A Brief History
On June 6, 2023, the Russian army blew up the Ukrainian Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River in Southern Ukraine. The dam was breached by the Russians in order to create an obstacle to an expected Ukrainian offensive. Sadly, 58 people were killed in the resultant flooding.
Digging Deeper
While dams sometimes fail without human help, during war time the destruction of dams is not an uncommon tactic. At other times, dams may be intentionally destroyed for environmental reasons or to prevent a potential accident with an old and or failing dam. An enormous dam removal project is currently underway in the American West.
Famous military actions to destroy dams include the “Dam Busters” raids by the RAF during World War II against German dams and the Chinese destruction of Yellow River dams, levees and dykes to hamper Japanese military movements in 1938, killing as many as 500,000 Chinese in the ensuing floods, disease and famine.
Note: As always, casualty numbers and other statistics vary with source.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Are dams a good thing or a bad thing?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Holland, James. Dam Busters: The True Story of the Inventors and Airmen Who Led the Devastating Raid to Smash the German Dams in 1943. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2013.
Mensik, Fred. Whistling Past the Tombstones: Or Remove These Dams. Outskirts Press, Inc., 2018.
