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Looking at World War One The Impact of Technology

Looking at World War One The Impact of Technology. The Impact of Technology. Looking at World War One The Impact of Technology. Did World War One lead to lasting technical change ? Military technology Aviation Communications Medicine Organisation.

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Looking at World War One The Impact of Technology

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  1. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology The Impact of Technology

  2. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Did World War One lead to lasting technical change ? Military technology Aviation Communications Medicine Organisation

  3. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Military technology – Tanks Not a new idea! The key was caterpillar tracks perfected by Holt, a US company, for tractors. They were used from 1914 by British for hauling Guns

  4. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Tank development • British development of tanks rejected by Army in Feb 1915, so Churchill forms Landship Committee from Naval resources • Trial version (Little Willie) demonstrated by Fosters of Lincoln and contract for 100 tanks placed in Feb 1916 • For secrecy the workers were told that they were building mobile water tanks for the Middle East – hence the name Tank. Their naval origin shown in terms like “hull” and “hatch” They are first used 15 September at the Battle of the Somme

  5. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Tank development • French development through commercial companies offering designs, and ordered 800 of the first design in Feb 1916, using them in April 1917. They were a similar “box” design • Renault, a car manufacturer, developed an alternative, light tank which incorporated all the characteristics of a modern tank – The FT 17. More than 3000 were produced by the end of the war, and were in action in 1918

  6. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Longer term impact of Tank development • Germany only produced 20 of their own, although used quite a few repaired British ones. They did develop anti-tank ammunition and guns. • The Renault light tanks were used extensively around the world up to World War Two • Full plans were drawn up for a large scale tank offensive in 1919. Fuller and Liddell Hart advocated this mechanised, mobile, warfare in the 1920s and their thinking was used by the Germans to develop Blitzkrieg tactics

  7. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Poison Gas • Forms of chemical weapons used from ancient times • Hague Declaration on gases 1899 and Hague Convention on Land Warfare 1907 banned their use • French use Tear Gas, Aug 1914, thought not to break the Hague agreements • First major use of Chlorine at Ypres in April 1915 by the Germans • The British demonstrated the difficulties of using gas in September 1915, at Loos, when the wind changed

  8. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Poison Gas • In 1915 the French introduce the use of Phosogene, the most deadly of the gases used (85% of the 92,000 deaths from gas) • In July 1917 the Germans introduce Mustard Gas which disables, and pollutes the ground • Allies used Mustard Gas shells extensively in 1918

  9. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Poison Gas Protection • Protection rapidly developed – initially cloth soaked in chemicals • Then full gas masks quickly developed • With protection, gas primarily created casualties rather than immediate deaths: Est 92,000 deaths (61% Russian) but 1.2 m casualties (35% Russian) There was no use in Europe of chemical or biological weapons in the Second World War Chemical warfare was not used in World War Two

  10. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Fritz Haber • Fritz Haber (1868-1934) developed the “world changing” process for producing Ammonia from Nitrogen by 1911 • The Haber-Bosch process gave Germany independence from imported supplies of Ammonia in World War One. • A Jewish Prussian by birth, he, like many other intellectuals, greeted the First World War with enthusiasm and took the lead in developing chlorine and other gases for warfare.

  11. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Fritz Haber • He won the Nobel prize in 1918 • He converted to Lutheranism in 1894, and married his first wife, Clara, who had also converted to Christianity, in 1901 • Clara was women’s rights activist, and a pacifist, and is believed to have opposed Haber’s work on poison gas • In May 1915 Clara committed suicide • Haber led the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute from 1911 to 1933. The Institute developed the insecticide Zyklon A which led to Zyklon B, the chemical used at Auschwitz

  12. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology The “Wire of Death” • 125 miles of wire, between 1.5 to 3 metres high, at 2000 volts between the neutral Netherlands and German occupied Belgium • Constructed in spring 1915 to stop Belgians escaping through the Netherlands – estimated to have killed 2-3000 people • Split up families across the border and resulted in some anti-German sentiment in previously pro-German Netherlands Forerunner of the Iron Curtain?

  13. Aircraft development in WW1 Nigel Holden U3A November 2016

  14. The path to WW1 weaponry

  15. (Almost) no precedent 17 December 1903

  16. Pre-1914 assumptions • The role of aircraft is to observe and report on enemy military dispositions • Aircraft needed a pilot and an observer • 1911: the first ever bombing in Libya in the Italo-Turkish War • August 1914: the first dog fight between a Serbian pilot and an Austrian.

  17. Aircraft in 1914 • ‘Box kite on perambulator wheels’ • ‘Fragile contraptions of wood, canvas, and baling wire, fit more for the circus than the battlefield’

  18. Into the unknown fast • Design for climb, speed, versatility, visibility, etc • Production, materials • Logistics • Pilot training • Maintenance • Operational feedback • Armament, instrumentation, telegraphic equipment, cameras

  19. Not just pilots and observers • But also training personnel • mechanics, electricians, welders, aerial photograph analysts, weapons personnel, carpenters, medical staff and meteorologists Not built with logistics in mind

  20. Advent of the bomber 1915 • Gotha G.V.: height - 15,000ft,=; range - 500 miles; payload – 500kgs

  21. Developments 1914/1918 • 1914 Royal Airforce Factory BE.2c: 72mph, 10,000ft • 1917 Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a: 138mph, 20,000ft • 1917 SPAD XIII: 135mph, 22,400ft • 1915 Fokker Eindecker: 87mph, 11,500ft • 1917 Albatros D.V: 116 mph, 20,500ft • Fokker D.VIII: 124mph, 23,000ft • Seaplanes (aircraft carriers), flying boats, air-launched torpedoes

  22. Major military consequences • The air becomes a new fighting zone • Creation of a new, independent military branch • Importance of innovation (aircraft performance and training) • Significance of bombing • Aircraft did not influence the outcome of WW1, but their great potential was recognised e.g. in the Treaty of Versailles

  23. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Communications - Radio • Radio established for ships and used successfully by Japanese Navy in 1905 and famously by the Titanic in 1912 • At 1914 radio still basic using Morse code, and a spark transmitter which did not go well with the petrol fumes in a plane! • On the ground the equipment was cumbersome

  24. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Communications - Radio • Germany used radio more extensively, especially internationally – Wireless stations abroad were early targets in 1914 • All sides set up wireless monitoring to gain intelligence – the Battle of Jutland resulted from monitoring German radio traffic • Germany used radio to enable Zeppelins to navigate – radio “lighthouses” from which the Zeppelin could get their position • The development of valves enabling detection and amplification meant that voice communications were introduced towards the end of the war.

  25. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Communications – Telephony • Initially army used telegraph system but telephony replaced it • Army supported by Post Office Telecomms engineers set up telephone systems in the trenches • An air defence network was set up in Britain Some people managed to phone from Britain to their relatives in the trenches !

  26. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Communications – Telephony • Britain’s first act of war was to send the cable ship Alert to cut the German cables to the USA • Unfortunately the cables were cut a few hours before the declaration of war and the Germans protested. So they were put back for a short time! • The British monitored international traffic from Germany which went by radio or via neutral countries • In 1917 they intercepted a coded telegram sent by the German Foreign secretary, Zimmerman, to Mexico. This told Mexico of the start of unlimited submarine warfare and offered Mexico a military alliance should the USA declare war as a consequence

  27. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Communications – The Zimmerman telegram • In 1917 the British intercepted a coded telegram sent by the German Foreign secretary, Zimmerman, to Mexico. This informed Mexico of the start of unlimited submarine warfare, and offered a military alliance, should the USA declare war. • As a neutral country the USA had agreed to allow Germany to send un-coded messages via their embassies to America. However the cables went via Porthcurno at Lands End and British Intelligence (“Room 40”) tapped them.

  28. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Communications – The Zimmerman telegram • The message was coded but the British had broken the code and a translation became rapidly available. • However an elaborate operation took place to hide the fact of Britain tapping the United States traffic, and it was made to appear that it had been stolen from a telegraph office in Mexico. • Mexico refused the German offer, and when the Telegram was released it moved US opinion towards war.

  29. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Medicine • Casualties caused large demand for doctors and nurses : Women doctors – few in 1914 but 3000 in training by 1918 • Development of specialities because large number of patients with same injury – Plastic surgery Orthopaedics Psychiatry • Investment in infrastructure – Increases in hospitals X-ray equipment and Operating Theatres in local hospitals

  30. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Medicine • Casualties caused large demand for doctors and nurses : Women doctors – few in 1914 but 3000 in training by 1918 Nursing skills – large expansion • Development of specialities because large number of patients with same injury – Plastic surgery Orthopaedics Psychiatry • Investment in infrastructure – Increases in hospitals X-ray equipment and Operating Theatres in local hospitals

  31. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Medicine Development of Plastic Surgery • Development led by Sir Harold Gillies, an Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon • Conducted 11,000 operations on 5000 men at special 1000 bed hospital in Sidcup • Gillies went on to private practice between the wars and was a key leader on plastic surgery in the Second World War Walter Yeo, injured at Battle of Jutland, given surgery 1917

  32. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Organisation • Government Industrial control increased significantly: National Munitions factory Direct control of radio industry from 1914 • Government social interventions like Pub Opening Hours increased • Organisation for treatment of casualties developed between treatment at the front, or transfer to a hospital • Increased development of record keeping/monitoring

  33. Looking at World War OneThe Impact of Technology Did technology developments have a lasting impact ? Some Did • Development of aviation – aircraft and radio • Concept of Nationalised Industries • Some, but not all, of the medical developments did • Radio manufacturers set up the BBC to create a market Regrettably a lot of the developments were most useful in managing the Second World War

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