What was more important to the evolution of warfare and strategy, the steam railway or the machine gun?
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What was more important to the evolution of warfare and strategy, the steam railway or the machine gun?
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Bearing in mind that this is not a 'tactical' question, I'm inclined to go with the machine gun (strategic stalemate of the First World War)...
Additional Details
From the answers so far I can see that the idea of being 'firstest with the mostest' seems the more important consideration. However, one man man with a machine gun can hold up, or even stop, the advance of hundreds of men and it is due to this fact that numerical superiorty become less important. Logistics are important in wars of mobility (lines of operation and supply) but this importance declines as front-lines become fixed and the rapidity and scale of supply becomes less decisive. I am not trying to undermine the validity of any of the answers provided so far (and thank you for providing them!), I just wanted to offer my opinions and some food for thought...
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zaphod73@att.net
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Great question! I suspect a lot of historians could debate this one for a long time. Personally (being an amateur Historian) and arguably, I would have to say the railway because getting soldiers to the battlefield quickly (and first, to scout out the best defensive positions) is a bit more tactically beneficial in my opinion. Battles are mostly won by occupying territory so the more soldiers you can send to a front to occupy (and possibly overrun) a position, the better. |
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how_would_I_know
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There's a saying, wars aren't won by tactics or strategy.. they're won by logistics. It's hard to look at a train as equally important as the machine gun, but I think they might be. |
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Joe
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Railway. The ability to move troops and supplies to the front quicker is essential. It also increased production because raw materials could make it to the factories quicker.
What is more important? The machine gun or the bullets that are fed into it? The railway brought those munitions to the front. |
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Mike
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I would say the machine gun
A railway is nice to have to resupply your soldiers, however many wars are fought in places without railways and we still manage to figure out how to resupply our soldiers.
However if you are up against an enemy with machine guns and you do not have machine guns, then you are in serious trouble. Your chances of winning would be very poor. |
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Johnny
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It has to be the railway. Getting an army of a million men into the field was pretty much impossible without it.
Forget about food and water - large army's just can't live off the land they need transport and supplies.
How could you carry and supply a large number of machine guns without it? By mule?
I agree with the machine gun being of pre-eminent importance (alongside barbed wire) as far as battlefield tactics.
The machine gun needs the train. The train doesn't need the machine gun. |
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