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Article ID: CBB447906454

Technological Determinism(s) and the Study of War (December 2019)

Walton, Steven A. (Author)

Vulcan
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Pages: 4-18

ISSN: 2213-459X; 2213-4603

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/22134603-00701003

Publication Date: December 2019
Edition Details: Special issue on technological determinism and war
Language: English

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The concept of technological determinism has been a mainstay of discussions in history of technology and especially in science and technology studies (sts) for about half a century, yet military history as a field has generally sidestepped the idea as a category of analysis. Military historians, however, would do well to consider some of the insights from these other fields, for they can fall prey to (tacitly) deterministic analyses. Although the emphasis on tactical and strategic factors, as well as leadership and soldiers’ experience, sometimes insulates technological explanations from appearing to be causal, a casual reading of both military history and contemporary military policy seems to show that warfighters and political leaders often see technology as transformative. This is all the more evident in the discussion of military revolutions and especially revolutions in military affairs (RMAs), where technology is a least a leg of the stool, and at “best” a transformative agent.

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Includes Series Articles

Article Zimmerman, David (December 2019) Neither Catapults nor Atomic Bombs: Technological Determinism and Military History from a Post-Industrial Revolution Perspective. Vulcan (pp. 45-61). unapi

Article DeVries, Kelly R. (December 2019) Catapults Still Aren’t Atomic Bombs: Effectiveness and Determinism in Premodern Military Technology. Vulcan (pp. 34-44). unapi

Article Roland, Alex (December 2019) Is Military Technology Deterministic?. Vulcan (pp. 19-33). unapi

Included in

Article Goodman, Seymour E. (December 2019) Deploying Technological Innovation in “Real Time”: Union and Confederate Ironclads. Vulcan (pp. 81-110). unapi

Article Brown, Gates M. (December 2019) Technology’s Unrealistic Promise: The US Army in the 1950s and Technological Determinism. Vulcan (pp. 62-80). unapi

Citation URI

https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB447906454/

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