Guess which event killed the most people ever? Think it was the fall of a huge asteroid sixty five million years ago? No, it was most certainly not! The matter of fact is, World War II was the most destructive event as far as people are concerned. Sixty million people died and even the world map got changed as a result. German Reich rose and fell in power through the war. Soviet empire, on the other hand, first fell and then rose. The power of the United States kept ascending through the war, while the power of the Great Britain kept descending. Britain started the war as a mighty empire and reached the end of the war seeing its empire crumble and collapse. The Axis and the Allies were both forces to be reckoned with. World War II led to the inception of many technological innovations, since battles were no longer about soldiers galloping on horses brandishing sabers. Amazing battle technology was developed, including the most powerful bomb in the world at the time.
World War Two was waged mostly in Europe and the Pacific. However, the countries involved were from all around the world. The main adversaries were Germany, Italy and Japan on the Axis side, versus the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States as the Allies. Many other countries were involved but they did not play as crucial a role. Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, started the war by first annexing Austria, then eating away at Czechoslovakia, and finally declaring the war on Poland. Germany’s goal was to rule all of Europe and eventually the world. Germany was incessantly developing new battle technology during the war. One of the main reasons Germany won the first battles in the beginning of the war was because it had better battle technology and better experience using it on the modern battlefield. For example, Germany developed advanced tanks before the other countries. Britannica Online’s article on World War II describes Germany’s technological advantage and concludes that even if German troops were outnumbered, they could still win. Germany had such a jump start in technology because they made the better use of the disarmament treaty signed after World War I. While other countries were exhausted from the previous war and were harboring pacifist hopes, they didn’t put much priority on researching new advanced battle technologies. Germany, on the other hand, which did not accept its defeat in World War I and was preparing for a re-match, violated the disarmament treaty and spent two decades quietly building up a greater military force and inventing better battle technologies (Winston Churchill, Memoirs of the Second World War).
Germany’s luck turned to the worse when the Allies caught up and overtook the Axis in battle technology. For example, the nuclear bomb was first developed by the United States, not Germany. Britannica Online’s World War II article also points out that the country with the best and most powerful tanks at the end of the war was Russia. As it happened, Germany started the war with winning many battles thanks to superior technology and ended it with its technological superiority completely lost. This shows that battle technology has a big impact on the outcome of the war.
The three important areas of battle technology were ground, water, and air. The major innovation in ground technology was the tank. Big technological advances in navy weapons happened in submarines. In the air, radar was developed by the Allies and jet missiles were developed by Germany. Without these battle technologies fewer people would have died and the outcome of the war might have been different.
Sub Topic One: Battle technology on the ground in WW2
Ground battles were very important in WWII because many of the warring countries were neighbors geographically. One of the most important ground battle technologies were tanks. Germany was the first country to develop modern tanks with powerful cannons and heavy armor. In fact, Great Britain was the inventor of tanks back in World War I, but in the years between the wars they did not put much importance into this technology. According to Winston Churchill, the British let their technological advantage slip away into the hands of Germany (Churchill, 108). The tanks obliterated enemy infantry (the standard war unit at the time) with their powerful cannons and machine guns. This was because tanks were too heavily armored for the infantry to do much against them. The greatest tank fight in the history of World War II was the Battle of Kursk (Battle of Kursk, Williamson Murray), with about 3,600 tanks participating on the Soviet and German sides. The Soviet forces won the Kursk battle after a fierce struggle. The Soviets wielded tanks that by now were as good as the best German tanks, and beyond that they had also achieved substantial numerical superiority. The main German battle tanks, Tiger and Panther, were too complicated to build in sufficient numbers. The main Soviet tank T-34, on the other hand, was cruder and simpler, which meant it could be built quickly on a huge scale.
Highly explosive land mines are another technology developed during the war. Land mines could do a lot of damage (Mike Croll, History of Land Mines). They were concealed under the ground and exploded when a tank or an infantry soldier stepped on it. Land mines were designed to create defensive barriers against an attacking enemy.
Heavy cannon turrets were developed in World War II and used by the French in their defence fortifications. The PBS movie “Command and Control” directed by James Millar describes the great fortification called the Maginot Line and its powerful turrets in vivid detail. The movie describes a big line of turrets protecting each other on France’s eastern border. German forces respected the Maginot Line so much that they took another route into France through Belgium and Netherlands to avoid having to storm it.
Ground battle technology was critical throughout the war, as we have seen with just three ground technologies -- tanks, land mines, and turrets. Imagine the full impact of all the ground battle technologies. The key ground battle technologies of World War II, such as tanks, are still very important because they may still determine the course of battles. Land mines laid in past wars are still buried today in many locations, so everyone should care about them. About every twenty minutes, a person steps on a land mine and is either killed or injured (Mike Croll, History of Land
Mines). In Afghanistan, where a war is being fought today, the USA uses land mines and they still have a very important role in battles. Advanced turrets are used even today on navy ships and in fortifications. Ground battles have been going on almost since humans first evolved, and they still determine the fate of wars. Ground battle technology advanced a lot in World War II and will keep evolving for many years. If your country has good ground battle technology, it will be strong enough to defend against the enemy, and therefore you will be safer.
Sub Topic Two: Battle Technology in the Air in WW2
The air was a relatively new battlefield at the time of World War 2, but it was already very important. As British prime minister Winston Churchill said in one of his parliamentary speeches referring to aircraft crewmen, “never before have so many owed so much to so few”. The air power did not deploy as many fighting men as the army and the navy, but superiority in air technology was key to winning the war.
One of the most important new air battle technologies developed in World War 2 was radar. The side who had the radar, the Allies, were safe from surprise attacks and could keep track of the location of enemy aircraft. This was a huge advantage. Radar is widely used even today in things like air traffic control, in war, detecting weather formations, and detecting terrain (British Broadcasting Company, Radar).
As aircraft became faster, it became important to enable pilots to withstand high acceleration without passing out due to outflow of blood from the brain into the lower part of the body. In response to this need, the United States developed a novel technology called g-suits, which consisted of tight-fitting pants with attached bags of gas or fluid, which would expand and put pressure on the pilot’s abdomen and legs during the aircraft’s acceleration(Phil Buckley, G Suits in WW2- USSAF Service). This protected pilots when accelerating at high speeds, so the planes could now go faster, the pilots would not be as exhausted, and their brain would work better.
The development of the atomic bomb was a very important milestone that changed war forever. Scientific non-military research in nuclear fusion started more than ten years before World War 2, both in Germany and in allied countries such as United States and Great Britain. In the mid thirties, when Hitler came to power, a number of physicists escaped Germany and immigrated to the United States. Einstein himself came to the U.S. and at some point he wrote a letter to President Roosevelt urging him to start work on building the atomic bomb. Although Einstein was a pacifist he realized that if Germans were the first to develop atomic weapons it would be a disaster for the entire world, so he believed the U.S. should be the ones to get this powerful technology first. President Roosevelt agreed and he authorized the Manhattan Project, which was a huge military and technological effort which, indeed, resulted in building the first atomic bombs. The development of atomic bomb was probably the biggest technological project of World War 2, employing thousands of scientists and engineers. The atomic bomb has changed war forever (Nuclear Weapons in the Twenty First Century, Stephen M. Younger) . Just one bomb could now kill hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers and civilians within a few seconds. This is more casualties than in the entire Revolutionary War! Many small wars have been going on since the end of World War 2, but there has been no World War 3 partly because a country that decided to make nuclear war on another country would be obliterated as well. War has changed drastically after WWII because now there is a fear of retaliation.
Air battle technology had a great impact throughout the war, as we have seen with just three air technologies- radar, G suits,and the atomic bomb. All the air battle technologies together had an even bigger impact. We should care about radar because it is still used today in war. An example of how it is used is in detecting enemy aircraft. Radar is also used for many things outside war like the field of science. G suits are used in war even now for pilots to function better and have a comfortable experience. Even pilots going at high speeds not in war wear G suits. The atomic bomb created the fear of retaliation that changed war forever. It is important because more advanced versions are developed and if a country like North Korea developed them humans might become extinct. That is how important the nuclear bomb is. Air battles are a relatively new field of warfare, but are already crucial to the outcome of the whole war in general. Air battle technology improved a lot in WWII and will keep evolving for many years after. Wars in the country you live will affect you so if your country has good air battle technology, you will be affected. Also the threat of extinction by nuclear war is always looming the horizon.
If your country has good air battle technology, it will be strong enough to defend against the enemy, and therefore you will be safer.
Sub Topic Three: Battle Technology in the Seas and Oceans in WW2
Sea battles were extremely important in WW2. This is because if a country wasn’t in control of the sea, it didn’t get important supplies like ammunition, planes, and building parts, transported to it. So without control over seas and oceans the other forces like the army and air force suffered.
An important type of new technology were submarines equipped with snorkels, which were bigger than earlier models and carried powerful torpedoes. Equipment to extract oxygen from sea water was also developed. Submarines were hard to detect by sight. Submarines were the wolves of the sea, striking the enemy without a trace with their deadly torpedoes.
Before WW2, battleships were the best and most powerful type of navy vessels. In WW2 that all changed. A lot of new technology was invented that changed the course of battles. A new type of vessel - aircraft carriers - were developed by the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan, and they became even more important than battleships(WW2 Aircraft Carriers, Military Factory) Aircraft carriers had a long operating range because their planes could strike at a distance. However, at close range battleships were still formidable opponents. Thanks to technological advances, new battleships were faster and lighter. They also had more firepower. The hull was enhanced and made harder to penetrate by cannon fire. Battle cruisers were not as powerful as battleships. One of the best examples of a battle between H.M.S. Hood, a very advanced and powerful British battle cruiser, and the German battleship Bismarck. It was an epic battle but in the end the Bismarck won. In only about seven rounds of fire the Hood’s armor was pierced and it sunk. The Bismarck had better armor but its mobility was still damaged because of the battle. The British prime minister Winston Churchill was struck by the news, according to his World War 2 memoirs, but resolved to destroy the Bismarck, in which Britain eventually succeeded with the use of several navy technologies combined. The British hunt for Bismarck employed a number of navy aircraft from an aircraft carrier, a fleet of cruisers and battleships, new magnetic-warhead torpedoes, navy radar, and code-breaking technology used to decipher German communications. In the end one powerful navy technology succumbed to a combination of other technologies.
Another very important piece of technology is sonar. It has remained in wide use through today. Sonar was developed to help detect submarines, like its cousin radar that was originally developed to detect planes. Sonar helped surface ships detect precise location of submarines so they could shoot at them accurately. Underwater torpedoes were used in WW2 against both submarines and ships. Acoustic homing technology was developed, originally by Germans and then by the allies, to improve accuracy of torpedoes (Clash of Arms, Torpedo: A Historical Review).
Water battle technology was critical throughout the war, as we have seen with five water technologies-- aircraft carriers, advanced submarines, torpedoes, advanced battleships, and sonar. We should care about aircraft carriers because they and more advanced versions of them are still in use today. They still change the course of battles because of their power. Advanced submarines are still in use today and the submarine technology is even used by the field of science and others to make amazing discoveries. This is an example of a battle technology being developed for war but being used for other purposes too. Torpedoes and more advanced versions of them developed in recent years are still in use today in war and play a major role. A single torpedo hitting a ship can sink it while a thousand bullets from a gun won’t. Torpedoes are even more powerful than missiles that are shot from ships in battle. Advanced battles are harder to destroy, bigger, and carry better weapons than earlier battleships. They are still used and at close range are even more powerful than aircraft carriers. Battleships are good at doing blockades to ports and can win decisive victories even in modern times. Sonar is still used in modern times to detect submarines and ships in battle. Sonar is also used in science to make discoveries about the ocean floor. Water battles have been going on since Ancient Times. The Greeks already had water battles. They are still extremely important, because the planet is mostly water and the way to get resources from other countries is by controlling the oceans. Water battle technology advanced a lot in WWII and will keep evolving for many years after. If your country has good navy battle technology, it will be strong enough to defend against the enemy, and therefore you will be safer.
The technology from World War 2 was much more destructive than technology from previous wars. As a result, more people died in WW2 than in any other war. About sixty million people died in WW2. A lot of new battle technologies were invented in WW2. Those battle technologies changed how war would be fought for decades thereafter. Many tactics from before have now become obsolete. The atomic bomb was the one battle technology that changed the world the most. Now if there is a war between two countries they could just drop a couple of atomic bombs of each other and both countries would be devastated. A nuclear war would hurt civilians more than soldiers in an effort to make the enemy country surrender. The effect would be felt long after the war is over because of the radiation effects. So nuclear countries are afraid to declare war and bomb each other, since there will be no clear winner. This is because now there is a fear of retaliation when countries make nuclear war against each other. In the near future wars may become fully or semi-automated. War will be like a video game with robots on the ground, robot planes, and robot ships all controlled from a command-and-control center. In the end the robots will fight completely by themselves and humans will just have to produce robots and give them occasional orders. This future may be closer than you think. In fact, a number of military aircraft flying over Iraq and Afghanistan have no pilots sitting in them and are instead remote-controlled by operators in Florida! Battle technology will keep evolving while the human race still lives.
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