Page 183 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1960 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Parisians rally in support of France during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871),
crying out, “Vive la guerre!” (“Long live the war!”)

but the forced recruitment at that time fell short of put- warfare only in the late fourteenth century. Then, of
ting the entire male population in arms, as economic con- course, it changed warfare forever and soon made the cas-
straints (need of large numbers of peasants) and a static tles of the Middle Ages obsolete. At the start the individ-
society (only noblemen as officers) restricted the growth ual armaments of warriors and canons were crude but
of armies.The French Revolution brought an entire pop- improved in both the efficiency and the accuracy. At
ulation to arms, whereas it wasn’t until late in the nine- about 1500 the development of the flintlock made small
teenth century that a complete conscription system for arms more practical in combat.The sixteenth and seven-
the whole male population was in place. (Britain intro- teenth centuries saw all sorts of improvements of small-
duced it only in World War I.) After World War II and arms and canons.The art of fortifications also improved
especially after the Cold War the sophistication of arma- dramatically—defense against new, powerful armament
ment (with the time-consuming process of learning to was taken into account and canons were integrated into
manage these arms) led to a replacement of the conscript the planning of fortresses, providing them with an ideal
soldier by a voluntary system of recruitment in all sophis- range of fire. In the late eighteenth century several new
ticated European armies. explosives were developed, whereas in the nineteenth
century industrialization modernized arms production.
Armaments from the The 1850s and 1860s are generally regarded as the
Middle Ages to the 1800s beginning of modern warfare in an industrial society.The
Archers—and archery as a technological invention— Crimean War and the Civil War introduced many mod-
decided the Battles of Crecy (1346) and Agincourt ern features to warfare, among them the use of railways
(1415). In the thirteenth century gunpowder was first for transport of troops and matériel.Another feature new
mentioned in Europe, but it became a decisive factor in to these wars was journalistic and photographic war