Wars before World War I - Term Paper Example

 «In reviewing the process of change in war over the period 1861-1975 how far can the First World War be regarded as a turning point»? Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 First World War, Shift in the Nature of War and Balance 2 Introduction 2 Wars before World War I 3 American Civil War (1861-1865) 3 Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) 5 First World War (1914-1918) and Change 6 Wars after World War I 8 Second World War (1939-1945) 9 Korean War (1950-1953) 11 Vietnam War (1959-1975) 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 First World War, Shift in the Nature of War and Balance Introduction History has seen many wars that have changed the face of the earth a lot. All the wars result into something such as a victory, a defeat, a development, a destruction or many other aspects. The wars that had been fought before World War I are said to have a different scenario and the wars that came afterwards the World War I show quite a different scenario. "In many ways the First World War Represents a fundamental shift in the nature of war, yet, as with all conflicts, there was an intriguing balance between new and old elements of war." There have been new technological developments related to armaments, medicine, communication, tactics, attitudes and many other aspects in relation to wars. The developments that are there in warfare are much more enhanced and destructive as compared to the previous warfare developments. With the passage of time, it is quite clear that any future war will bring with it devastations and annihilation. After World War I, there have been drastic changes in the art of warfare as a whole but there is also a balanced disposition of all the developments with old developments. Previously, if there was less technology and less access to technologically rich weaponry, there was human strength and planning that was given consideration while fighting. After World War I, the nature of war changed as a whole. In this paper, the wars before the First World War and after it are analyzed in terms of the expertise and development that was affected because of the World War I. There is a scrutiny of the warfare as a whole before World War I and after it along with tactics adopted, weaponry employed, medicine, technology, behaviours of soldiers, ways of communication and other aspects related to war in detail. The wars that are examined in terms of their employment of tactics, weaponry and other technologies are American Civil War and Franco-Prussian War before the World War I and World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War after World War I. Wars before World War I Before World War I, much technological developments in terms of wars do not come at the forefront. There were machine guns, loader guns, rifles and many more weaponry employed before World War I, which indicates that to some extent, there was some development in the art of warfare. Moreover, the tactics that were employed for fighting or attacking a group of people or a community also vary according to the attacking army. Previously weapons developed as a source of attacking power and after World War I, weapons developed as a source of defence power that each country should have. A number of wars took place before World War I but no war was as grand and as devastating as was World War I. The massive destruction that was the outcome of World War I came up with that war and there was never such a massive killing before. There were more advancements and betterments in weaponry development, ways of communication, medicines and technology as a whole. American Civil War (1861-1865) American Civil War was a war in which, the country as a whole was divided into two parts, South and North. The Southerners regarded the Northerners as their enemies because, they thought that the government of North was interested in subjugating Southern States by ending slavery and by given equal rights to the slaves (Holden-Reid, 1999). There were eleven States of America that were slave states, as they held slaves in a large ratio; they named themselves as “Confederates of America” while the other side was named as “The Union”. The Union comprised of all the Free States of America in which, there were no trend of keeping slaves and also there was no slave trade along with some slave states. According to the Union, the slave States that were fighting against the abolition of slavery were the Rebels, as they challenged the authority and equality of human beings (Hakim, 1995). The developments that came in the forefront during American Civil War were related to railroad, rifled Musket and the electric telegraph (Holden-Reid, 1999). Before the development of the weapon Rifled Musket, the direct fire artillery tactics were employed in warfare but after this discovery, the tactics changed to a great extent because the range of this discovery was more than 500 yards due to which, the old tactics employed by the armed forces changed as a whole. With the help of rifled musket, the soldiers of the opposing party were much more disadvantageous because with rifled musket, the artillery men and cavalry men could be shot from a wide range. Due to this tactic, the enemies were required to function from more far distances. There was construction of trenches to be safeguarded from the fire power of the enemies. There was construction of defensive positions by both the fighting forces. There was more consideration towards defence than towards attack. The tactic that was adopted was to disestablish the enemy before his construction of a defence (Hakim, 1995). The rifled musket was a weapon that was dreaded because of its wide range of fire power. Only that group got victory that was able to defend itself from the attack of the rifled musket. As far as communication patterns are concerned, the electric telegraph made the process of communication a lot faster as compared to previous methods of communication. Before electric telegraph, there were couriers and telegrams that were employed for message deliverance (Hakim, 1995). The command and control tactics changed to a great extent because of the electric telegraph. The electric telegraph was employed to a great extent by the Union army for sharing of information, for message deliverance and for sending orders (Holden-Reid, 1999). Railroad tracks also facilitated people to reach to various locations through a safe route that was quite faster as compared to old modes of transport. With the help of railroad, the armed force, the weaponry and other provisions related to battlefields was transported from one place to another (Holden-Reid, 1999). It also facilitated to carry a large army from one place to another. Therefore, in American Civil War, three technological developments came in the forefront. As far as medications were concerned, they were not much enhanced and improved. Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) Franco-Prussian War was a clash between France and Prussia. Prussia was backed by Germany. Franco-Prussian War was an outcome of Napoleonic Wars and as a result of this war, the Empire of France with Napoleon III suffered a downfall and Third Republic took over the control of France (Howard, 2004). The German and Prussian side was evidently more powerful because of their mode of communication, transport and weaponry expertise which was better than the French side. The French side was somehow lapsing because of their being backward in terms of mode of communication, artillery and tactics adopted. The technology that was employed in this war was predictable because of the employment of antiaircraft artillery for the first time in history. Krupp was also a piece of artillery that are developed by the German side for blowing up the hot air balloons employed for the courier purpose by French side (Wawro, 2003). Not only land attack was involved in the war but also naval attack due to which, it is quite clear that naval army was also built and employed for warfare purposes. The Franco-Prussian was won by Prussia because of the assistance of North Germany (Wawro, 2003). There was development of telegraph cable with the help of which, there was easier mode of communication. This mode of communication was employed in the war for delivering important information. This telegraph wiring was cut by Prussian army as to end up any linkage of communication between French forces (Howard, 2004). These telegraph cables were also employed to gain the opposing army’s confidential information. This was one of the tactics of the Prussian army to stop any kind of communication between the French forces. The French army lost because of lack of information, lack of technology and lack of artillery (Wawro, 2003). The weaponry employed by the two sides, were also better as compared to their previous usages. There were machine guns, muzzle loaders, Krupp and many other kinds of technological weapons that were able to attack to a range of 1200 meter, which is quite evident about the sort of technology that was employed in those days (Howard, 2004). The forces of both the sides adopted tactics that were suitable for that time such as the Prussian army cut the telegraph cables in order to end the communication facilitation of the opposing side. Due to this lack of communication, the French army never knew about its additional forces as compared to Prussian forces. This lack of information also discouraged the French side and they adopted tactics that were not useful for their fighting pattern. The attitudes of French army also were somehow discouraged because of this setup. The railroads, artillery, logistics and telegraph cable, all were adopted by the German army to be victorious in the war against French army (Howard, 2004). First World War (1914-1918) and Change World War I took many countries and nations of Europe into its encirclement. This war for the first time in history took away the lives of hundreds and thousands of people. Its immediate cause was the murder of Arch Duke F. Ferdinand of Austria at Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) on June 28, 1914 (Taylor, 1963). There was a financial loss of millions of US dollars and a heavy life loss. The Franco-Prussian war is also connected to the World War I because France had hard feelings about Germany for that war in which, Germany took away the French land (Ferguson, 2006). As World War I was not the war of one territory, land or country but a war of the whole world including the whole Europe, so the technology that was employed did not belong to a state but many countries that were involved in the war. In World War I, the technology employed was better as compared to previous technologies developed and employed. The naval force of Germany and Britain was well established and developed and there were many technological developments in terms of naval force of the two countries (Hakim, 1995). In addition, the countries that were financially strong were also involved in developing armaments and artillery in their better and better forms and comparatively better than one another. There was a kind of race for the armaments between the powers of the world such as Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Italy (Taylor, 1963). The World War I was a transformed war as compared to all previous wars because many a reasons were thought to be behind the starting of the war. Moreover, never in the history was such a devastating war. The countries involved in the war were technologically rich and had the best communication, transport and artillery facilities. There were barbed wires, machine guns, poison gas, tanks, chlorine gas, cruisers and many other destructive weapons that were employed by different countries in the First World War (Taylor, 1963). To cross a boundary line of a country was much more difficult because of employment of heavy weaponry and artillery by the defensive forces. There was heavy loss of armed forces on both sides of the warriors. There were aircraft carriers, aircrafts, armoured cars, telephone, cannons, destroyers, wireless mode of communication, flamethrowers, automatic rifles, submarines, hydrophones and much more (Hakim, 1995). The tactics employed by the warriors were devastating because of the advancement of technology. Not only attacking instrumentation but also defensive one was developed to be safe guarded from the enemy’s attack. The weapons employed in the battle were weapons of mass destruction and technology gifted man with much easy destruction. There were guns and rifles that were able to fire to a large distance. Trenches were made for safety of the soldiers while fighting but the weapons contained the power of annihilation (Ferguson, 2006). There were tanks and cannons that were very destructive and came for the first time in frontline in World War I. there was also the usage of chemicals that history had never seen before such as phosgene gas, mustard gas and chlorine gas that were very poisonous and murderous. With introduction of annihilating gases, there were also gas masks introduced and for the injuries, there were medications that kept fast healing powers (Hakim, 1995). There were parachutes for safety for the people in aircraft attack (Roberts, 1993). Communication was much faster as compared to its status before. As a whole, World War I changed the whole scenario of the old war and the tactics employed by the forces. Wars after World War I Wars after World War I were affected because of this war. There was much introduction of such devastating weapons that the warriors were helpless to use them in other wars as well. As far as Second World War is considered, in this war, the atomic bomb was used for the first time in history. Korean War and Vietnam War also employed developed tactics and technological advancements in the warfare. After World War I, there was information about the destruction power that a country had, due to which, the future wars were much more defensive than offensive. There was much more development in the art of warfare. Previously people used to fight with small weapons and their hands chiefly but after World War I, there were governmental tactics to do massive killing to have victory against a power (Roberts, 1993). There were many defensive weapons created for the weapons that were introduced in World War I as there were anti-submarine weapons, anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft weaponry and other defensive measures were also taken by different countries (Ferguson, 2006). On the other hand, there was improvement and betterment in the introduced weapons of World War I. The current weapons were made better and offensive for future attacks. Second World War (1939-1945) The war that began in September 1939 was to very different as compared to First World War. The British and French believed that it would be a war of containment, so, they avoided the slaughtering of 1914 to 1918. Their strategy was based on the belief that the German economy was weak and that it would once be vulnerable to economic blockade (Roberts, 1993). In the meantime the French were to rely on their Maginot Line and such air and land support as the British could give them. Even on the German side, many military leaders were old fashioned in their belief that tanks and aircraft would not fundamentally change the nature of warfare. The Second World War takes into its account the destruction of Poland and the fall of France. The other major countries and states which are involved in this war or who are affected by this war are Denmark, Norway, France, Poland, Italy, North Africa, Greece, Yugoslavia, Japan, Germany, Canada, United States, Britain and Russia (Roberts, 1993). The year 1939 saw the 50th anniversary of one of the blackest dates in the history of mankind—the beginning of World War II. It started on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Wehrmacht invaded Poland and almost the entire world was drawn into it. The immediate causes of Second World War were three: 1. The problems which were left unsolved by the First World War. 2. The rise of dictatorship. 3. The ambitions of Germany, Italy and Japan for more territory Jet aircraft appeared for the first time in Second World War. There was development in the aircraft technology. The technology of submarine and other form of cruisers was made better (Roberts, 1993). There was development of defensive weaponry and offensive as well. There was enhancement of tactics for warfare while the naval and air attacks were also given a plenty of importance. The tank was employed as the primary weapon in the Second World War. The tanks that were employed in the Second World War were much enhanced and improved in terms of speed and performance as compared to First World War (Ferguson, 2006). Therefore, it is quite clear that First World War changed the whole scenario of war and converted it into a much more machine war as compared to people’s war. The weapons were not used to kill one or two people but many at a time. Lastly, the nuclear bomb that was thrown on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the first historical event which saw the loss of thousands of lives in a small time (Hakim, 1995). Not only the armed personnel but many civilians died on the spot and many were injured. Before World War I, only military men, armed personnel and military facilities were a target of the opposing group but after World War I, the civilians also come up to be a target of the opposing party. The nuclear bomb killed thousands of civilians that cannot be considered ethical (Hartcup, 1988). Before World War I, the military tactics were only for the killing of the offensive members of a country but after World War I, the civilians were also a part of the targeted military tactics. The attitudes of military men have also changed a lot. Previously, there was love and patriotism for the country and the other side was attacked for the betterment of a country but after World War I, the killings of people is to annihilate or devastate the other country. Also one more strategy that had come up is to make the economy of the other country weaken as compared to the economy of one country. Korean War (1950-1953) Korean War was a clash between South Korea and North Korea. There were attempts to reunite the divided Korea due to which, Korean War came to the forefront. Both the Korean sides were supported externally by external forces (McElwee, 1974). At the end of the war, South Korea and North Korea had to keep to their own lands that they previously had. In Korean War, there were many technological developed weaponry was employed. There were tanks and anti-tank artillery, there were fully fledged aircraft that kept the power of attacking and there were naval ships, cruisers, gunboats for naval attacks (McElwee, 1974). There was high prominence to the armour attack because Korea is overly a mountainous region. Heavy weaponry was employed for killing and defence. US and Britain facilitated Korea with much support in terms of armaments. There was employment of Jet fighters in the Korean War driven by Soviet pilots. North Korea employed the Soviet provided MiG-15 jet planes while South Korea employed US provided F-86 Sabre planes (McElwee, 1974). The helicopters were also employed to a great extent in the war. The World War I started the race of armaments and Korean War is a clear depiction of the transformation of the warfare as a whole. There were much machinery and advanced weapons that were employed to fight with the enemies. The tactics employed were again to attack to such a great extent that is enough for the enemy to back off and also the civilians were killed and harmed to a great extent that was avoided in wars before First World War. The communication links in Korean War were much more enhanced and were employed for information sharing (McElwee, 1974). This War ended in giving victory to no side but there was massive killing on both sides due to the technological advancements in the warfare equipment. Vietnam War (1959-1975) The Vietnam War was a clash between the communist North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. Both of the sides were backed by external forces like the Korean War. As a result of this war, the communist part of Vietnam, Northern part became victorious (Moyar, 2006). The most describable feature of the Vietnam War is the usage of chemical warfare, which was backed by US. The chemicals that were employed by the agents were highly disadvantageous because they caused many defects such as birth defects, illnesses and poisoning of the food chain as a whole (Hartcup, 1988). There was employment of aircrafts, helicopters, boats, chemical poisoning and other tactics for harming the people of the state. Heavy weaponry and artillery was employed in the war but the tactics were more of a conspiring kind (Herring, 1986). The Vietnam War also resulted in massive killing of people who were civilians. The other forces such as US, Australia, South Korea, North Korea and others also were involved in this war (Summers, 1982). Before First World War, the wars target on one locality or country but after it, there was much external involvement and much killing as compared to previous status of killing. Civilians were also killed to a great extent which was previously ignored in the warfare. Only the armed territories and places were targeted by the warriors but after the First World War, the target also involved civilians. Conclusion It is quite clear that First World War changed the whole activity of warfare. Previously, the weapons were not much technologically developed. With technological developments, the weaponry, telecommunication, transport, communication, medicine and many other aspects related to warfare development and as a result there were more killings and devastation. However, there was a balance between the old acts of warfare and the new acts of warfare. Previously, both the parties were likewise or somehow a bit different in terms of technology and the number of killings at both sides was also somehow up and down. After First World War, there was massive killing on both sides and again there was a balance somehow. After World War I, there has been a race of development of weapons of mass destruction and it is also thought that massive killings will enable one side to win against the other side. There have been defensive strategies and developments after First World War and the attention is paid towards defence more as compared to offense. References Ferguson, Niall. (2006). The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West. New York: Penguin Press. Hakim, Joy. (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press. Hartcup, Guy (1988). The War of Invention; Scientific Developments, 1914-18. USA: Penguin Publishers. Herring, George C. (1986). America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975. Boston, Mass. McGraw Hill: Routledge. Holden-Reid, Brian. (1999). The American Civil War and the Wars of the Industrial Revolution. London: Cassel & Co. Howard, Michael. (2001). The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France 1870–1871. New York: Routledge. McElwee, William. (1974). The Art of War: Waterloo to Mons. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Moyar, Mark. (2006). Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Roberts, J.M. (1993). History of the World. USA: Oxford University Press, 456-501. Summers, Harry G. (1982). On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War, New York: Presidio Press. Taylor, A. J. P. (1963). The First World War: An Illustrated History. London: Hamish Hamilton. Wawro, Geoffrey. (2003). The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870–1871. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More