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 38
... heavy infantry weapon . ” Each role required a different technology and each presupposed a different doctrine . And into what branch of the armed forces should this new weapon be fitted ? Similar arguments raged about the role of ...
... heavy cavalry were lacking , enfeoffment became neces- sary to support the kind of fighting men whose prowess was needed to assure local security . Technical advances ( e.g. the sudden appearance * For details see Michael E. Mallet ...
... heavy armed hoplites all but useless in sieges . They only knew how to starve a garrison into surrender , as Thucydides ' account of the Peloponnesian War makes clear . This altered abruptly in the fourth century BC . Formidable siege ...
... heavy cannon had in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries . This is not surprising . New , complicated , and expensive machines of war necessarily reward the rulers who are able to build and pay for them , and expose less wealthy and ...
... heavy cavalry that dominated the ensuing centuries of Euro- pean warfare made artillery marginal thereafter . Still , knowledge of how to make and use siege engines never disappeared entirely from the urban communities of the Byzantine ...
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 |