Industrialization of War

on September 15th 1916 the Whirl of machinery and the Clank of metal filled the early morning air as the citizens of chilwell England went about their work across the English Channel the product of chilwell's burgeoning factory was slammed into an artillery tube and hurled across the Horizon arcing high above the ground this explosive consequence of the indust Ral age passed over many of its manufactured contemporaries despite rolling off different assembly lines these new instruments of war contributed to a single method of production one that was turning Untold Millions into corpses these weapons and the devastation

that they Unleashed on the European continent were a result of over A Century of Transformations ushered in by the Industrial Revolution following a gradual accumulation of Innovations most notably the steam engion Humanity achieved a cascading series of technological breakthroughs that transformed human capabilities with new sources of energy from burning fossil fuels machine power replaced muscle power and goods could be produced at a previously unimaginable scale as these advancements spread throughout the world they brought with them a series of social changes most notably new centers of manufacturing required large workforces which led to a population explosion

in cities as people flocked from the countryside to work in booming factories new technologies allowed for a dwindling number of farmers to provide for this skyrocketing population for urban workers the daily Rhythm of Life stopped following the seasonal flow of Agriculture altogether instead Millions began to dance to the unrelenting heartbeat of steam the societal transformation brought about by the Industrial Revolution quickly reverberated through the halls of government the wealth created by industry allowed for countries to rapidly grow their economies even if they lacked direct access to natural resources even more importantly the Industrial Revolution provided

states with the technology to control their swelling populations sprawling bureaucracies could now reach across entire nations and mobilize their inhabitants at will steam power had created government power nonetheless the industrial revolution's impact on war was initially variable though Napoleon harnessed the power of the state to conscript massive armies at the turn of the 18th century some rulers in the 19th century were eager to return to the status quo and preferred smaller forces whose loyalty could be assured similarly military planners throughout the 19th century were often reluctant to commit to new tactics or technology deep tradition

and the Steep cost of rearmament could keep militaries rooted in the past even as Humanity barreled toward the future regardless of tradition the fist of industry was squeezing The Art of War and by the middle of the 19th century the pressure became impossible to ignore the 12-year period between 1853 and 1865 saw both the Crimean War and the American Civil War erupt into a cacophony of Destruction from the chera ridden outskirts of sevastopol to the cratered fields of Gettysburg combatants saw only death around them but something else entirely was slowly becoming visible a road map

to Industrial War at first this military Revolution was most apparent at Sea where the Navies of industrial Empires deployed steamships that gave them an advantage in conflicts against those who did not Embrace Industrial realization furthermore the potency of modern Seaborn artillery was thoroughly demonstrated in 1853 when a Russian Fleet in the Black Sea shredded an ottoman flotilla with explosive shells the race to develop the next generation of Warships began guns were upgraded steam power continued to replace Sals and navies around the world began to experiment with armored warships the first Clash of these reinforced vessels

occurred less than a decade later during the American Civil War when two ironclads belonging to the union and Confederacy met near Hampton Roads anticlimactically these steampowered ships pounded each other for hours without success undeniably proving the worth of their armor in the process the world took notice and warships would never look the same again we're making a new video game master of command wishlist it on Steam and join its Discord in the description below master of command takes place in the mid 18th century and puts you in the shoes of a commander you lead your

own personalized Army whose regiments can be fully customized down to the flags they carry the weapons they use and even the color on their uniform you take your men through increasingly difficult randomly generated military campaigns the battles are real time and you can configure your own formations firing methods and even the types of musket balls your troops fire with 150 unique units to command and five different major Nations there is endless replayability wish list now on Steam and don't forget to join the Discord to learn more about the game on land new weapons were also

making the battlefield deadlier rifling added grooves to the barrels of muskets which allowed bullets to be shot further and more accurately later breach loading was introduced which allowed guns to be reloaded much faster from their rear in just a few decades rifle fire became 30 times more accurate new production techniques allowed these weapons to be produced at staggering speed affordably arming massive armies of conscripts in the late 1840s it would take upwards of 30 years to equip an army with rifles in 1866 it could be done in four faced with withering fire from the Infantry

Cavalry soon became almost obsolete although commanders were slow to notice this artillery on the other hand gained new importance in the aftermath of the American Civil War the prussians proved the effectiveness of Steel breach loaded AR artillery which were faster firing lighter more accurate and more mobile than their predecessors more importantly the momentum of industrialization assured that they could be produced in massive quantities this revolution in small arms and artillery shifted the balance of warfare in ways that military leaders were tragically slow to notice Defenders now reigned Supreme with rapidly firing rifles and accurate artillery

brunal assaults became akin to death sentences nevertheless commanders had often not adapted their tactics to new technology and continued to order head-on engagements throughout both the Crimean War and American Civil War in 1855 Russian troops suffered 10,000 casualties in just 5 hours while attacking fortified British positions 8 years later Confederate forces at Gettysburg attempted a similar maneuver and lost 7,500 men in less than an hour Defenders soon realized the advantage they held and began to dig in by the end of the American Civil War combat in the Eastern theater had devolved into trench warfare the

mass introduction of breach loading rifles shortly following the war further advantaged Defenders by allowing them to shoot and reload while laying down by the 1870s European powers were forced to emphasize brief overwhelming offensives while fighting amongst themselves Defenders could not be given the time to organize as battlefields transformed into slaughterhouses the railroad made it ever easier to dispatch increasing numbers of men to their Doom at 15 times the speed of marching steam powered trains could deliver supplies and soldiers over great distances at unprecedented speeds once again Prussia led the way and transported 12,000 Soldiers by

rail as early as 1846 the American Civil War decisively proved that Railways had become key to the conduct of modern warfare with the more industrialized North making key use of its Railway networks to assist with supplies and Logistics other nations were quick to glean this lesson and by 1870 Prussia deployed well over 450,000 troops by rail to France in just 18 days in addition to transporting soldiers Railways allowed factories far from the front lines to supply armies continuously throughout a conflict thus civilian Factory workers and the larger economy of the entire nation played an Inc

increasingly important role in Warfare this set of realities gave rise to the concept of Total War in the mid 19th century where the entire resources of a state could be devoted to a single military conflict unfortunately this concept also made every citizen and every piece of private property a potential Target of War to be destroyed ruthlessly and without remorse as the importance of Industry to Warfare became increasingly clear political and military leaders soon realized that military Victory could be achieved in factories long before it was achieved on the battlefield the mass mobilization of industry for

war was first realized in the American Civil War where the union was able to effectively leverage their existing advantages in manufacturing to rapidly increase their production of weapons in industrial power and Technologies also allowed European powers to project their influence all around the world steam powered navies stoked the growth of Maritime Empires and the railroad brought European colonialism Inland it was in these foreign invasions that Europe tested its most disruptive Weaponry such as the machine gun industrial War fueled Europe's conquest of the world as Europe turned its weapons outward conflict on the continent itself became

rarer but that was about to change as the 19th century came to a close the disperate elements of industrial Warfare were slowly converging States possessed more power than ever to mobilize their populations and industries for War new weapons and Technologies allowed for conflicts to be fought with ever increased scope and ferocity and the line between civilian and Soldier was becoming increasingly blurred as the world feverishly armed itself Humanity appeared to be just one shot away from Armageddon on June 28th 1914 a Serbian nationalist assassinated the Archduke of Austria and Europe was plunged into war as

soldiers across Ross the continent marched off to battle in their brightly colored uniforms and cloth hats many were confident that the war would be over by Christmas 4 years later these same men would be huddling in blasted out craters with steel strapped to their heads what had happened in between was war on an industrial scale from the onset of the conflict Germany hoped that launching a lightning Advance into France and Belgium would would help them avoid a two-front war with Russia unfortunately for the Kaiser the defensive advantage of industrial Warfare had grown even more pronounced

since the last conflicts his forces had fought trench systems more Stout and extensive than anything seen before soon snaked from the Alps to the English Channel mass-produced barbed wire provided yet one more obstacle forward momentum was impossible ay key asset of Defenders everywhere was the machine gun properly introduced in the late 19th century these weapons could fire hundreds of rounds per minute and tear through advancing infantry with ease though commanders initially worried that machine guns would prove to be nothing more than a waste of ammunition the power of Industry provided Gunners with an unprecedented number

of bullets in turn the machine gun provided its naysayers with an unpress precedented number of corpses Grim evidence of its Effectiveness as the war dragged on and its scope increased to a horrifying size states began to implement Total War Concepts industry was expanded and aimed squarely at the war effort Mass conscription was introduced to swell the size of the Armed Forces and rail cars were commandeered filled with supplies and set to the front if the state will it National policies could be wholly devoted to perpetuating the slaughter abroad in the hopes of ending the war

quickly all sides began to turn to new technologies barely 10 years after their invention airplanes criss-crossed the skies conducting reconnaissance and artillery spotting later in the war large bombers even began to appear over London though their break neck development was impressive airplanes proved unable to significantly alter the course of the war the search for new technology would have to continue the development of artillery proved to be decisive in the first world war new industrial techniques allowed for the production of heavy guns to be scaled up providing armies with the Firepower to blast trench systems into

Oblivion new shrapnel shells directed slivers of Steel directly onto the heads of advancing Infantry forcing militaries to adapt protective headwear later shells filled with poison gas were unleashed spurring the adoption of the gas mask clad with metal helmets and sealed with rubber artillery had transformed the appearance of infantry literally beyond recognition however artillery was of little use if nothing could Seize The Trenches it was bombarding that is where the tank came into play these armored behemoths provided commanders a potential way to pierce defensive lines though notoriously unreliable mass production allowed British and French forces to

quickly wield huge numbers of these vehicles by the end of the war hundreds of tanks were being used simultaneously in Combined arms attacks over a century after industrialization revolutionized Society at home man and metal Advanced side by side on the battle field importantly the first world war was not won by brilliant tactics or heroic soldiers it was won because one side could outproduce and Outlast the other especially after the entrance of the United States to the conflict the anant possessed an unbeatable Edge over these Central Powers the weight of Industry had firmly tipped the scales

of war the first world war demonstrated how IND industrial and technological advances could transform War into an unprecedented scale of Destruction with staggering human costs the conflict set the stage for an era in which the mechanization of warfare continued to shape conflicts across the globe today as seen in Ukraine modern Technologies from drones to precise Weaponry extend the reach of War making it deadlier while distancing those who control it this video was produced and created in collaboration with Oar project for more information on how Oar project offers free comprehensive and fully supported social studies curricula

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