Page 184 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

warfare—europe 1961

Selection from the
Treaty of Westphlia (October

24, 1648)
World War I, when the most modern European armies
The Peace of Westphalia produced a series of
(France, Britain, and Germany) clashed in 1914, the
treaties that ended the Thirty Years War between
industrialized form of warfare that had developed led to
France and the Holy Roman Empire and eighty
a stalemate, as the sophisticated weaponry became
years of war between the Dutch and Spanish and is
entrenched and speed as a factor of warfare disappeared.
considered by historians to mark the emergence of
What became known as mechanized warfare is therefore
the state as the primary political entity in Europe.
the attempt to reintroduce speed to the industrialized bat-
I. That there shall be a Christian and Universal tlefield. It started with tanks on the Western Front late in
Peace, and a perpetual, true, and sincere Amity, World War I but came to full effect first in the German
between his Sacred Imperial Majesty, and his “lightning wars” during the early phases of World War II
most Christian Majesty; as also, between all and (against Poland in 1939 and France in 1940). Part of this
each of the Allies, and Adherents of his said reinvention of speed was airpower, which was first used
Imperial Majesty, the House of Austria, and its during World War I, but became a major form of
Heirs, and Successors; but chiefly between the weaponry only during World War II (for example, with
Electors, Princes, and States of the Empire on the the German bombing of Warsaw, Rotterdam, and Lon-
one side; and all and each of the Allies of his said don; the Battle of Britain; Allied strategic bombing of
Christian Majesty, and all their Heirs and Suc- Germany and Japan).The introduction of the so to speak
cessors, chiefly between the most Serene Queen mother of all weapons, the atomic bomb, in 1945 was
and Kingdom of Swedeland, the Electors respec- largely the result of European expertise, but it was first
tively, the Princes and States of the Empire, on the constructed in the United States and, fortunately for
other part.That this Peace and Amity be observ’d Europe, only used twice against Japan. The collapse of
and cultivated with such a Sincerity and Zeal, Nazi Germany and the coming of the Cold War led to the
that each Party shall endeavour to procure the largest accumulation ever not only of nuclear weapons
Benefit, Honour and Advantage of the other; that but also of conventional weaponry.Almost as impressive,
thus on all sides they may see this Peace and although only a secondary force in the nuclear age, were
Friendship in the Roman Empire, and the King- the Soviet tank armies.Western Europe and foremost the
dom of France flourish, by entertaining a good United States countered that threat in numbers by devel-
and faithful Neighbourhood. oping more sophisticated weaponry. The U.S.–spon-
Source: The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved March 30, 2003, from sored arms race in the 1980s was one of the factors that
www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon.
led to the technological and economic collapse of the
Soviet Union. After the end of the Cold War in the late
1980s and early 1990s, the picture of armament in
reporting, which have affected propaganda and morale in Europe became somehow confusing and at times con-
all wars since.The construction of the needle gun and its tradictory: Europe seems to be largely at peace, with con-
use by the Prussian army was essential for the Prussian ventional, if not to say archaic, forms of warfare on the
victories in the 1860s and early 1870s. In the 1880s the fringe (wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s). Europe
first modern machine guns were constructed. has suffered the modern form of terrorism (bombing in
Madrid in 2004), where crude weaponry is used to cre-
Armaments in the ate terror among the civilian population. Some Western
Twentieth Century European countries (especially France, Britain, Germany,
Even though small arms, grenades, and artillery became and Italy) have the technical and technological capabili-
more and more sophisticated right up to the outbreak of ties for up-to-date armament, but financial constraints