How important was the development of technology to the changing nature of warfare in the period 1500-2000?
You are going to write a short, evaluative essay which addresses the question above with between 600 and 800 words. This page is designed to help you plan your response. Everything you need to write this essay can be found in lessons 2-10 in this section of the website. You need to plan your essay in two steps.
You are going to write a short, evaluative essay which addresses the question above with between 600 and 800 words. This page is designed to help you plan your response. Everything you need to write this essay can be found in lessons 2-10 in this section of the website. You need to plan your essay in two steps.
Step 1 - researching the relevance
There are basically three questions to consider, each of which is progressively more difficult:
Which wars are relevant? When did warfare change? What caused this change?
Make a copy of the following planning sheet but replace the sections in red with explanations and examples of your own.
There are basically three questions to consider, each of which is progressively more difficult:
Which wars are relevant? When did warfare change? What caused this change?
Make a copy of the following planning sheet but replace the sections in red with explanations and examples of your own.
Period and turning point |
Technology important to the changing nature of war |
Non-technology very important to the changing nature of war |
1500-1700 From medieval war to the conquistadors and wars of religion. |
One of the defining characteristics of the end of the middle ages is the development of gunpowder. Why was gunpowder important to the European conquistadors? |
Why did Europeans colonise the Americas? Why were there wars of religion? How did this impact on the nature of war in this period? |
1700-1815 From the limited dynastic wars to the wars of revolution in America and France. |
Innovations included the addition of a bayonet to the musket which was now flintlock rather than matchlock. But how significant to the changing nature of warfare? |
Politically European states begin to centralise and war is something expensive and worth avoiding. Then two revolutions and Napoleon changed the world and with it the nature of war. |
1815-1900 The technological transformation of war from first to second generation. |
Wars fought in Napoleonic Europe were more similar to wars fought 300 years earlier than wars fought 60 years later. This was a period when war was transformed by technology. |
Morality enters the battlefield with Henry Dunant. Other individuals also change war: von Moltke, Dreyse, Maxim and Russell. Why were nationalism and imperialism important? |
1900-1945 The era of total war from second generation to third generation warfare. |
The industrialisation and mechanisation of warfare continues apace and the nature of war moves from the static trenches to the blitzkrieg of aircraft and tanks. |
Again new ideas are important: communism and fascism and their political totalitarian states. Why does 'total war' change the ethics of war? Are any more individuals important? |
1945-2000 Cold War return to limited war and fourth generational change. |
We enter the nuclear age of the mutually assured destruction (MAD) of deterrence. In the guerilla wars in Asia, Africa and Latin America the idea of a battlefield almost ceases to exist. |
The Cold War is a battle of ideologies between two superpowers and the beginning of the long-peace. Why does decolonisation and independence movements result in new types of war? |
Step 2 - Identifying the big points and organising the paragraphs
Select from the explanations and examples from step one and try to combine them into a series of big points so the paragraph is PEE'd. (Point, explanation and example).
Technology cannot always explain the changing nature of warfare. The impact of cultural beliefs has been important because it has led to particularly violent wars because the enemy is perceived as less than human. This dehumanisation has led for example to the conquistadors in America in the 15th century, Europeans in Africa during the age of imperialism and Nazi Germany in World War II. In each case human life has been taken with little concern for the victims.
The red sentence addresses the question. The paragraph would continue with more green explanations and blue examples.
Technology cannot always explain the changing nature of warfare. The impact of cultural beliefs has been important because it has led to particularly violent wars because the enemy is perceived as less than human. This dehumanisation has led for example to the conquistadors in America in the 15th century, Europeans in Africa during the age of imperialism and Nazi Germany in World War II. In each case human life has been taken with little concern for the victims.
The red sentence addresses the question. The paragraph would continue with more green explanations and blue examples.
Step 3 - Planning the structure of the essay
Introduction Briefly outline (signpost) what you are going to say below in paragraphs 2 and 3. |
Paragraph 2 Make your big point and explain and provide examples for the argument you don't think is less persuasive |
Paragraph 3 Make your big point and explain and provide examples for the argument you think is more convincing |
Conclusion Restate your main argument from the introduction and explain why you either agree or disagree with the question. |