Reply #17: Right on the money. [View All]

I always find kind of absurd those claims that we would never have used nukes against Germany because they were white people. Kind of ignores the fact that 1.6 million German civilians were killed in the war, including by carpet-bombings that would have rivaled a nuclear detonation for destructive force.

To answer your question about when bombing civilian populations came into things, it's all about what's known as a "total war" footing. As long as the civilian population is engaged in manufacturing arms and munitions, if you want to stop that you have to bomb the facilities. Without precision-guided munitions, that means flattening a good portion of a city. Further, there's the consideration of destroying roads, particularly crossroads, which often intersect with cities. So while the civilians weren't exactly the primary targets, in a total war footing they are still considered to be enemies.