Industrial revolution between the end of 19th century and 20th century influenced greatly the state of war that unfolded. The historic period was characterized by improvements in machinery and tools used in production industries. The first war that was fought in the onset of twentieth century was the World War 1 (WW1), which was fought from 1914 to 1918 and whereby Great Britain, France, Russia, Belgium, Italy, Japan, United States of America and other supporting nations overpowered Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria.
This war was started by an act of assassination that was perpetrated by Serbian citizen to an Austrian in June 1914. This action triggered anger in Germany and its allies which made them to first confront Belgium and the war spread to France.
As the war intensified, other countries that had an alliance with Belgium, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, and United States joined forces to fight Germany and its supporters and WW1 went on till 1918 when Germany at last conceded defeat.
This set the stage for the rethinking of strategies used in various economies with regard to enhancement of industries and community welfare in the affected regions. With the beginning of industrial revolution, factors such as technological inventions and advancements sprung up and played key roles in the way the war was fought.
Revolution of the industrial sector facilitated a lot with regards to tools and equipments required in sustaining the intensity of war. Besides, knowledge from European nations were transferred to the US by industrialists who were determined to expand their skills in a more diverse business environment (Veblen, 1990).
The industrial revolution that started between mid 19th century and the onset of 20th century highly contributed on the manner in which many things were done within this period, such as the warfare. There were technological improvements in industry and agriculture which resulted in the changing of the warfare.
Some significant changes happened rapidly, such that the ones involving inventions in industry, science, and technology (Landauer, 2009). The availability of efficient technologies in agricultural and textile industries enabled people in Europe and America to enhance and sustain their requirements in the light of the effects of WWW1.
These innovations facilitated the making of many weapons that were far better in aspects such as accuracy, power, and range compared to the old traditional weaponry that was used in the earlier years.
Many problems were born with the springing up of new weapons and war tactics since it was very hard for the military to switch to the new system and it also became overwhelming. Countries such as America saw the culmination of the crude traditional weapons and mode of warfare to the adoption of new machinery and inventions of war facilities, just like the Europeans did (Landauer, 2009).
During the last period of the 19th century all the way to the early 20th century, Europe and America experienced revolutions in communication, transportation and weapons which were very crucial particularly in the manner in which war was engaged.
With the escalation of technological innovation towards the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, more things were developed. Some of these advancements include electricity which was put in use in the mines, submarines and invention of wireless telegraph. These developments were so instrumental especially in the warfare that happened in the initial years of 20th century such as the WW1.
For instance communication in the wartime which was made more efficient by the telegraphs and the submarine cables were now available. Other developments included making of internal combustion chambers that were meant to improve transportation in wars such as making of tanks and aircrafts (Veblen, 1990). There was also the invention of rubber tire that was used in the motor transport.
First World War unfolded at a time when technology and science had really integrated in the sense that in both Europe and America, industrial revolution had put into place war facilities that had an incredible power and performance. The technology that was used in this war was relatively far more advanced and complicated than the one used in the wars that had been fought in the earlier times before the industrial revolution.
An example of the new facilities that greatly dominated during this war were railroads which were more convenient and efficient, swift communication, availability of better and intricate logistics, motor vehicles, airplanes, tanks, explosives, sea facilities such ships, and submarines (Croddy & Wirtz, 2005).
In essence, this developments put countries that were fighting Germany at a better position such America and the Great Britain since most of these advancements were done there. During this time of war, America which had wholly involved itself in the war benefited a lot.
America took advantage of this unrest to intensively invest in factories that were to be used in the production of food, weapons, vehicles and many other logistical facilities that were needed during the war. At the same time trade between America and nations in Europe that were fighting Germany improved.All these led to an acceleration of the rise of the economic status of these nations and also cemented the rapport between them.
References
Croddy, E. & Wirtz, J.(2005)., Weapons of Mass Destruction: An Encyclopedia of Worldwide Policy, Technology, and History, Volume 2. New York: Publisher ABC-CLIO.
Landauer, C.(2009).European Socialism: From the industrial revolution to the First World War and its aftermath, Volume 1 of European Socialism: A History of Ideas and Movements from the Industrial Revolution to Hitler’s Seizure of Power, Carl Landauer, California : University of California Press, 1959 Original from the University of Michigan.
Veblen, T. (1990). Imperial Germany and the industrial revolution. New York: Publisher Transaction Publishers.