Technology in Wwi
Zack Freeman
HIST102
July 17, 2013
Research Paper
Technology and WWI In the tense times just before the dawn of World War I, no man could possibly have conceived just how terrible the war looming on the horizon of Europe would be. Before the nineteenth century, war consisted of large battalions of men, marching in formation, firing volleys of shots at one another. Battles were most of the time decided simply by who could fire off the most rounds. In these battles, thousands of casualties were common, and tens of thousands of casualties were considered devastating. However, during WWI, mankind witnessed the loss of over 15 million lives. Along with those lost, another 20 million are wounded; an entire generation of humanity was dead. There was also a polar shift in the nature of warfare. World War I did not see the formal battles of the former century. No, World War I was a war of attrition. It was a war fought in deadlock. Trenches divided the landscape from the beaches of northern France, all the way to the Swiss Alps. Conditions were absolutely terrible in these trenches, troops were starving from lack of supplies, sick from lack of clean water, and their feet were rotting off from standing in filth for days on end. Not only did this war stretch across Europe, battles were fought as far South as northern Africa and as far west as the shores of the Black Sea. Troops from countries as far away as New Zealand and Japan participated in the war. Technological innovation was responsible for this massive shift in the nature of warfare. The mass production of weapons and arrival of aircraft to the war front were among the main factors that contributed to the new definition of war.
At the dawn of WWI, the industrial revolution had been raging for over fifty years. Mass production had a huge effect on the quantity and variety of weapons available to armies. New defensive weapons made winning the war, or even advancing a few miles, all but impossible for armies
HIST102
July 17, 2013
Research Paper
Technology and WWI In the tense times just before the dawn of World War I, no man could possibly have conceived just how terrible the war looming on the horizon of Europe would be. Before the nineteenth century, war consisted of large battalions of men, marching in formation, firing volleys of shots at one another. Battles were most of the time decided simply by who could fire off the most rounds. In these battles, thousands of casualties were common, and tens of thousands of casualties were considered devastating. However, during WWI, mankind witnessed the loss of over 15 million lives. Along with those lost, another 20 million are wounded; an entire generation of humanity was dead. There was also a polar shift in the nature of warfare. World War I did not see the formal battles of the former century. No, World War I was a war of attrition. It was a war fought in deadlock. Trenches divided the landscape from the beaches of northern France, all the way to the Swiss Alps. Conditions were absolutely terrible in these trenches, troops were starving from lack of supplies, sick from lack of clean water, and their feet were rotting off from standing in filth for days on end. Not only did this war stretch across Europe, battles were fought as far South as northern Africa and as far west as the shores of the Black Sea. Troops from countries as far away as New Zealand and Japan participated in the war. Technological innovation was responsible for this massive shift in the nature of warfare. The mass production of weapons and arrival of aircraft to the war front were among the main factors that contributed to the new definition of war.
At the dawn of WWI, the industrial revolution had been raging for over fifty years. Mass production had a huge effect on the quantity and variety of weapons available to armies. New defensive weapons made winning the war, or even advancing a few miles, all but impossible for armies