by Science and technology played their roles differently in the three global wars, but all of their roles were crucial in determining the outcome of the wars. In World War I science and technology was not as advanced as it is today or even during World War II. In 1914 the newest technology was telegraphs, telephones and new modes of transportation. These modes of transportation include armored cars, tanks, aircrafts and machine guns. Chemical weapons also stepped onto the international stage and were used as a war tactic. These chemical weapons included chlorine, mustard gas and phosgene. These chemical weapons were a scientific feat but were banned after World War I in 1925 by the League of Nations when they approved the Geneva Convention. Despite the ban, these chemical weapons only accounted for a small percentage of the war deaths, but they did leave lots of soldiers with terrible injuries, blindness and painful lung disease. All of these new technologies and advancements played a role on both sides of the war and influenced the results.
This Geneva Convention’s ban of chemical weapons worked well in World War II. The use of chemical weapons was very limited on the battle feild and the Nazi’s never used their stockpiles on the battlefeild. Despite the lack of chemical weapons, over 60 million people were killed in World War II. These deaths were devastating to most of the world but the United States. In the United States and Europe scientific developments were being made. Many old concepts were being challenged and there were concerns about an economic depression. There was also work being done on Atomic bombs and eugenics. During World War II the government stepped in to establish scientific ventures to help with the war efforts. There was the National Defense Research Committee which was established under President Roosevelt and the Office of Scientific Research and Development. The National Defense Research Committee prepared scientists and engineers to be resources for the war efforts. Later in 1914 the Manhattan Project was launched which was one of the most influential projects regarding science and technology that happened during World War II. The Manhattan Project is one way that science and technology was able to determine the course of the war. The atomic bomb was the product of the atomic bomb. The whole project had more than 130,000 people, men and women, working on it. There were many big names who contributed to the effort including Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi. Einstein is seen to have later regretted the role he played in building a weapon of such mass destruction. The testing of the atomic bomb, the Trinity test, took place in July 1945. One month later the United States made the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, dropping the first atomic bomb on an enemy in history. This is still a much argued decision but one thing can be agreed upon, this bomb was the deciding factor of the war. After the United States dropped the bomb the war was essentially over.
The Cold War played out very differently from World War I and World War II, being a more calculated game than in the trenches war. During the Cold War, despite the Geneva Convention, the US and the Soviet Union produced mass quantities of chemical and biological weapons. In 1993 a treaty was put into place that banned the production, stockpiling and use of these weapons. The organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was established and oversees the enforcement of the treaty.
During the Cold War there were lots of displays of power in the form of an arms race and science played a role in these displays. The space race was one of the areas where this show of power could be exerted. Both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to be the first into space, seen as the next frontier. The space race was front and center for the American people during the Cold War and gave the people something tangible that they would root for. In 1969 Apollo 11 landed on the moon and astronauts became America’s hero. Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins became household names. This victory for the United States was a crushing defeat for the Soviet Union and played a role in their demise in the Cold War.