Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
FACTORS IN SUCCESS OF WAR OVERALL? (Technology (ADVANCEMENT IN TECH,…
FACTORS IN SUCCESS OF WAR OVERALL?
The Air Force
Reconnaissance
USE OF BALLOONS
Balloon observers took photographs, checked maps, identified targets and reported on artillery accuracy by telephone
balloons were not that easy to shoot down.
Bullets could pass through the balloon fabric without igniting the gas
USE OF AEROPLANES
They were used as support for the army by scouting and artillery spotting
On 19 August 1914, Gilbert Mapplebeck and Philip Joubert de la Ferté flew the first RFC reconnaissance mission
RADIO AND ITS IMPACT
On Communication
Impact of radio on the enemy was significant
German soldiers who saw the radio antennas dangling from British planes were apprehensive
Jancke wrote later that artillery direction from the air, with shell-fire corrected almost immediately by wireless, was intimidating, and seemed the ultimate in new-style warfare.
ARTILLERY SPOTTING
Key role
pilots could locate targets that gunners could not see, observe the fall of shells and correct the aim
identify enemy gun positions, at first marking targets by circling above to drop ribbons or other markers, firing their guns or sounding horns or sirens
Using the 'zone call system (from 1915), pilots sent target information by radio in Morse code to RFC signallers (wireless operators) on the ground and assigned to artillery batteries.
the system relied on maps with numbered zones, each battery firing into its designated map zone
RADIO EVOLVED THIS ^
AIR PHOTOGRAPHY
Mapping the battlefield Air photos supplied intelligence for the Somme offensives of 1916, and for all later battles.
By 1918, however, planes were taking air photos from 15,000 feet.
Too high for most anti-aircraft fire and fighters, and from this altitude, a photographic plate could cover about six square miles of ground.
On the ground, around 3,000 photo interpreters analysed millions of photos
Advancement in reconnaissance
THE RFC
DEVELOPMENT OF THE AIRCRAFTS
Interrupter gear
metal plates
machine guns
bombers
use of the sun
flying formations
dog fights
TAKING A MORE AGGRESSIVE ROLE
strategic bombings
At the start of the war, aircraft had no guns.
By 1915 aircraft had largely taken over the reconnaissance role on land formerly carried out by cavalry, but numbers of scout planes were small
The Planes
Most were two-seaters, with the observer manning a machine gun, but slow-flying reconnaissance planes were still vulnerable to fighter attack
the answer was to provide fighter escort
The fighters could also take an offensive role, to contest the air space above the trenches, and deny the enemy air intelligence by shooting down reconnaissance planes
:red_cross: HINDER THIS. IS THIS ACTUALLY PROGRESSING? YES IN A WAY BUT NOT THE SPEED THEY NEED! :red_cross:
HAIG
Haig felt air power was essential to support his policy of continuous offensive.
The RFC also had this aggressive approach and lost lots of men and machines which needed replacing. As a result of the importance Haig put on this, aircraft production was increased, as was pilot training. Lloyd George agreed with Haig that the army needed to be properly supplied with planes and that this was a priority
MOST SIGNIFICANT FACTOR
War Reporting & Propaganda
war propaganda
ways in which it has helped
created a sense of nationalism
challenged conscientious objectors
swayed public opinion
If war propaganda had no effect in the first world war then there would have not been a use in the second world war therefore it must have had some use in helping the success in the war.
1917 - the national war aims committee, aimed to counter defeatism and pacifism.
1918 - ministry of information, aim was not just GB opinion but foreign opinion, esp USA
War Reporting
government control and censorship kind of links to the idea of propaganda, they were censorshiping out things that would cause the GB public opinion to turn
government reports on the war
criticisms that they were very one sided
war reporters had very limited access to the front line
this isn't as relevant, as the press weren't as free to travel and uncover things as well as they were in the crimea for example.
BUT, is this not a good thing? The censorship of the press allows the Government to control what the public see, they show them the good bits and then they keep public opinion high, which then keeps the war effort high.
Technology
ADVANCEMENT IN TECH
Rifles and attack strategies
machine guns
artillery creeping barrage
grenade
flamethrowers and Mortars
poison Gas
I don't particularly think that the army had that much effect, they fought battles but they were stuck in the trenches, they needed the war effort at the front and the airforce in order for the war to progress.
