Strategic Bombing Events
Among the controversial instances of strategic bombing (and it should be noted that there is still significant controversy over whether all of these events even constitute strategic bombing, as opposed to other forms, such as terror bombing or tactical bombing) are:
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Strategic bombing of "uncivilized tribes" during the British mandate of IraqSpanish Civil War
The Bombing of Guernica: the first aerial bombardment in history in which a civilian population was targeted with the apparent intent of producing civilian casualties.World War II
The Japanese bombing of WuhanThe Japanese bombing of ChongqingThe Japanese attack on Pearl HarborThe German bombing of WarsawThe German bombing of RotterdamGerman attacks on the UK during The Blitz and afterwards, through the V-1 and V-2 attacks in the last year of the war.The German bombing of BelgradeThe German bombing of Moscow.Allied bombing of HamburgAllied bombing of BerlinAllied bombing of DresdenAllied bombing of MilanUnited States bombing of TokyoUnited States bombing of KobeUnited States atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | 
Vietnam War
United States bombing of the Ho Chi Minh TrailUnited States bombing of HanoiUnited States bombing of CambodiaUnited States bombing of Vietnam's dikesOperation Desert Storm (Liberation of Kuwait Jan/Feb 1991)Yugoslav Wars (1991–1999)
NATO bombing of Republika Srpska (1995) (Operation Deliberate Force)Kosovo War (1999)
NATO bombing of industry and other civilian infrastructure in Serbia. Examples include the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade (claimed to have been done by mistake) and the deliberate bombing of the main TV center in Belgrade.Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003) invasion of Iraq.
Precision laser and GPS guided bombs were used extensively, not only to damage and destroy Saddam Hussein's army but also to damage infrastructure such as communications, utilities, and various government buildings. The campaign moved into asymmetric warfare once strategic targets no longer existed or were not viable targets. |