...The art of battle began to change forever in 1914. Since then, battlefields have continue to change over time, with more and more advanced weaponry and technology. But World War I (WWI) likely had the largest surge of advancements in weaponry and technology when it came to high-end warfare. Flamethrowers, mortars, tanks, and machine guns were all-new to the battlefield, providing niche uses, or completing tasks faster and more efficiently than other technology at the time could. It changed how wars played out forever, even if some of the more usual weaponry was more consistent, reliable, and abundant (Weapons of War - Rifles 1). Still, due to WWI’s advancements in technology and weaponry, war would never be the same....
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...So what caused the prolonged and bloody stalemate of World War I that an estimated 35 million plus casualties occurred? It could be argued that new military technology changed the dynamics of the battlefield, ignoring Clausewitz principle on war. Clausewitz saw defensive war stronger than offensive war, thereby the inability to quickly adapt offensive war to new defensive technology and tactics led to the stalemate of World War I. This essay will look at Clausewitz principles on war as it pertains to offensive and defensive war. How new defensive weaponry began the transformation of warfare in World War I. Finally, defensive tactics used in trench warfare limited the mobility of the offensive attack. II Prior to World War I the European...
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...MILITARY TECHNOLOGY & THE NATURE OF WARFARE 1815 - 1945 With both the World Wars in the twentieth century, conflicts arose that had become somewhat inevitable, yet the nature of which were undoubtedly total wars that had not been anticipated. However, with military technology extending the boundaries of warfare, such conflicts fought on such an unprecedented and devastating scale had been threatening throughout the latter part of the 19th Century. This period was littered with strife, characterized by the American Civil War, The Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War whereby the major powers had demonstrated their threatening capabilities. These bloody conflicts were all typical of 19th century warfare. They were classified in a transitional period between the Napoleonic conflicts of the 18th Century and the total warfare of the 20th Century, in which armies across the globe witnessed an evolution in the nature of warfare. For many, this evolution had been founded upon the transformations in military technology. Furthermore, between 1815-1945, mass industrialization supplemented an ever-changing school of thought surrounding warfare and the deferrals of such conflicts to settle a fraught European Balance of Power created a developing uneasiness between the misunderstandings of modern warfare and capabilities in reality. The consequence was bitter periods of conflict where ad-libbing attempted to allow...
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...Destruction of War on Soldiers The novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque is one of the best books featuring the atmosphere of World War I, including trench warfare. It illustrates how young men were forced to participate in the battle even when they do not fully comprehend what they are fighting for. The novel does not directly decide who is right or wrong, but only who is left when it is over. It provides a wonderful insight about the tribulations and trials encountered by common soldiers. The author accurately accounts the people who did the fighting and their reactions. The main character of the story is a volunteer soldier named Paul along with his fellow soldiers. They argued about the real purpose of war and they have strong worries on what the war has done to them and what will happen to them after it ends. This paper aims to explore on the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Remarque and its attitude towards WW1. Generally, the book provides a clear picture about the horror of war and what it is really like to be in the battlefield. It elaborates the gruesome war based on the perspectives of German soldiers. Its author presented an amazing imagery about the war including the details such as, how soldiers lost their legs after being amputated along with all the pain they experienced. Furthermore, it also demonstrates how the soldiers missed their families while on the battlefield, and how they yearned for love. Having a cigarette and plenty...
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...New technology shaped war to become more complex and gruesome than ever before. Technological advancements in engineering, chemistry, and other studies had created weapons more lethal than anything prior. Millions had died pointlessly because military leaders were too slow to adapt their old fashioned strategies and tactics, to the new weapons of World War One. Out of all the new weapons in World War One. Three of the most fatal were poison gas, aircrafts, and tanks. Poison gas was created by chemist Fritz Haber. This can be seen in the following quote. “During the war Haber threw his energies and those of his institute into further support for the German side. He developed a new weapon—poison gas, the first example of which was chlorine gas”...
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...visualize a battlefield on the Western Front during World War 1, they’ll usually talk to you of the static trench-warfare, or the several-year long stalemate, which resulted in millions of casualties for mere miles of ground. What few actually know, though, is that at least initially, the Western Front was a mobile war. It wasn’t until late October and mid-November of 1914, that the German and Allied armies developed their notorious defensive trench systems, for which the war would immortalize. The reasons for the development of trench-warfare were due both to the massive casualties sustained in frontal assaults, and the relative inability to counter such modern inventions as the machine-gun and improved rifled artillery. To have a better understanding of how and why the Western front devolved into the trench-dwelling war of attrition that it’s become famous for, we must first explore the tactics used in the years previous, and in the first few months of the First World War. The leading military leaders of the Allied and Central powers in the years prior to 1914, and even years afterward, were heavily influenced by the tactical genius of the early 19th century General, Napoleon. They believed that if war were to come to Europe again, though it would be a costly affair, it would be won through flanking maneuvers and supported and screened by horse-cavalry, as had been the case in the Napoleonic Wars and the later Franco-Prussian War. What the leadership of both sides failed to take...
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...Warfare Evolution War is a never ending, yet historical event. It is supposed to be used to solve conflicts. It is supposed to determine which nation will be considered the more superior nation and to determine which nation would be considered to be the weakest. Although war is supposed to be used to solve conflicts, often times instead of solving conflicts it either makes matters worse or creates new problems. According to the Merriam Webster’s dictionary, war is defined as, “a state or period of fighting between countries or groups. It is also defined as an organized effort by a government or other large organization to stop or defeat something that is viewed as dangerous or bad (War, 2016).” War consists of a lot of violence, and unfortunately we as a society, think that is the best way to get our point across and the best way to solve problems. It is a situation that affects so many people. Not just those involved in the actual fighting in the war, but their families, their friends, and each country included in the war. When we send soldiers in to fight a battle, a lot of them will not make it back home to see their loved ones again. They may not even understand or agree with the reason behind the war. They just know they were called to serve their country and that’s what they will do. Based on the history of the United States of America, we have been at war for about 90% of the time since 1776. Some of the wars that have been instrumental within our history and that I...
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...How World War II Changed Warfare How World War II Changed Warfare A man wearing olive drab pants and jacket slowly props the muzzle of his Thompson .45 Caliber Sub Machine Gun on a window seal of a half decimated apartment building. He lines up his sights and waits for the signal. He wears the “Screaming Eagle” patch of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division. Inserted into Bastogne, France via aerial assault from a C-47 Sky Train, in December 1944. Barrels pointed downward onto the rubble covered road. Passing over the road is a German Panzer Tank followed by a platoon of German soldiers carrying MP-40 Machine Pistols. As, the 101st nervously prepares to engage a Panzer Tank, which has them outmanned and outgunned, they hear a whistling sound in the distance believed to be an aircraft. Before they know a P-51 Mustang fighter plane, also known as a “Tank Killer” swoops in and knocks the Panzer out. Unexpectedly, the airborne troops open fire. A few long seconds later, the Panzer Tank sits smoldering in flames and a platoon of Nazis lays dead all around. Never before has the world, scene such a vast arsenal of weapons and tactics used. This will be reflected on the amount of lives, military and civilian, lost in the short span of 1939-1945. The devastation that took place would not just be repaired and forgotten. There is still evidence all over the Europe, North America, and Asia, of World War II and the lives that were lost. Not only was this the...
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...reality The first world war was unlike any other war. The living conditions were terrible because they were living in trenches for months. They had to deal with the fear dying from being shot because of the skilled snipers, gases being thrown into trenches, which have never appeared in any other war, and the deaths from diseases. People were dying daily and were in fear of just peaking their heads out side of the trenches but there was also issues with living in the trenches. Soldiers had infestations of rats, lice and other new medical issues come from living in the trenches. First off the rats in the trenches feared because the ate the remains of the others soldiers who had passed. These rats carried many diseases and got into everything. The soldiers were contently trying to fight them off and get rid of them but they populated so quickly it was hard to keep up. Also these rats would get to be as large as house cats from time to time. Lice became another big issue because they spread quickly and caused illness like trench fever which starts of as pain through out the body then a fever. Due to living in trenches the area was always wet and moist. Many soldiers got trench foot, which is a fungal infection, that was caused by their feet consistenly moist and in unsanatary areas. Living in these conditions and being cooped up in these trenches for weeks would make anyone crazy. The trenches were always crowed with hundreds of men in one small trench. If you were asked to do...
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...The causes of the FIRST WORLD WAR 1_ The assassination at Sarajevo. (political murder) On 28th June Franz Ferdinand and his wife visited the Town of Sarajevo. The Archduke was the heir to the throne of the Empire of Austria-Hungary. As the car passed along the street, someone threw a bomb at it. The bomb bounced off the back of the car and exploded, injuring an officer in the car behind. The Archduke and his wife were unhurt. Later that day the Archduke said that he wanted to change his plans and visit the injured officer in hospital. He set off again by car, but the driver was not told the route had change. Some minutes later a man called Gavrilo Princip shot them and died. 2_ The great powers in 1914. If see the map the six most important and powerful countries in Europe were split into two armed groups. The triple Alliance. Central powers. Germany: was made up of many small states that had united and become one country only as recently as 1871. Otto von Bismarck, who was the Chancelor of the newly united Germany, firmly believed that all questions of the day could be solved by military strength by blood and iron. The stong national feeling in Germany and its wealth from industry made the Germans keen to play a leading part in world affairs. Kaiser Wilhelm II was impatient to make Germany the leading country in Europe. Austria-Hungary: the empire of Austria-Hungary was Germany´s oldest ally. German was the language of Government, but each group spoke its own language...
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...Brittany Prunsky Episodes of World War I The Christmas Truce of 1914 “Christmas Eve was, in the way of weather, everything that Christmas Eve should be’. Christmas Day itself was a perfect day. A beautiful, cloudless blue sky. The ground hard and white ... It was such a day as is invariably depicted by artists on Christmas cards - the ideal Christmas Day of fiction. And indeed, the curious manifestations taking place along considerable stretches of the British front that day had a look of the most surprising fiction” (Terraine). The wonderful events that occurred over the Christmas holiday of 1914 revealed to all that the human spirit seems to have a way of peaking through at rather disastrous times showing that even in times of chaos, a glimmer of hope can be seen through the compassion that humans undoubtedly possess. This was proven true during one of the most violent and fatal wars in history. World War I, also known as The Great War, spanned from 1914 until 1918 experiencing around 37 million war casualties (“First World War Casualties”). During the horrors of the war, an almost unexplainable incident occurred; the Christmas Truce of 1914, which restored a bit of hope in many men living in hopelessness. Neither a civilian nor a soldier during World War I could have anticipated the Christmas Truce of 1914 due to its story like characteristics. Although at times seen as merely a myth or a small incident blown widely out of proportion, this truce absolutely...
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...About World War I "Total War I: The Great War" by John Bourne The First World War was truly ‘the Great War’. Its origins were complex. Its scale was vast. Its conduct was intense. Its impact on military operations was revolutionary. Its human and material costs were enormous. And its results were profound. The war was a global conflict. Thirty-two nations were eventually involved. Twenty-eight of these constituted the Allied and Associated Powers, whose principal belligerents were the British Empire, France, Italy, Russia, Serbia, and the United States of America. They were opposed by the Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire. The war began in the Balkan cockpit of competing nationalisms and ancient ethnic rivalries. Hopes that it could be contained there proved vain. Expansion of the war was swift. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914; Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany declared war on France on 3 August and invaded Belgium. France was invaded on 4 August. German violation of Belgian neutrality provided the British with a convenient excuse to enter the war on the side of France and Russia the same evening. Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia on 6 August. France and Great Britain declared war on Austria-Hungary six days later. The underlying causes of these events have been intensively researched and debated. Modern scholars are less inclined to allocate blame for the outbreak of war than...
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...Link: http://prezi.com/glz_cz_2c_gs/medical-advancements-during-wwi/ Station 1 Transcript of Medical Advancements during WWI Blood Transfusions "With improved weapons came great destruction and mayhem. However, in the backdrop of arenas of war, physicians and scientists learned valuable medical lessons, later applied to civilian care, from the agony of the battlefields and the horrors of war crimes." -Evelyn B. Kelly Medical Advancements During & After WWI At the beginning of WWI, doctors did not find it practical to group different blood types of donors. After hundreds of deaths due to clotting, a mandatory lab test was issued. Later on in the war when labs were not available, a few CC's of blood would be injected into the patient's arm. After a few minutes, if there was no reaction, the full blood transfusion would be carried out. For a while, only blood type O was collected into a "Rous-Turner glucose-citrate solution ... and stored in an icebox." (The Educational Broadcasting Corporation). The blood would be stored for up to 26 hours until it was considered "bad blood". Later on doctors found that even older blood did not seem to influence the results in patients. The first citrate blood transfusion was preformed on November 14, 1914 by Professor L. Agote. Although it was successful, it was thought to be too much work while in a war zone. "Prior to the discovery of sodium citrate to prevent blood from clotting in 1914, the use of blood transfusion was...
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...Hitler’s Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich: Omer Bartov Ioan Popescu 500182744 HST 603-011 The autonomy of the Wehrmacht within the confines of the Third Reich, particularly with respect to its relationship with the Nazi party has been open to considerable debate post World War II. In Hitler’s Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich, Omer Bartov addresses the motivating factors responsible for transforming the Wehrmacht from merely a highly efficient and professional military organization into an extremely politicized armed forces motivated by National Socialist ideals. Bartov argues four distinct yet related theories which, when taken together bring insight into the Nazification of the Wehrmacht in ultimately becoming Hitler’s Army. His arguments first highlight the war experience through the de-modernization of the Wehrmacht particularly on the eastern front along with the social organization relating to the destruction of the ‘Primary Group’. These factors resulted in the Wehrmacht to compensate through the ‘Perversion of Discipline’ which directly attributed to many war crimes along with harsh punishment of its own soldiers. Finally, the distortion of reality through propaganda all shaped the soldiers perception of the war and ultimately allowed Hitler to assume total control of the Wehrmacht. Murray Sager argues that the Wehrmacht supported Hitler, not just in gratitude, but because the Wehrmacht closely identified with the aims of National...
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...as examples of possible models that you should feel free to adapt to meet your needs and are not intended to be in any way prescriptive. It is in editable word format to make adaptation as easy as possible. These schemes of work give guidance for: * Content to be covered * Approximate time to spend on different key themes * Ideas for incorporating and developing the assessment skills related to each unit. Suggested teaching time This is based on a two year teaching course of five and a half terms with one and a half hours of history teaching each week. This would be a seventy week course with total teaching time of approximately 100 hours. The schemes suggest the following timescale for the different sections: * Paper 1: 20 hours for each of the two topics: Total 40 hours. * Paper 2 Section A: 20 hours for the topic: Total 20 hours. * Paper 2 Section B: 25 hours for the topic since it covers a longer period in time. Total 25 hours. * Revision: 15 hours. Possible options for those with less teaching time * 20 hours for Section Paper 2 Section B * 10 hours for revision. Other course planning support You will find other support for planning the course in the Teacher’s Guide. This is a free downloadable resource that you can access at www.edexcel.com/certificate. Edexcel Subject Advisors Edexcel has a team of specialist subject advisors available to help you with implementation of this specification. You can contact them by email...
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