The first harbinger of a paradigm shift in war was the American Civil War. A new type of warfare came into being. It was, in fact, a prototype for a concept called Total War. ‘Total War,’ is the involvement of entire societies for war in a social, economic, and even spiritual sense. This war saw wholesale butchery of opponents on both sides as rifles and explosives got much more efficient and less personal. No longer did soldiers have to wait until they saw the whites of his opponents’ eyes. Men could now be killed at such distance that they could barely be seen. With innovations in landmines and long fuses, attackers didn’t even have to be in the area to kill.
Technology has always changed the way we fight wars. Armor proved to be nearly invincible until one day in Oct. 1415. On that day, a new “doomsday” weapon appeared on the Agincourt battlefield: the Long Bow. As is usually the case with doomsday devices, the other side is unaware that it exists. Only after being slaughtered did they realize what such a device was capable of. Of course, such an advantage is short lived, and soon both sides had the long bow. It was regulated from doomsday device to everyday device. Waging war effectively underwent suitable adjustments for this weapon.
A doomsday device, until 1945, was something that changed warfare drastically. The side that had it, whether it is longbow, slingshot, spear, cannon, musket chariot, tank or machine gun, thought they would hold the upper hand forever. We all know of the reaction the Aztecs had of Cortez and his horsemen. This was a shock to the Aztecs, who never fully recovered. Too often, the technological advantage is not enough for one side to use to fullest advantage against an enemy. They sometimes are not ready to fight during the war they were invented, such as the tank during WWI.
With the American Civil War, technology and society were attuned primarily to the war effort. The Industrial Revolution enabled engineers and scientists to create a technological boom in which the first practical land mines, submarine, machine guns and telescopic site were used. Society was dragged in, as more and more civilians were needed to manufacture the needed weapons and other war materials. This trend became a necessity in fighting a war. Massive civilian participation made warfare enter every aspect of our society.
Civilian industrial capability and capacity more and more became a part of what war was. In return, war spread to every corner of those nations fighting. This nasty turn occurred rarely during the Civil War, but was “discovered” during WWI with the zeppelin attacks on London and the massacre of a million Armenian civilians in Turkey. Technology enabled more people to become involved in the actual fighting because each new weapon type was capable of more death and destruction. More deaths meant more defense, which meant more offense. Trenches stretched from the English Channel to Switzerland in an effort to halt the advance of the enemy. These trenches needed to be manned, drawing more manpower into the armed forces.
What made World War One so different was the long-term impact of the Industrial Revolution, with its accompanying political and social changes. This was the first mass global war of the industrialized age. There were, of course, protests and debates, but the vast majority of the population fought in World War One, or supported it with the Home Front. They believed that victory for their own country was worth the cost.
In the 20th century, war had come to mean hatred by other methods. In this case, hatred meant eradication of entire peoples. Total War had now made it possible to do just that. Technology made civilian involvement in war inevitable on both the offensive and defensive side. World War 2 brought us to a point where civilians cannot help but become involved. The events of Sept. 11, 2001 are proof that no one is safe in this new war. From now on, any war is going to be a Total War, involving the entire populations of every country involved. There are no longer civilians, watching the war unfold as it passes their neighborhood. Total war has now become the norm in warfare, much to our detriment.
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