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Aviation's Role In Trench Warfare

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Today, air power is a vital part of warfare planning, but in World War One, this area of combat was just beginning to be explored. The effectiveness and success of any modern ground assault in today's warfare campaigns hinge on a successful air campaign. In World War One, the concept of using aviation as a fighting tactic was in its infancy, and just being explored. Aviation as a weapon was considered unfair and was not allowed according to the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 (Wilkin 57). The significance of World War One was the use of aviation on a grand scale, adding a third dimension to the battlefield, and as a result, forever changing military planning and the way modern wars are fought. Prior to World War One, wars were fought …show more content…

Trenches were deep and laid out in very complicated zig-zag patterns with redundant lines of defense (Reiley 13). Soldiers occupying the trenches would rotate on a schedule, starting in the front trenches, and slowly work back to the support line, then the reserve line, and eventually the rear line, repeating the pattern as the demands of the battle dictated (Reiley 14). Life in the trenches was miserable, with millions of men in the trenches, disease was commonplace, and soldiers often developed Trench Foot, dysentery, or suffer from other trench related conditions (Reiley 18). Even with the rapid development of new and improved weapon technology, neither side could make any progress and this stalemate continued for three years (Reiley 22). In contrast to the trench warfare that was taking place inland, the Allied Powers were also using sea power to blockade the Central Powers. A naval arms race was taking place between the two great powers. Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, an American naval officer, authored the book titled “The Influence of Sea Power upon History” in which Captain Mahan theorized “that every nation that had ruled the waves, from Rome to Great Britain, had prospered and thrived, while those that lacked naval supremacy, such as Hannibal's Carthage or Napoleon's France, had not” …show more content…

Even though the German bombing campaign on London did not play a definitive role in influencing the outcome of the war, it had a psychological effect on citizens and was used in British recruiting propaganda posters with the goal of bolstering recruitment numbers (Robert 330). One specific recruitment example can be viewed on a poster created by the United Kingdom Government, Publicity Department, Central Recruiting Depot. As stated on the poster, "It is far better to face the bullets than to be killed at home by a bomb. Join the army at once & help to stop an air raid. God save the King"(Robert 330). Numerous other posters were put into production to encourage potential recruits, ages 18 to 50, to join the Royal Air Force with the promise that by joining the Royal Air Force, the volunteer could not be transferred to the army (Robert 330). For the first time in history it was possible for a soldier to participate and fight in a war without actually seeing

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