While Douhet's ideas were influential in the early 20th century, they are not aligned with contemporary ethical standards and legal frameworks governing the conduct of warfare. Deliberately targeting civilians is widely condemned, and military strategies today are generally oriented towards minimizing harm to non-combatants.
Giulio Douhet was an Italian general and air power theorist who advocated for the strategic bombing of civilian populations as a means of breaking the will of the enemy during warfare. His views, especially those on bombing civilians with high explosives, incendiary bombs, and chemical weapons, are highly controversial and have been widely criticized.
Douhet believed that targeting civilians would lead to a quicker resolution of conflicts by directly impacting the morale and will to fight of the enemy population. He argued that destroying cities and industrial centers would cripple the enemy's ability to wage war effectively, thus bringing about a faster end to hostilities.
However, it's important to note that these ideas have been widely discredited and condemned. The deliberate targeting of civilians goes against the principles of humanitarian law and the ethical considerations of warfare. The indiscriminate use of force against non-combatants is now widely seen as morally unacceptable, and international laws and conventions, such as the Geneva Conventions, explicitly prohibit such actions.
Modern ethical considerations and international norms emphasize the protection of civilians during armed conflicts. The intentional targeting of non-combatants is considered a war crime. The focus in contemporary military strategies is on minimizing civilian casualties and adhering to principles of proportionality and distinction between military and civilian targets.