The First World War prompted huge technological advancements and stimulated the development of many new innovations. All these innovations were manufactured with the intent of ending the war quickly. Although no single technology was responsible for winning the war, together they changed the way the war was fought and that is why I think technological innovations were significant.
Only eleven years after their invention planes took to the skies as reconnaissance vehicles in WW1. These aircraft would evolve in to fighter planes with Lewis machine-guns attached to the plane. Although the aircraft were hugely advanced for their time I think they were not a significant technology during the First World War.
In some aspects, the aircraft proved to be a hugely effective reconnaissance tool in spotting artillery positions, enemy trenches and battle movements. The planes were firstly equipped with large cameras and would take photos of enemy positions, which proved important in pinpointing the enemy’s movements and location. This was showed at the battle of Mons in August 1914, when an allied aircraft spotted German troops attempting to flank and surround the British Expeditionary Force. The BEF managed to escape the manoeuvre thanks to the reconnaissance photographs taken from the aircraft. A new innovation during the war equipped the planes with light-weight radios so they could identify enemy artillery positions; this enabled the pilot to radio back to friendly artillery to target the enemy’s position. When the friendly artillery was firing they could determine whether they were hitting the target and tell them to adjust their aim; all thanks to the radio in ...
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...gh technologies like the aircraft were developed hugely throughout the war, their advancements were not enough them effective weapons.
The huge casualties and long duration of the war drove major technological advance. The large scale use of the machine gun in the war by all sides totally revolutionised the way modern warfare was fought. The traditional dominance of cavalry on the battlefield was totally destroyed, mass infantry attacks thwarted, and static trench warfare endured. Tanks started to be developed to negate the effects of the machine gun and shell splinters, and aeroplanes introduced a new battlefield – the sky. However whilst important innovations achieved local tactical successes, neither tanks nor planes could be developed enough to be responsible for major strategic advances in this war. They did however show the way the next war was to be fought.
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