What was the impact of military technology in the First World War? Discuss (i) Progress in Technology as such (ii) Availability of arms and ammunitions (iii) Naval and Air Battles (iv)Civilian causalities

Due to the fact that such extensive amounts of arms and ammunitions were being built, there was an arms race in Europe. All nations began competing against each other. If Britain produced one ship, Germany would produce two so as to maintain one-up against Britain. This led to great amounts of arms being produced and it led to a brutal and destructive war. There was great availability of all these arms and ammunitions. Most of them had been newly created during or before the war. The warfare that occurred in the First World War was restricted to the use of artillery and very little of Navy and Air Force. Nonetheless, all these methods of warfare led to great amounts of destruction for years to come. Also introduced during the course of the war were tanks. This technology was very useful and enabled armies to cut through the barbed wire fences. However, these tanks just increased the deaths, as did all the military technology.

The main use of military technology was seen in the Naval and Air battles. Although these methods were not greatly used, they had a great impact on the World War. Scapa Flow was the main British port where all their torpedo’s and submarines were harbored. Wilhelmshaven and Kiel Canal were the German Ports. Both Britain and Germany had great number of supplies. Britain had 27 dreadnoughts whereas Germany had 16. This shows the extent of military technology as these machines were built for warfare and were of great use. Goeben and Breslav were two German ships which were so well made that they could travel all the way through the Mediterranean to reach Constantinople. These ships were destroyed by the British. By Naval Warfare, the British hoped to secure their channel ports, keep their trade routes open and the capture neutral ports. This angered the Germans and they ended up sinking British ship Lusitania. 2000 people were believed to be killed and of those around 200 were Americans. This fostered a great enmity between USA and Germany. Thus, the naval warfare brought in America which changed the face of the war. Also, the Battle of Jutland fought on 31st May 1916 was when the main battle ships fought for the first time. Both Britain and Germany lost many of their ships. This was the only time the main ships fought. In 1917, Germany attempted to sink all ships in the Atlantic and they managed to sink 430 ships. This angered USA and this led to them joining the war.

Initially not much importance was attached to air warfare. Britain had 63 machines, France had 123 planes and Germany had 384 machines. They acted as observatory tools and they would bring back information to ground commanders. Bristol, Sopwith, Fokker and Gotha were companies in Britain and Germany respectively who created airships for battle. This made fighting from air and bombings common. The Jagstafflen was a group of 12 fighter planes which together went to hunt down British and Fench armies crossing frontline trenches. These aircrafts were kept all over to attack. Thus, both naval and air warfare caused destruction and killed several people, including innocent lives. Countries were devastated and mass poverty was present.

Thus one can see that these military technologies had a negative effect on the people. Many people were left homeless and they lost loved ones. Many countries were ripped apart and there was a great amount of destruction. There were so many battles fought and each battle had so many lives lost. Over all, the total war causalities were about 37 million people. 16 million were killed and 21 million were injured. Both the Allied and the Central powers lost several people. Thus, one can see that even the victors lost great amounts of people-military as well as civilians. The warfare had no positive outcome and military technology although a breakthrough in the field of science and technology only caused great amounts of death and destruction.

Thus, one may conclude by saying that the impact that military technology had on the War was negative as it caused great amounts of destruction and death. Many people  were killed and there was grief everywhere.