The “War to End all Wars?”/ The Ethics of World War I Technology
On April 4, 1917 United States troops marched into the First World War with President Woodrow Wilson’s message echoing in their ears; this would be a “war to end all wars” to “make the world safe for democracy” (Nolte). However, 8.5 million deaths later, the Great War proved far from ending future conflict (“World War I”). The development of lethal gases, stealthy submarines, and destructive artillery made war more gruesome, paving the way for Hitler, Stalin, and later Saddam Hussein. The militaries of the First World War defied the ethics of just war, because new weapons caused unnecessary suffering, attacked innocent civilians, and demonstrated the potential of new technology …show more content…
Germany began to develop submarines to counter the powerful British navy. The Germans were successful in that the submarine was an effective offensive tactic, because it was stealthy, 200-250 feet below the surface, and thus hard to detect. However useful the submarines may have been, nothing justifies the unethical ways in which they were deployed. Often, the German U-boats targeted supply ships, passenger liners, and non-combat even from neutral countries. Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy, a famous painter, depicts the most famous tragedy when the Germans sank British passenger liner Lusitania, killing British and Americans (see Fig. 1). The sinking of a ship full of innocent civilians was very unethical. Americans were so angered, it was what brought them into the war (Modern Marvels). German Captain Schwieger looks on heartlessly on his victorious submarine attack, “An extraordinary heavy detonation followed… The superstructure above the point of impact and the bridge were torn apart; fire broke out… Great confusion arose on the ship… Many people must have lost their heads” (Schwieger). Schwieger shows the potential submarines have to evily attack civilians who have are not at all involved in the conflict, showing the unethical side of World War …show more content…
While airplanes and observation balloons were mainly used for reconnaissance during World War I, their potential to drop bombs was experimented with. The Germans developed the Zeppelin, a balloon filled with hydrogen air sacs (Modern Marvels). Starting in January 1915, the Germans bombed Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn, and then began to repeatedly bomb London beginning May 31. Ordinary civilians in London were minding their business in school or at work incendiary bombs and grenades rained down on them. “There was a blinding flash and a roar,” Cyril Helm, a doctor and diarist during World War I in London, writes. “The next thing I knew was that I was leaning up against a wall in pitch darkness with the air full of dust and acrid fumes. One poor RAMC orderly… was lying dead with his chest smashed in by a huge fragment of shell" (Helm). Helm puts into words the terrible realities he realized from air raids destroying his home in London and the family members he loved (see Fig. 2). Not only were over 700 killed and over 2,000 injured from the bombings, but the air raids caused panic throughout the city. The British instituted blackouts, searchlights, and any defense from the stealthy Zeppelin balloons. “‘Nowadays there is no such animal as a non-combatant,’ justified German Zeppelin commander Peter Strasser, ‘modern warfare is total warfare.’” Under the
On April 4, 1917 United States troops marched into the First World War with President Woodrow Wilson’s message echoing in their ears; this would be a “war to end all wars” to “make the world safe for democracy” (Nolte). However, 8.5 million deaths later, the Great War proved far from ending future conflict (“World War I”). The development of lethal gases, stealthy submarines, and destructive artillery made war more gruesome, paving the way for Hitler, Stalin, and later Saddam Hussein. The militaries of the First World War defied the ethics of just war, because new weapons caused unnecessary suffering, attacked innocent civilians, and demonstrated the potential of new technology …show more content…
Germany began to develop submarines to counter the powerful British navy. The Germans were successful in that the submarine was an effective offensive tactic, because it was stealthy, 200-250 feet below the surface, and thus hard to detect. However useful the submarines may have been, nothing justifies the unethical ways in which they were deployed. Often, the German U-boats targeted supply ships, passenger liners, and non-combat even from neutral countries. Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy, a famous painter, depicts the most famous tragedy when the Germans sank British passenger liner Lusitania, killing British and Americans (see Fig. 1). The sinking of a ship full of innocent civilians was very unethical. Americans were so angered, it was what brought them into the war (Modern Marvels). German Captain Schwieger looks on heartlessly on his victorious submarine attack, “An extraordinary heavy detonation followed… The superstructure above the point of impact and the bridge were torn apart; fire broke out… Great confusion arose on the ship… Many people must have lost their heads” (Schwieger). Schwieger shows the potential submarines have to evily attack civilians who have are not at all involved in the conflict, showing the unethical side of World War …show more content…
While airplanes and observation balloons were mainly used for reconnaissance during World War I, their potential to drop bombs was experimented with. The Germans developed the Zeppelin, a balloon filled with hydrogen air sacs (Modern Marvels). Starting in January 1915, the Germans bombed Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn, and then began to repeatedly bomb London beginning May 31. Ordinary civilians in London were minding their business in school or at work incendiary bombs and grenades rained down on them. “There was a blinding flash and a roar,” Cyril Helm, a doctor and diarist during World War I in London, writes. “The next thing I knew was that I was leaning up against a wall in pitch darkness with the air full of dust and acrid fumes. One poor RAMC orderly… was lying dead with his chest smashed in by a huge fragment of shell" (Helm). Helm puts into words the terrible realities he realized from air raids destroying his home in London and the family members he loved (see Fig. 2). Not only were over 700 killed and over 2,000 injured from the bombings, but the air raids caused panic throughout the city. The British instituted blackouts, searchlights, and any defense from the stealthy Zeppelin balloons. “‘Nowadays there is no such animal as a non-combatant,’ justified German Zeppelin commander Peter Strasser, ‘modern warfare is total warfare.’” Under the