Article ID: CBB761922629

Is Military Technology Deterministic? (December 2019)

unapi

Roland, Alex (Author)


Vulcan
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Pages: 19-33
Publication date: December 2019
Language: English


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

In their papers prepared for this volume, Kelly DeVries and David Zimmerman explore the differing viewpoints on technological determinism that military historians bring to bear on premodern and modern warfare. This paper analyzes their respective arguments, including DeVries’s introduction of the concepts of effectiveness, invincibility, and decisiveness; it focuses primarily on technological determinism. It explores some concepts of historical causation and concludes that nothing in human behavior is deterministic. It recommends language that can help historians avoid this rhetorical battleground and speak more clearly and judiciously about the factors that shape warfare and affect its outcome.

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Includes Series Articles
Included in

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

Article Walton, Steven A. (December 2019) Technological Determinism(s) and the Study of War. Vulcan (pp. 4-18). unapi

Citation URI
data.isiscb.org/p/isis/citation/CBB761922629

This citation is part of the Isis database.

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Authors & Contributors
Chandler, Jennifer A.
Cherlet, Jan
DeVries, Kelly R.
Durant, Darrin
Goodman, Seymour E.
Misa, Thomas J.
Journals
Vulcan
Science, Technology, and Human Values
Technology and Culture
Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society
Comparative Technology Transfer and Society
HOST: Journal of History of Science and Technology
Publishers
Oxford University Press
Concepts
Technological determinism
Military technology
Commentaries
Social construction; constructivism
Technology and society
Science and technology studies (STS)
People
Borgmann, Albert
Ellul, Jacques
Ely, Richard Theodore
Moore, Gordon E.
Edison, Thomas Alva
Eisenhower, Dwight David
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
20th century, late
19th century
18th century
Premodern
Places
United States
China
Europe
Sweden
Institutions
United States. Army
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Amazon (Firm)
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