World War One Technological Developments Essay

Technology and Warfare



World War I demonstrated a lucid transformation in how wars were fought. One of the most obvious technological developments of this time manifested via the weaponry used. Tanks and machine guns had a tremendous impact on the way that soldiers engaged in warfare and influenced what it meant to be a soldier. Mass production and the development of flying machines also had a grave impact on modern warfare and the speed at which weapons and vehicles could be made and replaced.

So much of World War I is connected to trench warfare: armies on all sides created trenches on the perimeter of the western front, starting from the body of water that divides southern England and northern France to Switzerland. These trenches were enforced with barbed wire and stations for machine guns. Trench warfare was directly responsible for how long the war went on, because it easily created a stalemate: with both sides keeping their soldiers bunkered down within trenches that were heavily armed. Leaving the trench to confront the enemy meant almost certain death as machine guns could rain bullets down any assailant. This created a war that seemed to go on forever, as soldiers had to deal with the monotony, filth, lack of hygiene and imminent danger of trench life.[footnoteRef:1] This means that the monotony that shaped trench warfare for the average soldier was marked with much suffering and had a deeply macabre aspect to it: [1: Robert Tignor et al., Worlds Together Worlds Apart, (New York, Norton, 2014) 707. ]



“The typical trench dugout resembles catacombs more than anything else. A long gallery is cut in the ground with pick and shovel. Its dimensions are about those of the cages, which Louis XI devised for those of his prisoners whom he wished especially to torture, that is, the height is not great enough to permit a man to stand up and the breadth does not allow him to stretch out. Down the length of one curving wall the soldiers sit huddled, pressed close, elbow to elbow. They are smoking, eating morsels of dry bread or staring blankly at the wall in front of them. Their legs are wrapped in blankets, their heads in mufflers. Slung or piled about them, filling every inch of extra space, are rifles, sacks, cartridge belts and other equipment. A villainous draught sweeps by. Tobacco smoke and steaming breath show how swiftly it drives through. The floors are covered with straw, in which vermin breed.”[footnoteRef:2] [2: Alan Seeger, Letter and Diary of Alan Seeger (New York, Scribner, 1917)]



This passage clearly demonstrates that the technological development of the machine gun caused life at war for the average soldier to be riddled with much suffering and profound discomfort. At the same time, the machine gun that enabled this extreme monotony also enabled an immense number of wartime casualties. “Machineguns were modified during the war to be more mobile and to use the same ammo as the…