In the 1930s the modernisation of industrial technology was put at the service of war, creating a new situation: massive, instantaneous, indiscriminate destruction affecting civilians and soldiers alike. After the tragedy of the bombing of Gernika, Barcelona became the first city to be systematically bombed from the air. Between 16 and 18 March 1938 Barcelona was bombed relentlessly, night and day. Over those two days thousands of citizens lost their homes and more than three hundred people, one hundred and eighteen of them children, lost their lives. These events were not only tragic for the city of Barcelona; they also shaped the way war would be waged during the Second World War, with bombings such as those of Dresden, Cologne and Hiroshima.