On the night of 31 May 1915, a single German zeppelin airship appeared over north London and began dropping its deadly cargo on the darkened streets below. This was the first time that the capital had been bombed from the air.
Here, Ian Castle, the author of London 1914–17: The Zeppelin Menace, reveals nine things you probably didn’t know about that night…
1) Although Britain had been at war with Germany since August 1914, the first zeppelin raid on London only took place nine months later
While some had expected zeppelins to appear over Britain almost immediately, most of the airships available at that time were either not up to the task or were required elsewhere. In addition, Kaiser Wilhelm initially vetoed the demands of the military to attack Britain by air. With his close ties to the British royal family and, believing like many that the war would soon be over, he did not want to be held responsible for destroying London’s cultural heritage.
As pressure mounted on him, and more zeppelins became available, the Kaiser finally approved the bombing of England in January 1915. But he continued to exclude London until May of that year, when he approved bombing east of the Tower of London. In July 1915 that approval extended to the whole of London.
