The power that airplanes held in a time of war, was very different then all the other vessels that where used during conflict. For example, ground troops, tanks and ships as “The access [an airplane] provides makes it a faster, more flexible, and more precise than any other form of military power. ” Before the 20th century, nations had not held the power for aerial bombardments on such a large scale. First used by the Italians in the Italo-Turkish War, planes went on to have an important role in World War I which cemented their importance’s in warfare, and changed the way that wars were fought even on the ground.
The use of the airplane was not only limited to airstrikes and bombings. Planes could also be used for humanitarian aid, evacuations, and the deployment of troops and supplies over enemy lines. Planes also brought a whole new battlefield to the war. Now there was not only fighting on the ground and on the seas, but the skies became a battle ground as well. The invention of the airplane also aided in the advancements of other types of wartime technology. Several technologies such as radar and air control started to be developed during the Second World War.
I believe that this demonstrates that out of all technological advances in warfare that came out of the early 20th century, airplanes where the most revolutionary. One of the reasons that the use of the airplane in the military became so popular throughout the world, was the fact that a plane could have so many different important functions during a war. Although their main use was for artillery purposes, such as dogfights between opposing sides, or the bombardments and destruction of enemy bases and territory, they had other imperative purposes as well.
They could be extremely beneficial for strategic purposes, like photographing, mapping or charting enemy territory, or for dropping off troops and supplies to camps that were located in enemy territory and could be difficult to get to by land. They could even be used for humanitarian purposes as well, such as evacuations of troops, hostages, or civilians, or flying in supplies for hospitals and schools throughout enemy territory that were being effected by the war.
The fact that airplanes can have so many different uses during wartimes demonstrates why the airplane was an invention that changes that changed the ways that wars where fought. The first use of the airplane in warfare transpired during the Italo-Turkish war. This took place between 1911 to 1912. Although most of the fighting took place on the ground or in the water, planes had a significant role as well. They were used to bomb enemy bases, and to take photographs of surrounding areas.
This greatly assisted the Italians in the creations of charts and maps of the enemy territory. Even though the Italians only had very few planes to work with, the huge advantages that they brought was crucial, “The aerial navigation and aviation rendered excellent service … They facilitated work, which would have been hard to accomplish in an ordinary theater of war” Using these planes the Italians where able to take detailed pictures of mountains and valleys and other geological features that would have otherwise been hard to access.
The use of planes in this war displayed to the world that aircrafts had a tremendous effect on strategy and mobility and would have a huge impact on wars to come. Airplanes also held great importance in the First World War, although originally at the beginning of the war they were thought to be, “only useful in a limited way for reconnaissance, and scarcely at all for combat purposes. ” However, this soon changed and “the first concerted move towards using the aeroplane as an offensive weapon came in the autumn of 1914.
Originally, it was primarily German and France who had the formidable air forces, but other countries such as Great Britain and Russian soon began to catch up, and by “the year 1915 [there was a] general acceptance … that the aeroplane was a weapon in its own right and not simply a means of observing activities on the ground. ” World War I was the first war that had both sides using aerial tactics such as bombardment and dogfights. This was the first war that brought the fighting off of the ground and up into the air for the entire world to see.
This further helped to exhibit that the use of the air force in warfare was here to stay. The inventions of airplanes also changed the way that wars were fought on the ground because for the first time soldiers were having to camouflage both themselves and their artillery to not been seen from the air. Even before planes were equipped with guns, pilots could take detailed accounts on where the enemies camps and artilleries were located.
This also resulted in the need for troops to organize their movements to occur during the cover of darkness, as movement was harder to track from the air at night. “Water, food and more ammunition were man-carried up to the front lines, each night, by working parties of 100 to 200 men, each carrying a load of 80 pounds on his back. Two or three trips a night was normal, more before an attack was to go in. ” The introduction of the airplane in war not only brought the war to the air, but it also changed the way in which war was fought on the ground.
This support the argument that the airplane was one of the most important weapons to be used in war. Another reason that the airplane was one of the most important wartime inventions of the 20th century was the fact that it presented an entirely new battlefield to war, as now the skies were an open playing field for battle. Aerial dogfight first started appearing in World War I, when opposing sides would send planes up into the air to shoot against the other side.
In World War I, being a fighter pilot was a dangerous job, “it was a 50-50 chance that if a sharp German pilot didn’t knock [the plane] from the sky, [it] would fall apart under us” Because of these dangers, nations rushed to build stronger, faster, more agile and more powerful aircrafts than those they were fighting against, “World War I not only demonstrated the potentialities of the airplane as an implement of war, but it forced the United States and its allies into a competition with the enemy to produce better airframes and engines. This substantiates that all nations saw the advantages that airplanes held in a war, and that the more powerful your air force was, the better the chances you had of winning. As the airplane evolved, an alternative use for airplanes during wars, was the bombing of targets in enemy areas. Prior to the invention of the airplane it was extremely difficult, if not impossible to attack or destroy targets that were deep in enemy territory.
However, with the invention of the plane this all changed. Although planes were used to bomb some targets in the Italo-Turkish war, the use of planes to bomb enemy targets didn’t become common place until World War I, where they proved to be extremely useful for ‘strategic bombing’ which “[focused on] the military front and targets closely related to it such as munition factories and railways” .
Without the use of planes in World War One, it would have been very difficult for the Allies to have matched the destruction causes by the opposing powers, as “Germans had to travel a short distance to strike French cities, often just 30 kilometers” where it was a lot more difficult for the allies since “French targets in Germany where located … often 150 to 200 kilometers behind the lines. ” This illustrates how crucial the use of planes was to the allies in World War One, stressing how important the invention of the airplane was during the time of war.
Inventions that came along with the airplane began near the end of World War I, when the first aircraft carrier “the British merchant ship the HMS Argus [was] completed in 1918”, this was the first ship that airplanes could take off and land upon it. The invention of the aircraft carrier was truly important if a county wanted to establish an air force in enemy territory, since it was much easier to bring your own runway for planes to take off and land on than it would be to build one on enemy territory. What aviation had brought to naval warfare … was … the ability to strike enemy ships and bases from the sea” Having aircraft carriers also provided a nearby base for pilots who were doing missions in far away enemy countries, while also providing armies with quick access to planes while camped out in enemy territories. The invention of the aircraft carrier shows how valuable nations thought that planes were during a time of war, considering that nations where actively trying to develop ways to make the deployment of airplanes a lot simpler.
An additional invention that was developed during World War II was radar. One of the main reasons that radar was developed was to be able to intercept planes coming in to bomb cites. The Germans were using planes to bomb British cities, “The initiation of a British radar program was a direct result of the final collapse of European collective security in 1934 and 1935, and a fearful recognition by the British of the potential threat of German airpower.
The invention of a radar system which provided very little to no offensive measures clearly showed what kind of power airplanes held during a war. The fact that nations, such as Great Britain, had to try and invent technology that would be able to intercept incoming bombers unquestionably illustrates that the invention of the airplane categorically altered warfare and was one of the most important wartime inventions that came out of the early 20th century.
In conclusion, the airplane was the worthiest piece of wartime technology that came out of the early 20th century. With its many versatile uses, such as taking images that allow nations to map enemy territory, being able to deposit troops and supplies much more easily across enemy lines, the use of planes as bombers to destroy enemy camps and artillery, and the emergence of aerial dogfights clearly showed how useful planes could be in wars.
And, with the invention of the airplane came many other innovations that became essential to wars, both for offense, like aircraft carriers, or defense, such as radar. This confirms that the introduction of the airplane changed the way in which wars were fought and will be fought forever, proving that out of all technological wartime innovations that came out of the early 20th century, the airplane was the most significant.