Lecture 15 – Technology and War in the 19th and 20th Century
- Ancient, medieval and 18th century examples
- Features of the 19th century:
o Larger armies
o National competition
o Mass-production and standardized parts
o Arms sales business
o Offensive and defensive innovations
- Military adoption of scientific and technological innovations
- Military – industry merger
Infantry Weapons
- Flintlock from mid-17th to mid-18th century
- Misfiring, inaccuracy, load time, volume over accuracy
- High casualty rate and combat in dry areas and seasons
- Rifling increased accuracy, long loading time
- Improvements leading to complications
Artillery on Land and Sea
- Artillery & naval combat large & expensive, slow to change
- Napoleon’s introduction of vast, fast moving armies with
much artillery, change in tactics
- Slow weapons development:
o Artisan construction
o “Inhumanity” of innovations
o “Total war” and nationalism
o Military aristocracy
Weapons Innovation
- Improvements in guns, military goals, development outside o
of conflict, economic motivations, slow changes in tactics
- Development of bullet, easier, faster, more accurate and
greater range, rifle with bullet dominant by mid 19th century
- Network of innovations: breech loaders, repeaters, loading
and firing, accuracy and range
- Incremental improvements to navies: cheaper iron and steel,
larger compartmentalized boats
- Steam power, propellers, greater range, inland capacity,
speed, maneuverability, powerful cannons, colonialism
- Larger armies needed mass-production of technology,
industrial revolution, machine tools and standardized parts
- Transport improvements for larger armies, railway
The Wars
- American Civil War (1861-65)
- Rifling in guns and artillery, steam power, armored ships,
mass-production of weapons, railways (transport) and
telegraphs (communication)
- Millions of rifles manufactured during War
- Resistance to innovation, waste and complexity
- Mechanization and the slave economy
- Range, speed and accuracy of rifles, defense advantage 3:1
- Musket war experience, smaller ranges, personal combat
- Old tactics for offence, huge losses, long stalemates
- Tactic changes, infantry, cavalry
- Steam power and blockades, Confederate Virginia and
Northern Monitor
- Population and industrial capacity, 20 to 5 million
- Railways, factories, scientific research, National Academy of
Science
- Railways and artillery innovations in 19th century Europe
The Arms Race
- Technological arms race, industrial and scientific resources
- Industrial capacity, imitation and counter-weapons
- Machine gun late 1800’s, European colonization
- Smokeless gunpowder 1884, stealth, range and power
- Rifling, breech loading artillery, range and power
- Trend of constant innovation, weapon scale and power
- Cost of entry high, obsolescence, constant innovation
- Naval arms race in 1884 starting in UK:
o Competition from the French
o Depressed shipbuilding industry
o Industrial interest in defense contracts
- Naval power and blockades, larger navies
- Fully armored & armed steam-powered battleships
- Ballooning defense budgets and constant innovation
- Mines and torpedoes, submarines, 19th century
- Success and stalemates
WWI
- 1914-1918, 10 million deaths, offense and defensive tactics
- Trenches, concrete bunkers, barbed wire, automatic weapons
- Arms race artillery and gun improvements, chemical
weapons (chlorine and mustard gas, explosives) and
processes (synthetic materials), psychological impact
- Submarines, depth charges, mines, planes, dirigibles,
detection
- Internal combustion engines, airplanes and tanks, industrial
capacity
Essay Discussion
- Assignment 3 – Technology and Modern Warfare – Due
March 1
- Topic: Warfare has existed since the beginning of
civilization, and technology has always been a part of it.
Some historians have claimed that modern technology has
fundamentally altered the nature of warfare in the 20th
century. Argue for or against this claim, using examples from
the course.
- 3-4 pages, 15%