The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
Top Ten Little Known 20th Century Developments that Changed Warfare
by James Dunnigan
October 21, 2002
- The modern rifle. It used to be, an effective soldier was someone who spent a lot of time learning how to use a weapon. But the bolt action, smokeless powder, rifle (actually invented in the late 19th century, but it was perfected in the early 20th) changed warfare much more than the generals expected. Now anyone with a few hours of training (if that) became an effective battlefield killer. Smokeless power made snipers much
more lethal, and individual automatic weapons (first the 9mm SMGs in World War I, followed by the AK-47 after World War II)
- Wrist watch. Superior battlefield coordination has always been an advantage, and for thousands of years flags or musical instruments enabled a general to give orders effectively. But in the 19th century, armies got too large for the ancient methods to work. Early in the 20th century, the wristwatch became popular, and this simple device (which replaced the pocket watch) was mass produced and became cheap enough to equip the officers and NCOs in most armies. Battlefield coordination became possible again.
- Military sanitation. Until the 20th century, the biggest killer of soldiers was bacteria, not bullets. Disease, mostly from poor sanitation in camps set up while armies were on the move, was greatly reduced by simply recognizing the problem and taking aggressive measures to deal with it.
- Sportswear. As Americans became more affluent their tastes in clothing changed. One development was that sportswear became much more popular. This outdoor, and casual wear, clothing also took advantage of new materials to provide lighter, sturdier and more useful for outdoor activity. Warmer, more waterproof , and better able to deal with sweat, this new clothing eventually made its way to the troops (sometimes unofficially at first.) By the end of the century, field duty was a lot less uncomfortable than it was a century earlier.
- Industrial training. In 1900, manufacturing was on it's way to becoming the major economic activity and America was turning the greatest creator of jobs in human history. But a lot of these jobs were newly invented and using the ancient apprenticeship system, or on-the-job training proved too slow. So new training techniques were invented, methods that we take for granted today. Training became less hit or miss and more just another job itself. The military adopted these training methods, particularly during World War II and after, when new military job specialties were invented with every new weapon or piece of equipment. Without the new training systems, the military would have been much slower to adopt new technology. Some armies did not adopt the more modern training methods and have suffered for it. This, however, has provided opportunities for U.S. Special Forces to go and show potential allies how to train their troops up to a modern standard. Another unexpected bonus.
- Commercial logistics. The 20th century saw the industrial revolution hit it's stride, producing trillions of tons of goods to be moved. To avoid getting buried in this flood of material, commercial enterprises had to invent new, and more efficient, machines and techniques for moving all this stuff. The industrial nations adopted these techniques for their (relatively) more modest logistics requirements. As a result, mechanized armies were able to move faster throughout the 20th century.
- Kleptocracy. The 20th century saw an enormous increase in the amount of cash industrial nations had to play with. A significant fraction of this money was given to poor nations as aid. But these nations were poor largely because of corruption. These governments came to be known as "kleptocracies" for the alacrity with which the local politicians stole aid money (and anything else they could get their hands on.) Some of the money went to creating armed forces that were basically loyal to the kleptocrats. This led to an endless round of rebellions and civil wars (sometimes between rival kleptocrats). Western armed forces had to cope with this new development, especially after the end of the Cold War. There was more call for peacekeepers and intervention forces and, like it or not, Western troops had to adapt.
- Laser tag. After the Vietnam war, the American military was open to all sorts of innovation. One of the most important of these was the make these games work. In the 1980s, the United States began using a new training system that used non-lethal lasers to represent real weapons. All participating troops and vehicles have sensors so that hits can be recorded. The entire battle area is wired with sensors so that all the action can be recorded and reviewed later. For the first time in history, there was a way of introducing the "pucker factor" into training. Troops using this "laser tag" system reacted realistically to the possibility of being "hit" and this was a major reason why American troops so quickly and decisively defeated Iraqi forces in 1991. There were some fierce, evenly matched battles in that war, and the superior training of U.S. troops made the difference every time.
- The Baby Boom. After World War II, there was an explosion of births in most industrialized nations, particularly the U.S. As all these nations were still using conscription, the abundance of young men that began to appear in the early 60s forced the military to become more selective, as they didn't need all the men available. This created social problems when decisions had to be made about who went into the army and who didn't. These pressures, plus the end of the Cold War (and the need for large armies in Europe) caused conscription to be dropped in country after country by the early 21st century.
- The infantry squad. This was a 20th century development, although the original squad size fighting organization was the hunting party that was turned to wartime use. The Germans were the first to introduce the infantry squad as an independent combat unit. This happened when the Germans perfected their "Stosstruppen" (storm troopers) tactics in 1917. After that, the infantry squad was no longer an administrative unit, but became a more independent and effective combat organization in all the world's armies. This changed infantry combat dramatically, but the significance of the change was rarely noted.
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