Major changes in warfare from antiquity to modern days; The most significant changes
According to (Merriam online Webster) war [1] is a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations; a period of such armed conflict. Warfare is more about the ways people have fought wars, thought about wars, and keep doing it in present time. In this essay we are going to go through the most significant changes in warfare from the antiquity to modern time.
The superiority of technology, knowledge and warfare techniques are the main key of gaining control over the battle. The military of ancient Egypt had adopted the technologies of metal, they used bronze in the Middle Kingdom as main source for manufacturing weapons which were (shields, spears, cudgels, maces, daggers, bows and arrows). When the ancient Egypt army turned to use iron instead of bronze [2] for manufacturing the weapons [3] in the New Kingdom and all during the Late Dynastic Period, the new shape of weapons was (spears, battle axes, sickles words and daggers), the whole technique of battling their wars has changed [3] [4], to weaken their enemies with showers of arrows by the archers then the infantry attacks with their hand weapons.
Still Before Christ “BC” times, The Early Achaemenid Persian Army had a different tactic which based on dividing the army within hierarchal pyramid in a decimal base [5], Different tactic organized on a regular base, although the history of the early Achaemenid Persian army had only three wars [6].
For Greece, Trojan war continued without decisive results for nine years [7], where the tactic was a massive attack by thousands of ships [8] and was taken to an end with a legendary tactic which became a theory later. However, there are arguments upon the existence of Trojan war; whether it really took place or it is just a myth [9].
Moving forward to the third century BC, where the Roman Empire was having significant power, when the Punic wars took place between BC 261 – BC 146 against the Carthage consisting of three wars[10], when the Roman empire wanted to gain the control over the Carthage trade in the Mediterranean sea. Rome in wars had adapted weapons, armors and tactics of many different cultures, mainly from other opponents they battled, for example the main weapon of the Roman soldiers was the Spanish sword (gladius) [11], throwing spears, Scorpios and Lorica Segmentata armor. For a fest moves they started to build bridges, so that the soldiers and the army could move faster, the army could march up to 30 km a day, they showed no mercy with enemies, soldiers were trained to stab a 5 cm deep wound at least, after breaking the enemy, Romans tended to kill as many enemies as possible and their cavalry pursued fleeing enemy.
That Medieval warfare occurred in the middle ages in Europe where technological, cultural, and social developments had forced a dramatic transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics and the role of cavalry and artillery. The experience level and tactical maneuvering ability of medieval armies varied depending on the period and region.
In the Sixteenth century, there was a noticeable improvement of weapons technology which was turning around using the light guns and gunpowder, which means extending the range of attacking distance, and more destructive effect. Even though in the beginning there were lack of the amount of light guns, Gustavus Adolphus, some have called him the "father of modern warfare" [12] had gunners who were trained to ride if needed, when Napoleon thought highly of the achievement, and copied the tactics, but as quantity of the guns was limited, it was common to build fortress which was very difficult to conquer. The development of guns went on as by the early years of the seventeenth century the amount of guns was increased, and the cartridge [13] was invented, followed by the bayonet [14] which extended the use of a gun into a dual weapon, a shooting gun and a spear. Also the grenade [15] had a major role in wars per the idea of several kills or higher destruction per one used piece. While in the eighteenth century guns became lighter, with more power, and the whole warfare tactics had a significant improvement by the invention of the electrical telegraph [16] where it was considered the new era of communication and the expansion of railways where armies were transported much faster, not mentioning messages were delivered even faster. That definitely leaded to a totally new tactics for war affected by the industrial revolution.
In the nineteenth century a lot of significant changes in warfare tactics and tolls were developed, starting with the early 2 decades when Congreve rocket [17] was used against Copenhagen and set most of the city on fire, as an early version of rockets it lacked accuracy and range, also the British used Congreve rockets on several occasions during the Napoleonic Wars, first from boats and then on land. Ironically, the technology of metal-cylinder missiles developed by Tipu Sultan contributed to the defeat of his ally Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. By the middle of the nineteenth century the Gatling gun [18] was invented, however later on a more successful machine gun was created called Maxim gun [19] which was adopted by the British army by the end of the century. Other critical weapons were used at the second half of the century was the modern torpedo which was adopted by the British army as well, the technology was driven by the start of use of iron made ships.
The second decade of the twentieth century was dramatic with the outbreak of the World War I (1914 - 1918) [20] which involved all the world's great powers, for its terrible losses of infantry as a result of the powerful weapons, thus armies used trenches with barbed wire among with machine guns, in addition to the use of gases (chlorine, phosgene and mustard) which were defended by masks, the Germans used the Flamethrower [21]. On the other side aircrafts were lunched with limited abilities, while in the sea the invention of the diesel engine [22] had increased the power and ranges of ships and submarines.
In 1939 the outbreak of the Second World War occurred, lasting for 6 years. When aircrafts had a major role, major attacks were by bombing critical targets of enemies, when the war was put to an end by the first massive destruction weapon; the nuclear bomb which were thrown by an American aircraft over 2 Japanese cities, Hiroshima then Nagasaki destroying both cities totally, later on to notice the nuclear radiation destructive effect which lasts for decades. Although the
environmental disaster caused by the nuclear weapon, the United States developed the hydrogen bomb which is more destructive, two years later in 1954 the Russians tested their hydrogen bomb. Announcing the new nuclear technology applications, the first submarine using nuclear power was lunched [23]. During the second half of the twentieth century a lot of hi-tech weapons were invented, including the supersonic aircraft, ballistic missile, chemical weapons etc. Endless developing technologies each comes with new tactics of warfare.
The new shape of war, so called cyber/information warfare where no physical weapons are used as human usually knew them, new tactics which aims to destroy or corrupt information technology infrastructure were used against Estonia in 2007 taking down governmental and banks websites down. Another incidents are Russian – Georgian conflict in 2008 resulted cyber- attack on Georgian information systems, and the malware worm infecting the Iranian nuclear plant by USA.
Concluding from above that as humans come up with new technologies, significant changes were applied to war tactics, strategies and theoretical thinking driven by the new tools which became available with new technologies, nowadays there can be a war with no weapons, no battle, a cyber-war targeting communication. While what remains the same are concepts of warfare to conquer enemies, warfare’s are getting new aspect and new ways to approach through the technology.
References:
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Definition of war, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war
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Metals: sources, technologies, uses http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/trades/metals.htm
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Weapons http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/weapons/index.html
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Meneptah battles http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/history18-20.htm#merneptah
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The Early Achaemenid Persian Army http://members.ozemail.com.au/~ancientpersia/army_frm.html
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Battles of the Achaemenid Empire http://members.ozemail.com.au/~ancientpersia/batt_frm.html
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Trojan war http://www.greek-mythology-gods.com/trojanwar.html
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Resources of Trojan war http://www.greek-mythology-gods.com/trojanwar.html
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The new history of Trojan war http://www.barrystrauss.com/troy_excerpt.htm
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The Punic wars; Rome vs Carthage http://www.heritage-history.com/www/heritage.php?Dir=wars&FileName=wars_punic.php
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Penrose, Jane (2008). Rome and Her Enemies: An Empire Created and Destroyed by War. Osprey Publishing. pp. 121–122.
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Dodge, Theodore Ayrault (1890)
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Sparano, Vin T. (2000). "Cartridges"
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Brayley, Martin, Bayonets: An Illustrated History, (2004), pp. 9-10, 83-85
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Robert James Forbes: "Studies in Ancient Technology," Leiden 1993, p.107
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Tom Standage, The Victorian Internet 1998 , pp. 1-2
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Biography, Mysore History http://www.tigerandthistle.net/tipu312.htm
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Chambers, John W. (II) (2000) http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-SanJuanHillBattleof.html
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http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/370419/Sir-Hiram-Stevens-Maxim
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Willmott 2003, pp. 10–11
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http://web.archive.org/web/20070518171421/http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/mediawiki-1.5.5/index.php?title=Flamethrower
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http://mandieselturbo.com/files/news/filesof16119/tech_paper_low_speed.pdf
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Jim Christley, Tony Bryan. US Nuclear Submarines: The Fast Attack. Osprey Publishing.