Notes from Chapter 15: Society and Technological Change

The ideas and examples referenced below are notes compiled by Robert Keel from his reading of Volti, Rudi. 2014. Society and Technological Change. 7th edition. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. They are intended for classroom use.

Weapons and Their Consequences

Some of our technology has led to human destruction rather than human progress.

Military Technology in the Ancient World

• Many technological changes were inspired by martial purposes:
  • Metals led to more lethal weapons and armor to protect fighters from the metal weapons.
  • Chariots and mobility.
  • Creation of empires.
• First weapons à stones, clubs; then bow and arrow.
• Horse and Chariot à effective, but not entirely.
  • Horses had to be fed à often hard to do because of limited food.
• Greeks and the "phalanx."
  • Foot Soldier (hoplite)à carried a spear, a short sword and was protected by shield.
  • Close order offered a bit of protection and projecting spears produced a good offensive threat.
  • A clash between two phalanxes--victory to the one that held together.
• Romans: organization.
  • Small units of 60-80 men formed into larger units--"legions" of 3600-4600 fighters and accompanied by cavalry.
  • Superior tactics: extensive drilling and leadership of a permanent officer class: centurions.
  • Roman military strategy and tactics. The wedge.
• Catapults were another weapon--especially useful in sieges (beginning in the 4th century BC)


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Front_of_medieval_catapult_2_in_Mercato_San_Severino,_Italy.JPG

• Used by Philip of Macedon, the Romans, and the Greek.
• Development of specialists to design, build, use and maintain: engineer (from ingenium).
• Torsion spring and cords of animal sinew and human hair--propel a stone or bolt up to 800 yards (image).
• Hair prized as military supply--it and sinews stretch when wet--problem in damp climate
• Each Roman legion had 55.
• Even after gunpowder and cannons--they remained important for decades.
• Roman sieges were devastating on "barbarian" defenses, but Roman defensive technology was not as significant.

Military Technology and the Feudal Order

• Military technology did not advance after the fall of Rome.
• In the 6th Century à new technology à the stirrup (China)—not a weapon, but made existing weapons more effective.
  • Previously, most fighting done on foot--it was easy to be knocked of a horse.
  • The stirrup provided an "anchor" for the rider-extending fighting capacity.
  • A horse's power could be transferred to the weapon used by the rider.
  • Mounted knights' charge--devastating.
• Mounted knight--led to political and economic changes--Feudal system
  • Horses were expensive to buy and maintain.
  • Knights requited training and support.
  • Required 300-400 acres of land.
  • Kings could afford armies--gained support by granting land
  • The Feudal System was a decentralized system and the fighting was decentralized as well.
    • Armies temporary.
    • Knights fought for individual honor and not necessarily for a formal regime.
    • Little coordination or central authority in battles.
    • Warfare became "hit or miss" (much time spent just looking for one's foe).
  • Horse mounted knight was a symbol of nobility à from this, a culture of chivalry emerged.
    • Chivalry à chaval (French – horse)
    • Code of conduct.
    • Rules of battle.
    • War as a contest amongst those in the "warrior class."

New Weapons and The Decline of Feudalism

• Knightly combat began to disintegrate when new technology emerged (never was most important, cavalry against many foot soldiers--usually unsuccessful. Sieges were most common).
• 14^th century à the pike (19 feet long, used by Swiss) used to break up knight assaults.
  • Swiss Pikemen became the most feared soldiers in Europe.
  • Formation similar to Greek phalanx
  • Swiss-discipline and morale: free men in service of their own cantons.
  • Charging knights dispersed by pikemen and then attacked by foot soldiers with "halberds" (axes).
• Longbow (used by Welsh) used to attack knights from afar. Could drive an arrow through several inches of oak.
  • Archery around since Neolithic period.
  • Longbow more powerful than previous bows. Required great strength and skill--practice and discipline.
• Crossbow also used to challenge knight (crank and ratchet assembly to draw "bolt") cumbersome to reload.
  • Knight had to use heavier armor (chain mail) to withstand attack à this led to decrease mobility.
  • Shift to "light cavalry
• Castle à was a fortress of security, also challenged.
  • Trebuchet à weapon. A long arm unequally balanced on a fulcrum. One end held projectile, the other was weighted down. When catch was released, projectile (up to 300 pounds) flew (up to 300 yards). Heavier projectiles use at shorter distances.
    • No torsion spring, so effective despite bad weather.
    • "Projectiles" could be stones, fire, snakes, and/or people.

The Gunpowder Revolution

• The use of gunpowder sealed the fate of feudal weaponry.
• Fire was also used as a weapon. Perhaps it was the most terrifying of weapons. Greek fire.
• The invention of gunpowder transformed the nature of warfare.
• Gunpowder à originated in the east, China. Used medicinally.
• Introduced in Europe, 14^th century.
• Initially, gunpowder used to fire canons (often with wood barrels or iron strips welded together)à very ineffective. Trebuchet worked better.
• Artillery appeared in 1453 (Moslem attackers successfully used cannon to knock down Constantinople).
• Iron and bronze gun barrels were developed. Technology improved considerably.
  • First guns had many shortcomings, but by the 16^th century became an indispensable component to warfare.
  • Smaller, lighter, and more mobile (Sweden in the 30 Years War, 1618-1648).
• Small arms eventually emerged ("matchlock" allowed soldier to fire using a trigger).
• Also, the way soldiers fought underwent a transformation (16th century).
  • Soldier began to battle in rows à fire weapon then retreat to back row.
  • Also, soldiers had to know how to use the weapons in order for them to be effective.
  • Many soldiers buckled under the pressure of battle.
  • Generals had to institute rigid battle procedures.
  • Organizational changes--well-drilled and disciplined armies emerge to effectively use the technology. Hierarchical structure, obedience to authority, standardized procedures, rules and regulations--bureaucracy.

War and the Centralized State

• As the scope of warfare expanded, it became more complex and required greater organization.
• New forms of warfare greatly increased the cost of military operations: food, supply lines, ammunitions; logistics.
• Costs increase.
  • Feudal lords had resources and bowmen did not require much in the way of equipment.
  • Large armies obviously lead to increased costs.
  • Only monarchs had the wealth and authority to manage armies on this scale.
  • The Hundred Years War 1337-1453. (see also)
• Gunpowder and new weapons allowed for territorial expansion and control.
• Nationalism, centralization, and royal absolutism (Europe 16th century onward).
• As the nation-state grew--demand for new and better weapons, too.
• Charles Tilley, "War made the state and the state made war." (in Volti, page 296)
• This required standardization
  • Centralized control led to standardization of weaponry--also necessary for the training of soldiers
  • Standardization of weaponry was not an easy process. In fact, little change occurred in 18^th and 19^th centuries.
  • Changing weapons involves a change in a host of other structures.
  • A new cannon will require new cannonballs, auxiliary devices, and retraining.
  • Soldiers often resistant to change, especially regarding something as dangerous as warfare.
  • New developments often have glitches and that is last thing you want when someone is pointing a cannon at your castle.
• Changes were made however:
  • Development of breechloading weapons made loading quicker (by the mid 1800s in England) and allowed soldiers to remain prone while loading.
  • Rifling improved accuracy and range of firearms.
  • During Reign of Queen Victoria--invention of expanding bullets made loading easier (no ramming)
  • New gunpowders were developed that were smokeless à so a soldier did not give away his position when he fired.
  • These were all developments associated with the rise of industry, rather than weapon developments, per se.

Technological Change and the Naval Battleship

• Steam powered ships soon became equipped with cannons à this revolutionized naval battle.
  • No longer dependent on wind, ships increased in size and weight.
  • Previous method of naval battle à ram opposing ship, board vessel, overtake crew through traditional combat.
  • New method à disable or sink ship through use of cannon fire.
• Countries like Spain and the city-states of Italy failed to adopt new techniques--power shift to England and its naval power.
• By the early 20th century, the battleship was the weapon.
• The mechanization of navy ships indelibly changed the organization and culture of the navy.
  • Necessity of coaling stations--imperial expansion (facilitated by naval power)
• Navy had tradition that was reduced to rote procedures when technology was introduced--sailors become "factory workers."
• Old-guard officers replaced by those with technical training.

Weapons and The Modern World

• The conduct of war began to change dramatically.
• Technological superiority of Western Europe clearly evidenced in the Opium Wars (1839-1842)
  • Cannons of British gunboats battered down Chinese fortresses.
• By second half of 19^th century, military gap between Europe and rest of world grew larger.
• Europeans nations controlled the world--small armies could literally wipe out much larger forces based on technological superiority (breechloading weapons).
• The most effective weapon of European imperial advance was the machine gun.
  • Came into being during the colonial wars of late 19^th and 20^th centuries.
  • Europeans arrogantly thought gun could be used only against "lesser breeds" of man.
  • Europeans realized (esp. during WWI) that the machine gun transformed warfare.
  • Often with horrific repercussions (England lost 60,000 men during the first day of the Battle of the Somme).
• Submarine transformed navies the way machine gun transformed armies.
  • Firing torpedoes under water broke all traditional rules of naval battle.
  • Tradition à let prisoners board ship before sinking enemy. Not so with submarines.
  • Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare.
• Airplane à wreaked havoc on civilian population.
  • Even before A-Bomb à bombers killed several hundred thousand during WWII
  • American bombing in WWII killed 260,000 in Japanese cities. One attack on Tokyo killed 84,000 and destroyed over 200,000 buildings.
  • A single air raid on Berlin killed more than 25,000.
  • August 6, 1945: first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima: killed 50,000 and destroyed over one-half of the city. Three days later, same in Nagasaki.
  • Despite bombings in WWII à civilian morale never broke down, and analysis shows that bombings did not play a decisive role in winning the war (though the A-bomb in Japan certainly led to final victory for the West).
  • "Bombing…produced much smaller military results than had been expected" (Volti page 301)
• Nuclear War has proportions of which all other wars combined pale in comparison.
• 
  Fat-Man (public domain: courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fat_man.jpg)
  
  • One-megaton bomb can dig a 1,000 ft. wide crater to a depth of 200 ft.--total devastation of an urban area, hundreds of thousands would die.
  • Arms race US-USSR ended with a collective arsenal of over 4,000 nuclear missiles and hundreds of bombers and cruise missiles: MAD.
  • "The terrifying power of modern weaponry has eliminated completely the distinction between soldier and civilian that already began to break down early in the 20^th century." (Walter Mills, in Volti page 301)
  • Advanced military technology has opened the psychological distance between the warrior and his victims: distanciation
  • Battle is much more impersonal--no valor, De-personalization.

"You press a button and death flies down…How can there be writhing, mangled bodies? How can this air around you be filled with unseen projectiles? It is like listening to a radio account of a battle on the other side of the earth. It is too far away, too separated to hold reality…. In modern war one kills at distance, and in so doing he does not realize that he is killing." (Charles Lindbergh, in Volti page 302.)

Questions (pages 302-303):

1. Can any equivalents of medieval knights be found today? In what ways do they resemble medieval warriors? How do the technologies they use shape their activities and attitudes?
2. The use of gunpowder changed the nature of warfare and played a significant role in the transformation of European society. Yet in China, its land of origin, gunpowder did not have this effect. Why do you think this was so? Can you think of any possible differences between medieval Europe and traditional China that might have been responsible for their different experiences?
3. To make effective use of firearms, soldiers had to be well-drilled and subjected to rigid discipline. How have military models of organization influenced non-military social institutions? What are the advantages and disadvantages of military styles of organization when they are applied elsewhere?
4. For all of its horrors, war has historically provided opportunities for people to demonstrate some real virtues, such as resourcefulness, initiative, and courage. Have modern military technologies made these virtues irrelevant? If so, does the loss of these virtues make war more absurd than ever before?
5. To what extent, if any, should an engineer feel a sense of individual responsibility for designing a weapon that is used to kill large numbers of people? What about the combatant who is ordered to use the weapon? Do the citizens whose taxes were used to design and build the weapon also bear some responsibility?
   

Chapter 16