While the first bombs were dropped from Zeppelin airships during the First World War, Gotha aeroplanes showed the future. Between the wars, more bombers began to be built and the strategic use of aerial bombing was expanded.

When the Second World War broke out, bombers were one of the first weapons used in the conflict, forcing the use of gas masks, the construction of shelters, and the evacuation of children from bombed-out cities.

Tactics on both sides were developed to maximise the combat effectiveness of the bomber and build stronger defences against the aircraft, leading to improved bombing, navigation, radar technology, and more.

After the end of the Battle of Britain came mass bombing raids across Nazi-occupied Europe, including German cities, while the US and Japan successfully bombed naval and land targets throughout the Pacific theatre.

The bombing of Tokyo demonstrated the power of the B-29 bomber, but the cost of creating this machine exceeds that of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb.

In the final year of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler shifted Nazi Germany's focus towards so-called 'vengeance weapons', the V1 flying bomb and the unstoppable V2 rocket.