As explosions rocked Baghdad last night and speculation mounted over how much of this the Americans, not to mention the Iraqis, could sustain, we found ourselves thinking of the London Blitz. Now as then, Westerners are under siege from forces of fascism and terror. And now as then, a dictator, unable to secure victory on the battlefield, is trying to break the will of the public behind the democratic government opposing him.

The Luftwaffe began the Blitz on September 7, 1940, having failed to subdue the English earlier that year in the Battle of Britain. The Blitz continued for 57 consecutive nights, killing more than 13,000, nearly 2,000 in the first night alone. Bombers, too numerous for the small Royal Air Force to fend off, pummeled the city daily, setting the skyline afire. Some were killed by the bombs, some by the falling rubble, some by the fires.

Beyond the bombs and the fires, however, was the true story of the Blitz: the fortitude of the British people. Instead of subduing the British, Hitler united them. The bombs, over time, came to be almost routine to the people. When people heard the air-raid sirens, they looked for cover, in a subway station, in a government shelter, in a backyard shelter, or even under a kitchen table. But, otherwise, life went on. Shops, even those damaged by the bombs, stayed open and conducted business.

People dealt with the inconveniences of the war, including rationing and the blackout, which forced people to keep their lights off at night or install opaque curtains, lest they provide the enemy with a target. Thousands joined the Auxiliary Fire Service, where civilian firefighters fought the blazes alongside their professional colleagues. In one of the most striking images captured on film during the Blitz, a milkman climbs over rubble to complete his route, despite the fact that many of the homes have been destroyed.

Ever since it became clear that Saddam Hussein would be defeated by conventional military means, enemy forces have tried to demoralize the Iraqis, the Americans, and their allies by driving up the costs of this war while creating a sense of instability that obscures the gains. And they have sought to terrorize even the international humanitarian institutions. The downing of a Chinook Army transport helicopter Sunday, killing 16 American soldiers headed for leave, gave them an image — that of a gleeful Iraqi youth wearing a U.S. Army helmet, presumably taken from the wreckage of the downed helicopter — that suits their purposes.

The people under attack in this war are first and foremost the Iraqis, who are analagous to the courageous Britons who kept their lives and city intact during the Blitz. But America’s will is also being tested — and coming through. In a poll late last month, the Washington Post and ABC News found that 58% of Americans favored keeping military forces in Iraq until civil order is restored. The same poll found that the anti-war candidate, Governor Dean, would lose badly to Mr. Bush were the election held today. The supplemental funding for the war passed the Congress easily. Americans and their coalition partners and the Iraqis will look to Britain under the Blitz for inspiration.