Douhet's Antagonist: Amedeo Mecozzi's Alternative Vision of Air Power (Giulio Douhet) (Douhet, Giulio) (Essay‪)‬

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Contrary to popular belief, Giulio Douhet, Italy's well-known air power visionary-whose powerful and controversial ideas continue to provoke debate about the efficacy of air power--was not without opposition in Italy. Before his most famous work, Il Dominio Dell'Area, was translated into English as The Command of the Air, Douhet's ideas were heavily criticized by a clever Italian air force officer named Amedeo Mecozzi. Mecozzi challenged many of Douhet's key concepts, including the very notion of "command of the air," but also the efficacy of long-range "strategic bombardment," the targeting of civilians, and the idea that an "air force," independent of the other armed services, could achieve victory in war. Concomitant with his strong criticism of Dohuet's propositions, Mecozzi proffered his own concepts about air power, ideas that offer an interesting and useful counterpoint to those of Douhet in the context of the continuing debate about the role of air power in modern warfare. But, despite his important role in the development of air power, a complete biography of Mecozzi does not yet exist, and most of his work (especially the essays published in professional journals) have yet to be translated into English and are difficult to access outside of Italy. Thus, Mecozzi's thoughts on air power are a subject limited to a select group of specialists in aviation history, and the full weight of his ideas will, for the foreseeable future at least, remain hidden.