"The Science of World War I: Communications" Topic

"World War I is frequently referred to as "the first modern war," since a number of technological inventions made their debut during the war, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.

Nowhere was this more true than in the realm of communications — the recent introduction of electricity- and radio-based communications revolutionized the art of war, joining other advances such as military airplanes, tanks, machine guns and chemical weapons.

Despite these new technologies, many military leaders were slow to take advantage of them and continued to wage war as if it were a cavalry-based affair. Their reluctance (or inability) to adapt to new methods of warfare has been cited as one reason World War I was such a bloody affair, resulting in more than 17 million civilian and military deaths…"
Full article here.
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Hope you enjoy!.

Amicalement
Armand

'Their reluctance (or inability) to adapt to new methods of warfare has been cited as one reason World War I was such a bloody affair' That's a pretty outdated way of looking at the First World War…

Agreed, Abwehrschlacht. The command staff was caught in a bind. Too close to the lines and communications were constantly interrupted when the telephone lines were cut by artillery, too far and they lost sight of what was going on. Technological innovations were rapidly used and applied in new ways. The Marne was won at least in part by conscripting the Paris taxis. Aircraft were used by the brits to recon prior to the battle of Mons. And on and on

How ironic then that both the German and British cavalry went to war in August 1914 with wireless transmitters/receivers ;-) Heinz Guderian, for example, was a wireless operator for a German cavalry division in August 1914. This is one of the reasons why he placed such high importance on wireless comms for the newly forming panzer units in the Wehrmacht during the lead up to WW2.

Robert