January 19, 1915

One hundred years ago today the first Zeppelin air raid was conducted by Germany against Great Britain.

A Zeppelin was a large type of airship (a blimp like aircraft with a ridged structure). Zeppelins were  viewed as a super weapon in their day. They could fly higher than any contemporary airplane and could fly higher than any ground based artillery could fire with any degree of accuracy. At the start of 1915 a high altitude raid from a Zeppelin was unstoppable. If was the intent of the German commanders to attack naval facilities along the east coast of England. But the same high altitude that protected the Zeppelins also prevented any accuracy when bombing targets. The result was that bombs were dropped, almost indiscriminately, on British seaside towns that had naval facilities.

The bombing attacks on January 19, 1915 killed four and wounded. Though the bombings only resulted in minor damage the psychological effect it had on the British public and government was intense. As the bombings continued and became more and more destructive the British military expended massive amounts of resources trying to halt these raids in an attempt to respond the nation wide fear of Zeppelin raids.