Evolution of Military Leadership during World War I

Military strength has always been dependent on the science and technology used in the country. At the time of World War 1, there was huge development taking place in the Science and Technology. Technology has made a huge impact on the way military operations are performed in any country. In the First World War the sides which were highly technologically advanced got an edge over the rivals (Joll & Martel, 2013). The military strategies started to use Science and Technology as their primary tool. Development of modern warfare was at the peak as the innovation in the military equipment was going on at much faster rate. Huge investments were made by the companies as well as the governments towards development and use of innovative machineries.

At the time of World War I, evolution of military leadership can be attributed by the fact that there are many new leaders emerged in various parts of the world. Science and technology has promoted the development of weapons. In the World War I, there was an extensive use of the horses and there were many countries which had already moved to the military vehicles (Keegan, 2014). The countries like Germany which lost many things in the World War I had dedicated itself into development of highly dangerous modern day warfare. The development of the machines such as Turing machine was a result of this only. This was a perfect example of how the technology has made impact on the war and its results. The strategies that were made by the leaders were somehow revolving around the science and technology they want to use in their warfare (Kalyvas & Balcells, 2010).

The leadership which emerged in various parts of the world understood that to be the leaders and to win the war, there is an excessive need of the use of advanced science and technology. The scientists were forced towards developing new technologies that could support military strength. The leadership were assuring that there would be use of advanced technologies over the rivals. It was also a period of technological advancements and there was trend towards industrialisation. This led to mass production of weapons that were technologically advanced (Ferguson, 2008). The science and technology led to development of technologies such as poison gas, artillery, grenades. There was development of new tanks, warplanes and submarines. In the first three years of the World war there was not so much influence of the science and technology in the military wars. It was only the final year of the war when the major military forces decided to take effective decisions in changing matter of command and control and tactics so as to adapt the modern battlefield. It also aimed to start harnessing the countless new technologies for effective military objectives. This also led to change in the tactics. For example previously the squad of 100 men were sent to any particular place. Later-on smaller squads were made like 10 man squad. These ten men were sent with the technologies such as first submachine guns, armored cars, and automatic rifles.

Development of Industrialised Weapons

Apart from this there was also development device such as lightning devices, sound devices, tunnel diggers, tunnel warfare, detonators etc. It acted as a supporting technology that helped in the military strategy made by the countries in the war. The focus of the military leadership was on transforming the weapons into the ones that are mobile and can be carried with even less number of military soldiers. There was also the use of chemical weapons which proved to be as the equipment of mass destruction (Haber, 1986). On the other side, there was development of technologies that helped in protection from these gases. This was necessary as it was seen that chemical weapons have killed the soldiers that were using it.

Communication which played a major role in the World War 1 also noticed a transformation in communicational technologies. The development of radio played a very major role in carrying out the operations in the battle field. Military also started to use railways for mobilising large numbers of soldiers from one place to another. Tactical bombing, air strikes were started to be used as strategic military operations and hence there was development of aircrafts. Lightening and light weighted machines gave advantage to the military especially in the open battle grounds (Allen, 2001). Leaders also started to train their soldiers so as to take more use of science and technology in their operations.

Military leadership has become an essential aspect of the modern day war. The approach of the governments has played a major role in the development of military leadership (Squarespace, 2018). The modern day war has adopted science and technology so as to reduce the number of casualties in their side. Scientists of the nations are developing the equipment that brings destruction to much larger extent. The countries that are advanced in terms of technology have become a bigger super power (Tilly, 1995). Every country in the world has a separate department for development of military equipment. Everyone is trying to beat others in terms of innovation in the modern warfare they have. The development of technology is not just restricted to the ensuring the safety of the nation but it is also for showing the dominance in the international market.

During the whole cold war period, both the super powers were developing itself in terms of the technological capability. After the end of cold war, there was further development of technology especially in terms of information technology. Today data has become the power. The countries which is having larger amount of data are more capable of defeating others. It was seen that even the military strategy started to be made with the help of data (Shimshoni, 1990). On the other hand it has also become a threat for the military operations of any country as the chances of data leaks have increased. Any huge cyber-attack could destroy the whole strategies made by any military.

The losses that countries faced due to lack of advanced technologies hence it supported the development of the technology in different parts of the world. All the countries tried to become the world leaders in term of the military advancements they have. There were many countries which developed the technologies just to have an edge over their rivals. More the advanced technologies used by any country, more is the chance that they could gain competitive edge over their rivals. From the time of World War I, it was seen that there were many countries that started to develop new technologies at the same time some purchased it from other nations so as to gain advantage over their enemy countries (Haber, 1986). This has led to increase in the sale and purchase of arms.

There are countries that switched itself to the new form of the technology. The emergence of power such as Germany after the World War I was a big problem for the countries such as England and other smaller countries. Hence the tussle for becoming a bigger military power in the region has created a situation such as World War 2. After the World War 2, innovations in the field of deadly arms and technology have increased. This has led to advancement in the weapons (Hermann & Hermann, 1967). Emergence of military leadership is also attributed by the fact that military ties were started to build among the countries that were having common enemies. With the emergence of strategic military wars, which is actually a pseudo war depends on the military strength that a country has. Military leadership provides them edge over the other rivals.

References

Allen, R. C. (2001). The great divergence in European wages and prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War. Explorations in economic history, 38(4), 411-447.

Ferguson, N. (2008). The pity of war: Explaining world war I. Hachette UK.

Haber, L. F. (1986). The poisonous cloud: chemical warfare in the First World War. Oxford University Press.

Hermann, C. F., & Hermann, M. G. (1967). An Attempt to Simulate the Outbreak of World War I 1. American Political Science Review, 61(2), 400-416.

Joll, J., & Martel, G. (2013). The origins of the first world war. Routledge.

Kalyvas, S. N., & Balcells, L. (2010). International system and technologies of rebellion: How the end of the Cold War shaped internal conflict. American Political Science Review, 104(3), 415-429.

Keegan, J. (2014). The first world war. Random House.

Shimshoni, J. (1990). Technology, Military Advantage, and World War I: A Case for Military Entrepreneurship. International Security, 15(3), 187-215.

Squarespace, (2018) Military #Leadership in the 21st Century. Retrieved from: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5497331ae4b0148a6141bd47/t/573f9413f85082130765745c/1463784485378/%23LEADERSHIP+Series+from+The+Strategy+Bridge.pdf 

Tilly, C. (1995). Century of war: Politics, conflicts, and society since 1914. Political Science Quarterly, 110(4), 637-639.