The ideas of modern war can lead back to the 18th century during a certain campaign by a French military leader. This military leader was named Napoleon Bonaparte. He started a campaign against Western Europe that defined war and his strategies echoed throughout time up until the Second World War. His strategic plans were legendary up until his biggest mistake, which was invading Russia during its winter during the battles in the Waterloo Campaign. Before you can get into how he became a military genius you have breakdown how is life really was before his military career began.
Napoleon was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15th 1769 to Carlo Buonaparte, a lawyer and political opportunist, and his wife, Marie-Letizia Buonaparte. The Buonaparte’s were a wealthy family from the Corsican nobility, although when compared to the great aristocracies of France Napoleon’s kin were poor and pretentious. Due to his parents connections he was able to enter the Military academy in Brienne in 1779. He moved to the Parisian Ecole Royale Militaire in 1784 and graduated a year later as a second lieutenant in the Artillery.
When the civil war broke out the Buonaparte’s fled to France and adopted the French version of their name Bonaparte. When the political situation in France flipped around, Napoleon was tried for treason, but if not for his roots in politics, he would have been executed but his families connections saved him from death. In 1795 Napoleon became a hero again and helped fight the revolutionary forces off. As a result of that, he grew to be one of the most respected military leaders in France. In 1796 Napoleon was given control of an Italian army which helped defeat Austria.
After that campaign he returned to France as a bigger hero than he originally was, but had to leave in 1798 to Egypt and Syria in order to threaten England’s imperialistic rule in Africa. Napoleon and his army returned in the August of 1799. Shortly after he took part in the Brumaire coup of November 1799, finishing as a member of the Consulate, France’s new ruling triumvirate. In the Novel by Robert M. Epstein, his military background was identified and how he planned his attacks were broken down so that the average person could understand them.
He was the individual who introduced the ideas of modern warfare to the global affairs. The definition of modern warfare according to the author is thus: “A war is modern when it has all of the following characteristics: a strategic war plan the effectively integrates the various theaters of operations; the fullest mobilization of the resources of the state, which includes the raising of constrictive armies; and the use of operational campaigns by opposing sides to achieve strategic objectives in the various theaters of operations.
Those operational campaigns characterized by symmetrical conscript armies organized into corps, maneuvered in a distributed fashion so that tactical engagements are sequenced and often common understanding of operational methods. Victory is achieved by the cumulative effects of tactical engagements and operational campaigns. ” Napoleon was the first military leader to introduce warfare on different fronts at the same time in order to defeat the enemy. In his campaigns he introduced the ability of a military to fight in two or three different locations at the same time during a war while keeping them organized.
By giving each division and battalion a general he was able to keep in command of those generals who commanded his troops. He gave them a set of orders which they followed, in order to have a swift military plan and victory. That is considered to be the point at which war became modern throughout the world. But that is the opinion of the Author; there are other people like myself who do not believe that Napoleon was the one that paved the path for modern warfare to begin. Some historians and scholars believe that the introduction of new and advanced technology was the reason why war became modern.
This is what I believe was the reason of the modern armies, navies, etc. to begin to arise. Technology was the reason why some wars began and why some ended and that is what should be examined when you think about after the Napoleonic wars. You can trace the use of technological superiority throughout history to be the reasons why certain countries won certain conflicts. The roots of modern warfare could be seen during the wars of religion when armies had more advanced weapons then just spears and arrows.
When they started using catapults and new weaponry the opposing forces defeated the side which didn’t have enough engineers to think up new advancements to put them ahead. All the wars since 1815 have been decided by the superiority of the opposing forces technological standings. The Crimean War that lasted from 1854 till 1856, and the death told was about 750,000 men, which is more then any other war from the Napoleonic war till World War one. The reason why the Russians lost this war is because of their poor communication with their troops and the supply systems prevented them from feeding them from aiding their troops.
If they had the proper technology to relay their messages and supplies they could have won that war. Another very important war that was decided on terms of the basis of technology was the Great War A. K. A World War One. This war occurred during a time when many new technological advances flooded the countries which had some extreme consequences. One of the most important pieces of technology which brought us into the war was the German U-Boat. This was a serious piece of machinery which caused many deaths and which brought the United States of America into the war.
If it wasn’t for the unrestricted warfare that sunk innocent trade ships to their watery graves we would have not entered the war at the time we did. Anther piece of deadly technology that curved the war was the institution of poison gas onto the battle field. Even though the gas was primarily constituted of Chlorine, it blinds many and killed most who came into contact with the so called Mustard gas as they soldiers named it. Finally the new steel navy was one of the main reasons why Technology curved the war. They helped blockade supply roots and the battery that is on ships bombarded the opposing forces from the sea.
The allies came out on top due to technology. Another war that can be related to this theory is World War II. During this war there were many advanced technological improvements in weaponry that really changed the way the war was fought. One of the most well known is the full introduction of the Automatic rifle which didn’t need to be cocked every time a round had to be fired. This made killing opposing forces quicker and made the killer deadlier. Another significant technological change was the implement of the modern Air Force.
There were planes that were distinctly made to be bombers, and to drop troops, which had a real big impact on the new warfare. Also since there was a new air force being used, there had to be certain precautionary measures to be taken in order to thwart off the planes, thus the birth of flak cannons. These shot shards of metal not the sky to shoot down the planes. Finally the most important piece of technology that was introduced in World War Two was the Hydrogen and Atomic Bombs; which were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
These two pieces of weaponry ended World War Two in the pacific front and in the world. Having Technology is was makes your Militaries, Navies, and Air forces modern, a strong battle plan is a great thing to have but that doesn’t make warfare modern. This is what gave certain forces the advantage over their opponents. Weaponry kills people, not the plans themselves. To have a significant advantage over your opponent is what conquering is all about, and that is what new advancements did. Even though Napoleon was a military genius and developed new theories on war, they didn’t make war fare modern, technology did.