Men, Machines & WarWilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 1988 M11 30 - 219 páginas Using examples from the last two centuries, this collection of essays discusses the close links between technology and war. In the opening essay, distinguished historian William H. McNeill demonstrates the extent to which military technology has often led to differentiations among people, both within and between societies. The other studies examine various aspects of weapons technology, drawing on the history of the armed forces of Britain, Prussia, and Australia, among others. Some of these illustrate how the adoption of new weaponry frequently depended as much on national pride and party politics as it did on the purely technical merits of the weapons involved; that financial considerations became increasingly primary in technological developments in British army after World War I; and that decisions made prior to 1939 about the aviation technology to be developed for military purposes largely determined what kind of the RAF was able to fight. The chapter by Dr. G.R. Lindsay, the Chief of the Operational Research and Analysis Establishment at the Department of National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, makes the case that, with nuclear weapons added to the scene, the impact of technology on international security has never been as great as at present, and that the competition of nations seeking the technological edge in weaponry threatens to destabilize the precarious balance that has existed since 1945. |
Dentro del libro
Resultados 1-5 de 31
... become not worth the expense , or for moral reasons are not supported by the people , development ends . This , McNeill suggests , is as true today as in the past . I , For Dennis Showalter , the interplay between military thinking and ...
... becoming obsolescent . The preceding studies have for their focus what might be called the macro level of the relationship between men , machines , and war . Ronald Haycock , in his detailed study of the Australian Owen gun ...
... become incalculable . Defective foresight is scarcely new ; but the scale of destruction that has come within our power literally boggles the mind and makes many think that our age is unique , cut off from the past by a gulf so vast as ...
... become relatively safe from arrows . Iron metallurgy originated perhaps as early as 1600 BC in Asia Minor , but the new metal and the new methods of its manufacture spread slowly , becoming common in the Middle East only after 1200 BC ...
... become so obvious in our own time . But the most surprising aspect of the gunpowder revolution is that no empire arose in Western Europe to match those that rose to power elsewhere in the civilized world . Emperor Charles v ( 1519–55 ) ...
Contenido
21 | |
Observations on the Dialectics of British Tactics 190445 | 49 |
The Royal Navy and Technological Change 18151945 | 75 |
The Influence of Technology on Airpower 191945 | 93 |
Artillery from 1815 to 1914 | 113 |
Technology Society and International Security Since 1945 | 153 |
Australias Owen Gun Story | 183 |
Index | 215 |