Nine months into the Great War London joined the English counties of Norfolk, Northumberland, Essex, Suffolk and Kent, when she too became a victim of the German airship raids being unleashed on England.

Bringing English civilians not only into a war, but a war like never before, the German Government believed that these raids would so terrorise English civilians that they would demand their government make peace on German terms.

Adrienne Barthram was awarded a First Class honours in 2007 following the completion of a BA (hons) Modern History degree at the University of Westminster. This dissertation was submitted in her final year and achieved a first-class mark of 75%.

The dissertation was awarded the Philip Bagwell Prize in the same year - a prize that is awarded annually to the student with the best undergraduate Modern History dissertation. Use the menu on the top left to read all the chapters of this dissertation: Homepage Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Conclusion Acknowledgements Bibliography

‘… the little island in the silver seas was at the end of its immunity…’
H. G. Wells, The War in the Air (Middlesex, 1973), p. 140.

Attacking a Zeppelin

Zeppelins are capable of carrying, in addition to their crews, bombs weighing in the aggregate about a ton and a half. The chief menace to a Zeppelin is attack by aeroplanes, which are much swifter and capable of rising much higher. They can circle around a Zeppelin and drop bombs on it. So Zeppelins are frequently mounted with guns of high-angle range to repel attacking aeroplanes. To discharge a gun is fraught with danger to the Zeppelin, but that danger must be faced.

J. A. Hammerton (ed.) The War Illustrated: A Pictorial Record of the Conflict of Nations, Volume 1 (London, 1915), p. 493.

Original picture title: How a Zeppelin Fights Attacks from Above. The photographer or illustrator is not identified in the original publication.

The forward gondola

Forward gondola of a Zeppelin, placed under the keel at the end of the great dirigible. The crew and engines are accommodated in two of these long, gondola-shaped cars.

J. A. Hammerton (ed.) The War Illustrated: A Pictorial Record of the Conflict of Nations, Volume 4 (London, 1916), p. 45.

The original caption acknowledges The Aeroplane as the source of the image. The photographer is not identified in the original publication.