Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Mixing of the Old and New
World War I was the beginning of the modern era, but the transition definitely wasn't an easy one. This combination of old battle tactics and new technology reulted in the most devastating war to date at that time. In the wars before men honorable lined up across from each other and exchanged fire. They kept this strategy with only a minor adjustment- trenches. This new advancement only made it harder to advance on the enemy because they had to dig trenches to hide in first. Another major factor that was over looked in the military battle plans of WWI was that new technlogy added to the war, causing more devastation and casualties, but this didn't matter becasue the population was large enough to replenish the losses. Perhaps if military planners weren't as eager to try out their theoretical battle plans they could've thought of a more effective way to utilize the new technology instead of shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak.
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i like this point of view tess. you and katie talk about similar things; which of course i agree on. I thought it was amazing the weapons that were developed during the first world war. But the misuse, or rather the lack of knowledge on how to use them, was disappointing and definitely detracted from such great developments. Commanders were no longer in control with technology, technology controlled the commanders.
ReplyDeleteThis is a recurring theme among blog posts and certainly one the merits consideration. Check out:
ReplyDeletehttp://grade12hotakatec.blogspot.com/2010/10/was-world-war-one-truly-amidst-era-of.html
http://grade12hotakatien.blogspot.com/
I agree with you Tess, and talked about a similar thing. I think that with the introduction of all this new technology advancements should have also been made in battle plans and strategies. It seems silly to keep conducting a war the same way when so much has changed.
ReplyDeleteSurprising really, that you and I are on the same page once again.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree. I think there was an extreme imbalance between weaponry and tactics. With new tools comes new procedure, at least for the new tools to be beneficial. Without tactical growth the new technology proved deadly rather than helpful.
This is something that I thought was very intresting, and I absolutly agree with you..
ReplyDeleteIn a way, it was kind of sad that the old way of war (that foucused so much on honor) died out, and this war of destruction and making bigger weapons took over...
I guess I can agree a bit here, but I think there was one big difference. I agree that that WWI was a dangerous mix of new technology and old tactics, but rather than it being a stalemate because of commanders' pride, I think it was because they didn't know how to USE the technology. The advancements were there enough to get themselves out of the trenches, but old tactics prevented new planning.
ReplyDeleteOk I wanna touch on the point you made about being able to constantly replenish armies and always have enough men. I just completely agree that the technology could have been utilized that so many lives werent lost. But at the same time I feel like especailly in France with their huge armies of millions of people this was never a consideration. I actually feel like this ideal has been carried over to today. Such that the value of life is no longer the same, we have enough people to keep fighting so why not keep killing. Its just really sad that the value of a life can be lost and just replaced by another with no second thoughts.
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