Mariuxi's CCOT Invention and Innovation Essay

1450 was a watershed in the world of military technology. The use of gunpowder and cannons were significant inventions for the development of future weapons. As turmoil and worldwide conflict touched upon societies, the desire for powerful and superior technology rose. In the period from 1850 to 1950, there was a constant upheaval and progress in the inventions of military technology and tactics. However, the most noted changes in technology were seen after the Industrial Revolution, to the outburst of new technology in the first world war, to the horrors that weapons crafted in World War II.

The Industrial Revolution in the 1800s was the essential innovation of military technology. The numerous inventions that were created during this period of time mid Nineteenth Century sparked competition among European nations. Among those inventions was the steam engine by James Watt, but most importantly was the Maxim gun. In the rising competition, Great Britain was the leading power with the most well-developed and powerful navy. As other countries engaged in industrialization tensions rose. Germany developed a strong military and navy. There was a constant battle for supremacy among the two nations. The competition that existed between Germany and Great Britain signified the “progress” that military technology had. This progress often received challenged such as that of a critic who once stated “Europeans have become a gang of murderers.” His critique is sometimes valid as World War I demonstrated what the so-called progress had planted in society.

As World War I started in 1914 military technology and tactics did not fail to prove their power. with the start of war, with the two opposing sides the Triple Entente consisted of Great Britain, France, Russia and the United States against the Triple Alliance made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, tried to prove superiority through violence and latest technology. World War I showed new weapons such the machine gun which was more efficient than the Maxim gun, the airplane-- used for reconnaissance, submarines, artillery and poisonous gas. War tactics such as the use of trenches also initiated. One of the most significant tactics was the Schlieffen Plan from the Germans in which they sought to fight France and have a defense against Russia, thus evading a two front war. These horrific weapons proved the progress that had been carried out for the past years. Although World War I, had proven to people what weapons in war were capable of, they still blindly engaged in a second world war with brutal effects.

World War II erupted in 1939 from the resentments established in the Treaty of Versailles, the desire for land, the fear of another war, and the zeitgeist of the Interwar period. The two opponents the Axis and the Allied Powers faced off major technological advances. By far the most significant development were the missiles and the atomic bomb. Tactics during World War II consisted of bombings of cities causing casualties among civilians. Also, the Germans with their revengeful sentiment carried out a series of invasions and attacks. Their famous war tactic was known as Blitzkreig-- "lightning war." In this war which ended in 1945 the use of airplanes carrying bombs were seen. World War II, by far had shown the catastrophic effects that the progress with inventions and innovations of military technology and tactics had.

By the end of World War II, societies had seen the devastation that war brought. However, as World War II started because of resentments from World War I, a parallel situation occurred in the Cold War, caused by the resentments from World War II. The Cold War was between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The wars of the Twentieth Century showed that war had become and endless cycle. Tracing back 1450, the invention of cannons, tanks, and later innovations shown in the outburst of wars, the progress that societies have failed to see as the destructive force has conquered the minds of those fighting for supremacy and world power today.

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