Technological Developments In Ww2

Wojciech Wieczorek
IB1 History SL

Question 3: Examine the impact of technological developments on the course and outcome of one 20th-Century war (WW2 chosen).

Stating that the WWII drastically changed the lives of people all over the world seems to be a massive understatement or a trivialisation of the entire conflict; however, simple fact is that it really changed everything, including development of new technologies. But not only new technologies were invented but also the ones created during WWI had matured and were adjusted to the new realities of the war. All kinds of technologies – including electronics and communication techniques; land, naval and air weaponry; and medical developments – had a substantial impact on the WWII.

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Most important was a wide increase in usage of penicillin. Even though it had been developed pre-war, it took the whole WWI and inter-war period to make it an effective medicine on industrial scale. In GB it was hugely used after D-Day (1944) and increased survivability of wounded soldiers by 30%. The percentage was that huge due to the fact that it took often not less than 12-14h after being wounded until the solder was being operated; with use of penicillin, such a period allowed a wound to fester. Moreover, the operative treatment developed as well. The British were the leading in successive burns and wound treatment as well as in providing soldiers with means for healing and re-growing of damaged areas. World War Two also saw the growth of the blood transfusion service from a relatively primitive organisation at the start of the war to a sophisticated well-oiled machine at the end, storing blood and distributing it to where it was needed. It all indicates how important was medical development for the regeneration of soldiers who after being well-treated could return to the battlefield.

Taking all those factors into account, one may say that the WW2 was the war of great technological developments. Without them the war would, with no doubt, be much more primitive. New techniques of electronics and communication allowed more fluent contact and detection of enemy forces; and medical developments gave the possibility of faster solders returning to the battlefield. Above all, military innovations were the most important as they were changing the course of the war the whole time and guided the Allies to the final