Why were the major cities of Britain bombed by the Germans in 1940-1?

Quintessentially, Hitler never wished to go to war with Britain and the Blitz was a technique used to cause the British morale to suffer. Hitler hoped to lower public morale by destroying the citizens home's and city's. If the public morale lowered enough then the government could be put under public pressure to sign an armistice with Germany. Even if the morale did not suffer enough for surrender, many Britons would be unwilling to fight for a lost cause and thus Britain would have been soften up for an invasion. The invasion plan, which had been planned for Britain, Operation Sealion, could then be finally implemented with a weakened Britain allowing Germany to lose minimal troops.

The second most important reason for the bombing of the cities was to destroy and disrupt the normal running of transport and industry. By using the Blitz to attack factories, communication buildings, transport networks the Germans could interrupt important services to the British War effort. With industry down, aircraft production would become disrupted and the Germans could gain air superiority and launch a land invasion. Communications disruption would cause confusion among the British people and government and could possibly even further lower public morale, which was the most important reason. The Blitz itself seemed an extension of the original directive to destroy the RAF airfields and bases. Many ports were bombed to disrupt shipping further than what the U-boats had such as Plymouth, Portsmouth and Bristol.

The third most important reason why Hitler chose to bomb British towns was the unforeseen attack on the German capital of Berlin. When a stray bomb landed on Buckingham Palace, Churchill ordered the immediate attack on Berlin. In an act of revenge for attacking Berlin, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to destroy the British cities. The retaliation by Hitler showed his people he was not afraid of the Britons and by bombing the cities, he was seen as more ruthless and more fearful.

Britain was weaker than ever before allowing Hitler his greatest chance to overthrow them. By interrupting transport-routes and communications, Hitler could also throw Britain into disarray. Lastly, by getting revenge for the attack on Berlin, Hitler does not appear to be weak and shows that he made a stand for his people. Each of these three reasons were crucial in the decision to attack Britain's major cities. Other reasons such as to keep Britain from launching a ground attack and keep Britain under control were also reasons to attack the British cities but were not as important as the other three.

Saeed Mian