To start, we must travel 12,000 years back to civilization’s true beginnings: The Neolithic Era. The Neolithic Revolution marked a turning point in mankind’s evolution, as we switched from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to agricultural settlement. According to Jesse Greenspan, a freelance journalist specializing in history and the environment who previously appeared in the NYT, scientists believe it wasn’t until this era that organized conflict began. With only the rudimentary technology of stone speartips, axes, arrowtips, and blades, these conflicts lasted hardly a few days and involved at most 20-30 people. Agricultural practices had barely just begun, meaning our predecessors did not have the tools or knowledge to grow enough food to support larger populations. Moreover, technology facilitating long-distance transportation or communication did not exist. Thus, conflicts were incredibly small-scale, local, and ultimately unimpactful. 

Around 3,300 B.C.E., bronze tools began to replace their weaker stone counterparts, fostering the growth of ancient civilizations. Bronze tools made agriculture and building much easier, facilitating the growth of greater cities. As Greenspan explains, this era saw the formation of the first formal armies, complete with distinct leaders, chains of commands, and separate units. Since these civilizations had more to protect and more experience in large-scale cooperation, armies were the natural next step. The dawn of the Iron Age around 1200 B.C.E. only strengthened these armies. As Bennet Sherry, who earned his PhD in History and now teaches undergraduate at University of Pittsburgh, explains in his article, “The Iron Age”, iron, though more difficult to work with, was much stronger and more common than bronze. Arming soldiers became cheaper and easier, making for even more powerful fighting forces. Cast iron, invented in China around 700 B.C.E., allowed craftsmen to mold cheap tools, plows, pots, and art. This abundance of agricultural technology allowed farmers to produce a surplus of food, bolstering even more population growth. With greater populations came a greater need for protection and a greater number of men who could serve, further expanding the scale of military conflict.

Swords and shields, no matter what metal they are made out of, still didn’t allow armies to tear down castle walls or take out several battalions at once. Gunpowder, invented in 900 C.E. by the Chinese, changed that. As the History Prime article, “Knights to Cannons: The Gunpowder Revolution” explains, the spread of gunpowder technology throughout Eurasia completely transformed the battlefield. The days of sieges—long, drawn-out attacks on castle walls done by digging under or using siege ladders—were over. Inventions such as the bombard, a heavy siege gun firing large stone balls at walls, and the early hand-held firearm took down fortress walls with ease and allowed soldiers to attack enemies without direct confrontation on the battlefield. Castles and fortresses could no longer keep invaders out, so architects adapted by designing lower and thicker walls, completely changing the look of cities. The scale of war expanded with the higher risk for civilian involvement, foreshadowing a disturbing pattern in wars yet to come. A cannon can not discriminate between a soldier and a child, no matter the intention of the attacker. 

The technological jumps we’ve examined thus far happened over the course of hundreds, even thousands of years, bringing about change at an incredibly slow pace. Even with the first industrial revolution beginning around 1760, it took around one hundred years before it was truly in full swing. Yet, in the four years between 1914 and 1918, we saw the most rapid and impactful technological and wartime advancements ever recorded. WWI completely reshaped both the scale and devastation of global conflict, as well as how wars were fought. Trench warfare—a gritty, slow wartime technique in which soldiers hide in manmade trenches to avoid enemy fire—quickly replaced the marching armies of the past. The Library of Congress’s “Military Technology in World War I” highlights the main inventions behind this shift: the Maxim gun and the tank. The Maxim gun was the first high-power machine gun, able to fire a whopping 1200 rounds at a distance of over a hundred meters by the end of the war. A human would never be able to block its bullets, so their only choice was to dig deep into the earth and hide. The tank, a colossal rolling fortress, was made to combat this, allowing soldiers to avoid fire and cross into no-man’s-land. Planes also made their first appearance in combat, used for reconnaissance, fighting, and bombing. WWI was the first “total war,” meaning civilians were equally involved in the effort and also became targets of attack. Allies and Central Powers alike targeted cities and civilian populations with bombings, raising some of the first great ethical violations of warfare. WWI also saw the first use of chemical warfare, adding an additional layer of scientific ethical violations into the mix. Asphyxiants, blistering agents, and tear gases were all used against enemy troops despite being very difficult to control, leading to some of the most haunting images of the war. Finally, WWI also saw the use of dreadnoughts, terrifying warships developed in an arms race just a few years earlier. Although there was very little naval warfare itself, the British used a naval blockade on Germany to cut off their imports, leading to the starvation of some 763,000 German civilians. Overall, 1914 to 1918 saw some of the most rapid, ethically concerning developments in warfare in our history. It marked a period in which science and technology truly came to play a part in our global conflicts. 

After the First World War, one would think we would’ve learned our lesson about the consequences of mixing technology and warfare. Yet, when the US joined the Second World War in 1941, it secretly began the development of a weapon so fatal that it could wipe countries off the map. The casualties from the battle on the Eastern Front were catastrophic for the US, and we wanted to end the war once and for all. Thus, on August 6th, 1945, America dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, closely followed by another only three days later in Nagasaki. Here was destruction like never before, an almost god-like power being placed into the hands of mankind. It’s no wonder that after the war’s end, other major powers scrambled to build their own arsenals and arm themselves. The Cold War between Russia and the US only heightened these tensions, with each country trying to beat out the other in both power and number of atomic weapons. Though we’ve had a few close calls, atomic weapons have not been used since the tragic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That being said, humans have slowly come to accept their presence in our world. Slowly, the existence of world-destroying weaponry has become commonplace. 

Looking to grasp how our generation tackles such overarching ideas, we interviewed 11th grader Emily V. about her thoughts on nuclear weapons. “I only think about atomic weaponry when considering the past,” she commented. “Sometimes it doesn’t hit me that they still could be used.” Many of us echo this sentiment, struggling to grapple with the implications of this scale of technology. It’s difficult to picture these weapons as anything but abstract, mythical dangers, as far off as sea monsters or fire-breathing dragons. Even today, with conflicts such as the one between Russia and Ukraine raging in the background, students have a weak grasp of the reality of innovations. We can quickly feel overwhelmed or lost without an anchor to guide us. In these moments, the study of history can act as that anchor. Looking to the past provides much-needed context for our present, making the absorption of our modern world just that bit easier.