing of rebellious villages.
1924: Committee of Imperial Defence begins studying Air Raid Precautions.
1928-1966: air control principles help defend the Aden Protectorate against Yemeni incursions and, later, to suppress internal dissent.
1932: in Parliament, Stanley Baldwin declares that ‘the bomber will always get through’.
1932-4: international Disarmament Conference in Geneva, essentially moribund after Germany walks out in 1933.
1933: Hitler comes to power in Germany. H. G. Wells, The Shape of Things to Come (filmed as Things to Come, 1936).
1934: Wickham Steed controversially claims that German agents have carried out experiments to determine the effectiveness of air-delivered biological agents in the London Underground and the Paris Metro. Baldwin claims that German has been secretly re-arming in the air.
1935: the existence of the Luftwaffe is publicly revealed.
1935-6: Italy uses mustard gas bombs during its invasion of Abyssinia.
1935-8: Rothermere’s National League of Airmen acts as political pressure group to promote a bigger air force.
1937: Japan bombs several Chinese cities, including Shanghai. The German Condor Legion bombs Guernica in Spain. In Britain, the Air Raid Precautions Act obliges local councils to provide protection for their citizens in the event of air raids.
1938: Italians bomb Barcelona. German proposal for an air pact limited bombing to military targets. Munich.
1939: as Neville Chamberlain announces the declaration of war with Germany, a (false) air-raid alarm sounds in London. Germany bombs Warsaw in Poland.
1940: Germany bombs Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The Battle of Britain.
1940-1: the Blitz.
1941: Coventry.
1940-5: RAF Bomber Command attacks German civilian, military and industrial targets.
1943: Hamburg.
1945: Dresden.