Armed Camps
The nature of modern warfare was the result
of two simultaneous processes. First was the idea
of 'nation in arm' or conscription in the French
Revolution. This gave men equality in battle
which was denied to them in actual life. This
democratization of war transformed wars into
mass-wars or people's war in which civilians and
civil-life itself became the proper and sometimes
the main target of military strategy. The other
was the growth of industrial economy which
provided the resources, the organizational
techniques and methods of motivation needed
to fight mass-wars, thus remodeling them as
total wars.
The 19th and 20th centuries witnessed the
transformation of war from specialized activity
of a professional military group. First into the
total mobilization of industrial resources to
produce weapons, then into total involvement of
entire industrial societies in the process of hurling
concentrated mechanized forces against military
or civilian targets anywhere on the globe, and
finally into a scientific contest to develop
weapons of mass destruction. The armament race
among major powers continued, fuelled by the
profit motives of the private firms such as Krupp
in Germany, Vickers Armstrong in Britain,
Schneider-Cruesot in France, Skoda in Austria
and Putiloff in Russia, collectively known as 'the
merchants of death'.
Massive Mobilization Of Resources
The character of industrial mobilization
changed markedly during the World War II.
Instead of the mass production of a few key items,
as in the First World War, the second global
conflict drew on virtually every phase of industry.
The new engines of war, tanks, aircrafts, radar
etc, were highly complex and delicate. It required
an elaborate system of mass production of several
million items according to schedules and priorities
which went on shifting with new technical
developments and the changing emphasis of war
strategy. This could be planned only by states at
a high level of economic development. When the
war came, all major combatants channeled their
production capacities into the manufacture of
goods for sustenance of war.
During the World War II, European war
economies also adopted the American system of
mass-production. Standardized interchangeable
parts were produced in bulk and the end product
was put together on the assembly line.
In five war years, USA economy produced
300,000 military aircraft and 86,700 tanks.
Germany produced 44,857 tanks and assault guns
in the same period and also produced 111,767
aircraft during 1934-44. It became necessary to
conscript the entire economy and civilian life to
achieve these military targets.
A high level of armed mobilization, which
hovered around 20% for most powers during
the Second World War, and which lasted for a
few years, produced a kind of social revolution
in the employment of women outside the
household, temporarily in the World War I and
permanently in the World War II. Only Germany
avoided this integration of women in the labour
market for ideological reasons, as the Nazi State
did not consider women worthy of employment
outside their houses.
Another important aspect of war was that it
was waged as a zero-sum game, i.e., as a war
which could only be totally won or totally lost.
Unlike the earlier wars which were fought for
specific and limited objectives, world wars were
waged for unlimited ends. In the Second World
War, this found expression in the phrase
"unconditional surrender". The USA removed all
restrictions on Allied armament contracts,
including those of immediate payment through
the lend-lease agreements.
The new military establishments took on
many of the features of great industrial
enterprises; Modern business method, office
organization, system of record keeping. The use
of duplicating, sorting and communication
equipment and all such paraphernalia for
carrying on large industrial operations and
emergence of a kind of corporate leadership in
the management of military strategy gave military
business corporation. The army officers became
"the managers of violence".
In most of the belligerent countries, there was
suspension of market mechanism in favour of
controls and direction designed to ensure the
restructuring of national economies according to
the needs and priorities of war production. War
was no longer a matter predominantly of purely
financial costs-but assumed the form of
mobilization of all economic resources.
Technological Innovations
After World War I, fully automatic weapons
in the rifle weight class or the Assault Rifles were
developed which combined the burst-fire
capability of the sub-machineguns with the range
and accuracy of the infantry rifle. The better
known were German MP-44, and after World
War II, the Soviet Kalashnikov and AK-47.
In World War II, anti-aircraft guns became
more improved and lethal. The role of field and
naval artillery declined-the tank partly relieving
its field role and the tactical bomber aircraft its
bombardment role. Light and mobile guns were
more in demand during World War II. Some
important anti-aircraft guns used during World
War II were-the Bofors 40 mm gun of US and
UK, Soviet M-1939, 37 mm gun and German 88
mm guns. Arrival of Tanks was countered by
the development of armour-piercing ammunition.
In the World War II, heavier machineguns
were used. The lighter variety of machineguns
such as German MG-34/42, the Soviet Degtyarev,
British Bren and US BAR fired 350-600 rounds
per minute. The sub machineguns such as
German MP-38/40 series, popularly known as
'burp' guns, Soviet PPD and PPsh, American
Thompson and the British Sten were also used
extensively.
Submarines were used on a larger scale in
the World War II in the Atlantic by Germany
and in the Pacific by the US. US navy's Agronaut
during Inter-war period and Gato and Balao
submarines during World War II played decisive
role in the naval warfare.
German Zeppelins were early military aircraft
used during World War I. Their use did not prove
very effective. Later, military aircrafts were
improved. The bombers were also improved, with
Boeing Aircraft Company producing B-9 bombers
in 1931-the progenitor of all modern combat
aircrafts.
During the Second World War, chemical
weapons were stockpiled but were not integrated
into military planning. Military ineffectiveness
and fear of retaliation prevented their use. During
the World War II, Germany developed V1 and
V2 missiles (1944-45) nicknamed in German as
'Vergeltungswaffen' (or Vengeance weapons)
which became the precursors of modern ballistic
missiles.
Nuclear Weapons
US entered the World War II in December
1941 and started the Manhattan Project to make
atom bomb. Colonel Leslie Groves became the
head of the Manhattan Engineer District. In
October 1942, after reorganization, J. Robert
Oppenheimer became the director of Project Y
(group that actually designed the bomb). A
plutonium weapon-Trinity was tested in July 1945
in South Central New Mexico. On 6 August 1945
at 8.15 am, local time, a US B-29 bomber named
Enola Gay flew over Hiroshima. The untested U-
235 bomb nicknamed Little Boy was air-burst
1900 feet above the city to maximize destruction.
The effects were devastating-about two-thirds
of city was completely destroyed and 140,000
persons died by the end of the year (out of a
population of 350,000). A second weapon, a
duplicate of plutonium-239 implosion assembly
which was tested as Trinity, and nicknamed
Fatman was planned to be dropped at Kokura
on 11 August 1945, but schedule was moved up
two days to avoid bad weather, to 9 August, the
US bomber, unable to sight Kokura, dropped it
on the secondary target of Nagasaki.
