Attack of the Zeppelins

PBS America: Wednesday 20 September at 9.40pm

The early twentieth century saw the birth of a new and terrifying form of warfare: bombing from the air. Civilians were targeted in the belief that finding death raining down upon them would break their morale.

Early in World War One, the Germans began to employ this tactic on London and other targets, sending huge airships named after their inventor, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, on bombing raids that caused panic as well as widespread damage. Left struggling to combat this airborne menace, the British finally countered the threat, at least in part, by developing effective explosive bullets.

Along with a team of historians and weapons experts, Cambridge University engineer Hugh Hunt investigates this relatively unknown arms race and its technological background.