scholarly journals Engineer Richard Fiedler and his flamethrower epic in Russia on the eve of the First World War

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 64-89
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Military Equipment ◽  
The First World War ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
Technical Solutions ◽  
The Military

The appearance of flamethrowers as weapons is an example of the sagacity of lone individuals in the development of military equipment. Prior to World War I the German engineer Richard Fiedler invented the workable specimens of portable backpack (light) flamethrowers, trench (heavy) flamethrower, automatic igniters to flamethrowers, telescopic automatic flamethrower and other inventions, related to flamethrowing technology. Fiedler managed to reach the gunreach of jet flamethrowers to the distances ​​that are difficult to cover even today, and also to substantiate the tactical methods of their application. Fiedler's flamethrowers were successfully tested in Russia and in Germany in 1909–1910. Using the financial interest of Fiedler, the specialists of the Chief Engineering Directorate of the Russian Military Ministry reached an agreement with him for the purchase of the latest model of the backpack flamethrower, compositions of fire mixtures for various purposes, and certain details of flamethrowers, which he kept secret as his «know-how». However, this line was closed in Russia in 1911 by the Military Minister V.A. Sukhomlinov and his assistant A.A. Polivanov on formal grounds. Fiedler's inventions were not scrutinized by the military establishment of Great Britain and France at all. The opportunity to acquire a new type of weapons was missed for Russia and Entente Powers from the very beginning. The main reason for the indifferent attitude towards flamethrowers in the prewar period was the false ideas about the future war as a maneuverable and quick. The patents for technical solutions beyond the scope of «general ideas» about the means of warfare were also underestimated. But later they became harbingers of the emergence of new directions for the creation of weapons. It is important to take this fact into account while choosing the most promising directions for the creation of military equipment. In Germany, after almost a decade of tests and doubts, Fiedler's flamethrowers were accepted for service and delivered to pioneer detachments in 1912. They were improved and used effectively throughout the war. The Allies were to make their own flamethrowers themselves in the course of war, hastily, mainly from German models. There is no reliable information about the inventor`s fate after 1912.

scholarly journals Army medicine during the First World War

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-178
Author(s):  
Gennadiy N. Shaposhnikov ◽  
Vladimir V. Zapariy
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Military Medicine ◽  
World War ◽  
Medical Support ◽  
Military Health ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Military Health Care ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Military ◽  
First World

The article explains the development and functioning of an essential military component - medical support wartime - evacuation system. Describes the concept of conservative evacuation, developed in the Russian army at the beginning of the last century, shows the military medical services’ efforts to expand military health care and improve the system of evacuation during World War I. It is noted that, despite significant efforts, the evacua-tion remained the weakest part of Russian military medicine and does not reflect the scale of sanitary losses.

Indian Army and the First World War

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaushik Roy
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Performance ◽  
British Rule ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Military Support ◽  
The Military ◽  
First World

Accustomed to conducting low-intensity warfare before 1914, the Indian Army learnt to engage in high-intensity conventional warfare during the course of World War I, thereby exhibiting a steep learning curve. Being the bulwark of the British Empire in South Asia, the ‘brown warriors’ of the Raj functioned as an imperial fire brigade during the war. Studying the Indian Army as an institution during the war, Kaushik Roy delineates its social, cultural, and organizational aspects to understand its role in the scheme of British imperial projects. Focusing not just on ‘history from above’ but also ‘history from below’, Roy analyses the experiences of common soldiers and not just those of the high command. Moreover, since society, along with the army, was mobilized to provide military and non-military support, this volume sheds light on the repercussions of this mass mobilization on the structure of British rule in South Asia. Using rare archival materials, published autobiographies, and diaries, Roy’s work offers a holistic analysis of the military performance of the Indian Army in major theatres during the war.

The British Cabinet and the Anglo-French Staff Talks, 1905–1914: Who Knew What and When Did He Know It?

1985 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Coogan ◽  
Peter F. Coogan
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
World War ◽  
French Military ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military ◽  
First World

The role of the British cabinet in the Anglo-French military conversations prior to the First World War has been and remains controversial. The acrimonious debate within the government during November 1911 seems linked inextricably to the flood of angry memoirs that followed August 1914 and to the continuing historical debate over the actions and motivations of the various ministers involved. Two generations of researchers now have examined an enormous body of evidence, yet the leading modern scholars continue to publish accounts that differ on the most basic questions. Historians have proved no more able than the ministers themselves were to reconcile the contradictory statements of honorable men. The persistence of these differences in historical literature demonstrates both the continuing confusion over the cabinet's role in the military conversations and the need for a renewed effort to resolve this confusion.The starting point for any discussion of the staff talks must be the recognition that the meaning of the term changed significantly over the nine years before the outbreak of World War I. The contacts began with a series of informal discussions between senior British and French officers during 1905. The first systematic conversations took place early in January 1906 under the authority of Lord Esher, a permanent member of the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID), and Sir George Clarke, the CID secretary. Later in that month a small group of ministers, including Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, sanctioned formal, ongoing exchanges between the two general staffs.

scholarly journals The centenary of World War I in Serbia: A war of monuments

2020 ◽  
pp. 127-149
Author(s):  
Alexey Y. Timofeev
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Republika Srpska ◽  
Memorial Sites ◽  
The Military ◽  
First World

The anniversary of the First World War in Serbia has become an oc-casion for exacerbating public discussion and drawing attention to the rise of revisionism in NATO countries. Fear of a revision of the history of World War I infl uenced Serbian society and elites on the eve of the centenary. The concerned Serb elites responded with a wide range of events organized in Serbia and Republika Srpska. Within the framework of the commemorative events dedicated to the anniversary, monuments, installed and restored by the Serbian authorities and their foreign part-ners, have received special signifi cance. These were monuments to the Serbian patriot G. Princip, to the famous Iron Regiment, to the woman volunteer-soldier Milunka Savic. They are traditional fi gures of the Ser-bian memory of the First World War. At the same time, Serbian authori-ties did not succeed in their attempt to perpetuate in monumental forms the head of the Serbian military intelligence D. Dimitrievic-Apis, the leader of the Serbian nationalist organization Black Hand, which patron-ized the Mlada Bosna organization that prepared the assassination on Franz Ferdinand. The Russian-Serbian monuments of the First World War in Serbia presenting Nicholas II and the military brotherhood of the two peoples were of special signifi cance. All new monuments have become memorial sites and at the same time attractive points for vari-ous political forces expressing their sympathies and antipathies through symbolic gestures towards them.

From Jennies to JATO

2020 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 122-158
Author(s):  
James C. Scott
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
First Century ◽  
National Defense ◽  
World War ◽  
Aerospace Manufacturing ◽  
Military Aviation ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Aviation Training ◽  
Air Force Base ◽  
The Military

The First World War was seminal to the development of military aeronautics and aircraft/aerospace manufacturing in California. While flight innovators Glenn L. Martin and Glenn H. Curtiss made key prewar contributions to military aviation within the state, it was America's entry into the war that was the primary catalyst to the establishment of military air facilities as well as a constellation of small, federally contracted airplane factories within California. Using Sacramento's aviation training school at Mather Field and the airplane factory at North Sacramento's Liberty Iron Works as case studies, this article details the ways that World War I was an early catalyst to the statewide embrace of the seemingly limitless potential of aviation, what many then referred to as “air-mindedness.” An intimate look at both Liberty Iron Works and Mather Field reveals how World War I made Sacramento a martial city, strongly committed to a century of pursuing, and playing host to, military aeronautics and aircraft/aerospace production, as manifested by today's Mather Airport (until 1993, Mather Air Force Base) and aerospace giant Aerojet-General, an early innovator of jet-assisted take-off (JATO) and the indirect progeny of Liberty Iron Works. Several factors related to the advent of World War I—most notably, the promise of economic growth, the allure and mystery of flight, and the local prestige that comes with contributing to national defense—inculcated Sacramentans (and Californians) with an adoration for the military, a sense of regional independence, a reverence for the economic promise of the aircraft and aerospace industry, and an aviation-centered mentality that would endure into the twenty-first century.

The Direction of Supply Activities in the War Department; An Administrative Survey, II

1944 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-498
Author(s):  
John D. Millett
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
General Staff ◽  
War Department ◽  
Chief Of Staff ◽  
General Officers ◽  
Planning Development ◽  
The Military ◽  
Secretary Of War

Interestingly enough, in the extensive consideration given to War Department reorganization immediately after World War I, almost no attention was paid to the possible value of the S.O.S., A.E.F., experience. Three thousand miles behind the A.E.F., in Washington, it may have seemed that there was little to distinguish between the Services of Supply and the Purchase, Storage, and Traffic Division of the General Staff with its accumulation of hostile reaction.In August, 1919, the General Staff of the War Department presented its version of desirable legislation for the reconstitution of a peace-time Army. The measure provided for a General Staff Corps to consist of a Chief of Staff with the rank of General, five assistants to be detailed from the general officers of the line, five Brigadier Generals, and 220 other officers. The bill provided that the Chief of Staff should have “supervision of all agencies and functions of the military establishment” under the direction of the President or the Secretary of War; and it went on to provide that “the Chief of Staff shall be the immediate adviser of the Secretary of War on all matters relating to the Military Establishment, and shall be charged by the Secretary of War with the planning, development, and execution of the war program.

Interservice Competition and the Political Roles of the Armed Services

1961 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel P. Huntington
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Civilian Control ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Shipbuilding Industry ◽  
The Military

“Conventional wisdom” (to purloin a phrase from Galbraith) holds that interservice competition necessarily undermines economy, efficiency, and effective central control in the military establishment. The remedy is further unification, possibly even the merger of the services into a single uniform. The conventional wisdom also holds that political action by military groups necessarily threatens civilian control. The remedy is to “keep the military out of politics.” The pattern of American military politics and interservice rivalry since World War II, however, suggests that the conventional wisdom may err in its analysis of their results and falter in its prescription of remedies.Service political controversy between the world wars had two distinguishing characteristics. First, on most issues, a military service, supported, perhaps, by a few satellite groups, struggled against civilian isolationists, pacifists, and economizers. The Navy and the shipbuilding industry fought a lonely battle with the dominant forces in both political parties over naval disarmament. The Army lost its fight for universal service after World War I, and throughout the Twenties clashed with educational, labor, and religious groups over ROTC and with other groups over industrial mobilization preparation. In the annual budget encounters the issue usually was clearly drawn between service supporters who stressed preparedness and their opponents who decried the necessity and the legitimacy of substantial military expenditures. To the extent that the services were in politics, they were involved in conflicts with civilian groups.

7. Crisis and war, 1930–1945

2020 ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Walter A. Friedman
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Atomic Bomb ◽  
Niels Bohr ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Equipment ◽  
The Creation

Herbert Hoover, the first self-described “businessman” to assume the presidency, inherited a troubled economy. “Crisis and war, 1930–1945” outlines his successor Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and his successful attempts to stabilize the economy and re-establish capitalism. After a sluggish period for metals and manufacturing after World War I, America received overwhelming demand for military equipment from Allied forces during World War II. This led to the creation of a new munitions infrastructure, with more women entering the workforce and, in the words of physicist Niels Bohr, the whole of America becoming a “factory,” particularly for the three sites dedicated to building the atomic bomb.

scholarly journals A review of the military and historical studies of World War I in Bulgaria

2019 ◽  
pp. 424-445
Author(s):  
Svetlozar Eldarov
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
World War ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
National School ◽  
The First World War ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Military ◽  
Second Period ◽  
First World

The paper reviews the development of the Bulgarian historiography of the First World War, which can be divided into three totally different periods. The publications from the 1920s and 1930s can be viewed as a product of a national school that is strongly marked with the trauma from the political catastrophes and unrealised national projects. The second period covers the Communist era or the totalitarian government of Bulgaria (September 9, 1944 - November 10, 1989) and includes an evolution from a total denial of the past historiographic schools, i.e. a complete ignoring of the topic of the ideological and political motives, to its gradual rehabilitation. In the last three decades, since there have been many jubilee celebrations of the World War I end and Bulgaria's participation in it, the interest of historians towards this topic has risen as well as acquirement of new research areas.

scholarly journals Activities of wonderful organizations on the willow during the First World War

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (27) ◽  
pp. 56-63
Author(s):  
Yaroslav Tsetsyk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
First World War ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
World War ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
Charity Work ◽  
The Military ◽  
First World

In the article on the basis of archival documents the main directions of charity work in Volyn province during the First World War are analyzed. It has been found that they have played a leading role in organizing and assisting wounded and sick soldiers. To this end, hospitals were opened and maintained at the expense of local governments, educational institutions of various types and philanthropists. It is determined that the imperial authorities have strongly encouraged the population of the region to do this activity, including students and teachers of educational institutions. Particular attention is given to the organization of shelters for homeless children, whose numbers began to increase rapidly after the evacuation and forced eviction of civilians as a result of the Russian army's retreat in the summer of 1915, and the role of the Orthodox clergy in this was analyzed. Using the documents of the study period, it was proved that the imperial authorities encouraged the people of Volyn to do charity for the benefit of the military, as evidenced by a number of circulars. However, as a result of hostilities in the province and the policies of the Russian military command, the majority of the population became impoverished and unable to do charity work. This situation indicates serious miscalculations by the imperial authorities and the military. But despite the shortcomings and shortcomings, charitable activities have played an important role in helping the various sections of the population most affected by hostilities in the country.

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