c1900–present: Warfare and British society in the modern era Flashcards
change in use of infantry 1900-present day
1900: main army force - 65% of army in 1914
Present: still main forcce but more compllicatted -25% of army
Change in use of cavalry 1900-present day
1900: Scouting and raiding - 10% of army in 1914
present: replaced by tanks which are 10% of British army
Change in use of artilery 1900-present
1900: key weapon. ARtillerymen 20% of army in 1914
present: Royal Artillery is 10%. Duty shared by air and tanks
Changes in use of specialist troops 1900-present
1900: 5% of army
present 55% eg Royal Engineers, mechanical engineers, medical corps
When were Haldane’s reforms
1908
How do Haldane’s reforms compare to present day
army divided into 2 groups
Regular/standing army:
1908: 150,000 who served abroad and local. Used in ww1&2
2020: similar with 82,000 troops
Territorial force
part time and reserve forced combined to create. Number 240k in 1914.
2020: named Army reserve - 30k soldiers
How did specialist logistics troops evolve army transport and food
Royal Waggoners and Army service (formerly MIlitary Train) corps supplied food and transport instead of army commanders raiding towns or requisitioning
Royal Army service had to supply food to how many soldiers in 1918
3 million
Specialist troops - Explosive Ordinance Disposal
Created during ww2 to dispose of unexploded bombs dropped in London.
1940: 134 army bomb disposal units formed and disposed of 25,000 bombs in a year
Example of robotic EOD
Dragon runner with pincers, camera and digging arms
1914 Railways produce war of movement
outmanoeuvre enemies
eg 2 million men moved by 11,000 train journeys and horses
What meant war of movement 1914 was replaced by stalemates?
Machine guns such as Maxim or Vickers were extremely powerful in defence but weak in advances.
Eg Western Front in Battle of Somme 60,000 died in infantry charge
What lead to the return of War of Movement in 1916-18
Tanks:
armed with machine guns
“Whippets” travelled 10mph
Aircraft:
Used to bomb machine gun enemy troops and factories
Map enemy positions
Motorised vehicles:
Carry troops around
Rapid communications
Tanks in 1916
eg in Battle of Somme, 42 used
Travelled 1mph and broke down often.
Caused great fear
How did vehicles from 1939 produce dynamic war of movement
Tanks: can move 20-40mph leading to “blitzkrieg” tactic - use speed of attacking weapons to get into enemy defence
Aircraft: “stuka” can fly low and at 240mph
Radios to coordinate attacks
Factors creating stalemate/war of attrition
1)Anti-aircraft guns
-automatic reloading and firing
-1943: 50,000 used by Germany so Allies lost 15% of planes each raid
2)Radars
Send radio waves to detect incoming planes
3)Fighter planes
, eg spitfire could outmanoeuvre Germans at 350mph.
Battle of Britain 1940 fighter planes kept Britain safe from invasion and reduced impact of German bombers
What was the impact of bombings WW2
-Mass civilian deaths. Dresden 1945 killed 25,000 people in just two days
-Tied up military assets. Germany used 2 million people to man its air defences.
-decimated economic assets like factories
-Atomic bomb. 70% of buildings in Hiroshima destroyed, 70k killed instantly
What is total warfare
Using all resources at a country’s disposal to win a war.
-population, scientific/industrial knowledge, increased political power, money
Chemical warfare used in WW1
German troops use chlorine canisters to kill 1250 troops in 1914
1918: 90k soldiers killed by gas attacks.
When was chemical warfare banned?
1925 Geneva Protocol
1997 Chemical Weapons Convention
due to attitudes in society -outrage against gas attacks
What new stalemate did nuclear weapons introduce?
Mutually Assured Destruction
How was an infantry man equipped from 1945?
Night vision glasses, personal radio
AR with laser aim, telescopic sight
sometimes machine gun with 750rpm
Aerial support given to infantry men from 1945.
Merlin helicopter could carry 45 troops and armoured vehicles.
Gave support that cavalry used to: scouting and also carried guns