Institute of Historical Research The Muses of War: Terror, Anger, and Faith during the Bombing of British and Japanese Cities, 1940-1945 Chair: Naoko Shimazu (Birkbeck) Aaron Moore (University of Manchester) The bombing war was an attack on urban citizens that was largely new to human history, producing many strange effects and experiences. The soldiers’ battlefield was distant, but in an age of ‘total war’ mobilisation the enemy’s targets included the civilian population; in both Japan and Britain, this could be baffling to ordinary people, who were more accustomed to the idea of adult male servicemen facing the threat of death in some far-flung ‘no man’s land’. This lecture will aim to compare the civilian narratives of urban residents in Britain and Japan, with a special focus on regional cities including Coventry, Aomori, Hull, Kōfu, Bristol, and Nagoya, as well as ‘second cities’ such as Osaka and Manchester. Because national governments were committed to defending th...