Assess the Impact of Technological Developments in the 20th Century. Essay Example
When the First World War broke out in 1914, many new technological developments took place, which had a huge impact. They affected the battlefields and sea fights, but also the society and many short and long term consequences appeared. There was a great technological development taking place, which affected every aspect of life.
In World War 1 many new technologies got used in the battlefields, which did also lead to new strategies. In the war, new rifles as the machine guns were introduced, which lead to, that every man was able to fight, without a whole lot of training, as the machine guns were just pointed at the enemy and a huge amounts of bullets were spread over the area, so that it was easy to injure or kill the enemy. This did also unable the direct attack of the enemy on the trench system, which was a new strategically method, to defend. The machine guns made it very hard to enter the enemies’ trench. Therefore new artillery and hand grenades got introduced. The hand grenades though were not very effective, as it took them long to explode, so that the enemy had time to through them back into the others camp. In the war artillery played an important role, as before an attack the enemies’ trench got bombed for a time, so that there is not such a big resistance for the soldiers, when they try to take over the trench. How important the artillery attacks were is especially shown at the battle of Somme in 1st July 1916, where the Germans bombarded the French trench system for seven days. Another new invention, were poisonous gases, which got used first by the Germans at the Second battle of Ypres in April 1915, even though it was banned in the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. At the beginning chlorine gas got used, but later on more efficient gases as mustang gas got introduced. The huge losses and the huge amount of material used up, lead to a war of attrition, where every country was trying to make the enemy make run out of men and resources first.
In World War 1 many new technologies got used in the battlefields, which did also lead to new strategies. In the war, new rifles as the machine guns were introduced, which lead to, that every man was able to fight, without a whole lot of training, as the machine guns were just pointed at the enemy and a huge amounts of bullets were spread over the area, so that it was easy to injure or kill the enemy. This did also unable the direct attack of the enemy on the trench system, which was a new strategically method, to defend. The machine guns made it very hard to enter the enemies’ trench. Therefore new artillery and hand grenades got introduced. The hand grenades though were not very effective, as it took them long to explode, so that the enemy had time to through them back into the others camp. In the war artillery played an important role, as before an attack the enemies’ trench got bombed for a time, so that there is not such a big resistance for the soldiers, when they try to take over the trench. How important the artillery attacks were is especially shown at the battle of Somme in 1st July 1916, where the Germans bombarded the French trench system for seven days. Another new invention, were poisonous gases, which got used first by the Germans at the Second battle of Ypres in April 1915, even though it was banned in the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. At the beginning chlorine gas got used, but later on more efficient gases as mustang gas got introduced. The huge losses and the huge amount of material used up, lead to a war of attrition, where every country was trying to make the enemy make run out of men and resources first.