| Technology During World War I |
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Technology during World War I reflected a trend toward Industrialism and the application of Mass Production methods to weapons and to the technology of warfare in general. This trend began fifty years earlier during the U.S. Civil War , and continued through many smaller conflicts in which new weapons were tested. August 1914 marked the end of a relatively peaceful century in Europe with unprecedented invention and new science. The 19th century vision of a peaceful future fed by ever-increasing prosperity through technology was largely shattered by the war and, after the Technological Escalation During World War II , it was apparent that whatever the gains in prosperity and comfort due to technology applied to civilian uses, these benefits would always be under the shadow of the horrors of technology applied to warfare. The earlier years of the First World War can be characterized as a clash of 20th century Technology with 19th century Tactics . This Dichotomy had disastrous results in the form of ineffectual battles with huge numbers of casualties on both sides. It was not until the final year of the war that the major armies made effective steps in revolutionizing matters of command and control and tactics to adapt to the modern battlefield, and started to harness the myriad of new technologies to effective military purposes. Tactical reorganizations (such as shifting the focus of command from the 100+ man company to the 10+ man squad) went hand in hand with armoured cars, the first submachine guns, and automatic rifles that could be carried and used by one man. TRENCH WARFARE See Also: Trench warfare The new metallurgical and chemical industries, and many innovative mechanical inventions, had created new firepower that made defense almost invincible and attack almost impossible. These innovations included Bolt-action infantry Rifle s, rifled Artillery and Hydraulic Recoil mechanisms, zigzag trenches and Machine Gun s, and their application had the effect of making it difficult or nearly impossible to cross defended ground. The Hand Grenade , already in existence —though crude—developed rapidly as an aid to attacking trenches. Probably the most important was the introduction of High Explosive Shells , which dramatically increased the Lethality of artillery over the 19th Century equivalents. |
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