Technology & Science in World War One – The Soldier at the Western Front
The First World War illustrates in a terrible way the destructive potential of modern technologies. This is because the “primal catastrophe” (Urkatastrophe) of the 20th century was also a war of scientist and engineers. Their (self-)mobilization was one precondition that a so far unseen industrialization of murder could be realized.
The following pages provide material of selected aspects of the scientification and mechanization of war: automatic weapons, flamethrowers and chemical weapons are examples for the mechanization of the battlefield. The treatment of “shell shock” victims illustrates the consequences of unlimited warfare. And the journalistic controversy concerning war crimes finally shows that scientist allowed their utilization for propagandistic means.
Students and lecturers should be animated by the references to contemporary sources of different origin to further research. Manageable issues have been didactically prepared for pupils and teachers. The provided worksheets are as well suitable for the use in classes as for self-study. They correspond thematically to the history curriculum of the 8th grade secondary school (Gymnasien/Wahlpflicht) of Saxony.
The First World War illustrates in a terrible way the destructive potential of modern technologies. This is because the “primal catastrophe” (Urkatastrophe) of the 20th century was also a war of scientist and engineers. Their (self-)mobilization was one precondition that a so far unseen industrialization of murder could be realized.
