War. Times may change and people do too, but violence will always be humanity’s final solution to any problem. Because when all the cards are on the table, no one backs down without a fight. However, as time marches forward and technology advances, the nature of war has shifted from the days of all out bloodshed to more… covert approaches.
Before World War I etched its mark into human history, warfare was alarmingly simple compared to the complicated web that one might observe from a modern army. As countries barred arms against one another, humans, in their drive to kill each other faster and more efficiently, pretty much wiped the slate clean. Before 1914, the human race was merely taking its first steps along the path that would lead them to the weapons of mass destruction global superpowers now carry around like pocket change.
In the short periods before horses were completely replaced by tanks, trench warfare became the natural solution to minimize casualties, soldiers able to weather the barrage of artillery shells while hunkered down in their elaborate tunnel systems. As it was a primarily defensive strategy, two opposing trench lines would find themselves in the same agonizing situation – throwing soldiers across “no man’s land”, hoping that after the dust settled, they would be able to accomplish their goal…moving maybe several meters towards the next trench. Countless people died, whether they be attackers slaughtered mercilessly by artillery and machine guns or defenders desperately trying to regain any ground lost. War had become slow and agonizing, and death became a certainty, with the only question left remaining being how many people would die before someone succeeded.
And of course, in the typical human fashion, technologies specifically designed for such warfare came into existence. Grenades became part and parcel of every soldier’s kit, for they could be thrown blindly and without risk, while their explosive nature allowed for better chances of killing. The Germans created and made good use of their Flammenwerfers, hosing down and burning alive entire trenches of soldiers with pressurized gas and oil while flushing out others desperate to get away from the flames. American soldiers responded with the pump action shotgun, also known as the trench gun, their efficacy so brutal that Germany lodged a formal protest against their use.
Next came the first tanks, some little more than armored cars that were unsuitable for rough terrain. While they were somewhat useless for combat in WWI unless adequately coordinated (take for example, Allied tanks being dispersed in “penny packets” compared to Germany’s concentrated Panzer divisions), this would see further development in WWII. Aircrafts, while once solely used for reconnaissance, quickly saw purposeful development to turn them into bombers and transport carriers, capable of using air superiority to cover ground troops. There are certainly other notable developments in WWI, but WWII was where things really escalated.
With the world reeling from the aftermath of global destruction, was it really surprising that the next conflict came before the 20th century even hit the halfway mark? Once again, humanity went back to the drawing board. Mechanization became a requirement. The tanks that were once seen as bumbling wastes of money which had to be supported were now regarded as terrifying giants that could punch holes in formations (leading to Germany’s infamous “Blitzkrieg” strategy) and becoming an essential part of winning each battle. Trenches and cavalry were thrown aside, replaced by tanks and fighter planes, the battleship overthrown by the aircraft carrier. Air raids and mass bombings became the new strategy, able to destroy infrastructure and cripple morale. New “smart” missiles were produced (which later served as the basis for spacecraft), and humanity marched on obliviously, happy that it had gotten easier to annihilate lives. Last came death, destroyer of worlds, with nuclear bombs introduced into the mix, decisively concluding the war when Japan saw the dawn of two suns.
On the lighter side of things, this was also where war began to shift from an emphasis on violence to one on information. Radios were installed in all vehicles and most soldiers carried a portable one to ensure that orders could be conveyed and executed swiftly. Radar and sonar assisted in shooting down planes and sinking ships, while espionage and cryptography became essential in a war where the frontlines shifted on a whim. In fact, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the first general-purpose digital computer, was created to calculate complex calculations that were once done by hand. Even still, the point remains. Humanity, across less than a century of bloody, brutal warfare that was branded into the world itself, had progressed so quickly that the years following (for example, the Cold War) saw these military technologies rapidly being adapted for everyday consumption. And with the horrifying scars of the past not quite yet buried, the people set their sights on…less brutal ways to win a war.
The changing times of modern conflict plays out quite literally before us, in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Cybercrime has once again risen to prominence as both sides have resorted to disrupting computer systems in an attempt to wreak havoc on the day-to-day functioning of critical infrastructure, or even important military targets. In the era of the Internet, a single cyberattack can result in real-world consequences, especially when involving countries actively at war. Days before Russia’s invasion on 24 February, a series of massive distributed denial-of-service (DDos) attacks temporarily disabled dozens of Ukrainian government websites. Major Ukrainian banks and military platforms also faced outages during the same time period as hackers sought to disrupt banking services amidst sky-high tensions in the prelude to the actual invasion. The world has also seen a rise in so-called “wiperware”, a specific class of malware designed to irrevocably delete user data, often used by hackers against vulnerable Ukrainian targets. Most of such attacks have been directly attributed to the Russian military intelligence service (GRU), forming the clearest evidence yet of state-sponsored cyber warfare. In fact, the recent wave of DDoS attacks are entirely unsurprising as well - Russian state-backed hacking groups have been conclusively linked to a string of cybercrime against Ukraine since the eruption of the Donbas conflict back in 2014. In response, the volunteer-based “IT Army” was established by Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to safeguard Ukrainian cyberspace.
Another interesting feature is the use of viral Internet memes, primarily by the Ukrainians, to drum up support for their war efforts. Sharing relatively light-hearted moments amidst the horrors of an active conflict to millions around the world have brought remarkable success as memes often have links to ongoing fundraisers for the Ukrainian military. Celebrities have caught onto the trend and initiated separate fundraisers of their own, to the immense benefit of the Ukrainians. Memes have also played an important role in reshaping Zelensky’s (and by extension, Ukraine) image worldwide. From a leader who was expected to flee Kyiv within days of Russia’s invasion to a brave leader who stood up to the aggressions of the Russian bear, memes have spectacularly shifted global opinion in favor of the Ukrainians, especially in the presence of malicious Russian disinformation supporting the latter’s bogus justification for the invasion.
In the end, looking across a vast timeline spanning centuries, it is truly hard to not be impressed by how far humanity has come since the first days of warfare. And yet, despite all this change and evolution, one question remains – was this all for the better? We might have taken steps to distance ourselves from the abomination that was the dropping of the nuclear bombs, but those same weapons are arguably easier to produce than ever, and has played a very, very, disconcertingly prevalent part in threats between countries. There’s even a term for it, “Mutual Assured Destruction”. The idea that if a nuclear weapon is ever used against another country, the only logical response is a full-scale second strike that would result in Total Nuclear Annihilation. Terrifying, is it not? Humanity continues to wage war against one another, taking to digital space and covert operations, misinformation and propaganda on a global scale. Conflicts are no longer limited to just the countries involved, for every person with a phone, every wannabe revolutionary with ambition, anyone could take up arms and change the tide of war. They do say that words can be weapons. And with ever growing tensions between nations, along with increasing scandals revealing corruption and hidden agendas… it seems as though we have not moved on from the days of bloodshed.
Citations
Arraf, J. (2022, April 19). Ukraine's war efforts gain an unlikely source of funding: Memes. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/world/middleeast/ukraine-memes-russia-fundraising.html
Burton, K. D. (2020, July 31). The scientific and technological advances of World War II. The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Retrieved from https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/scientific-and-technological-advances-world-war-ii
Castillo, J. (2021, June 16). The cold comfort of mutually assured destruction. War on the Rocks. Retrieved from https://warontherocks.com/2021/06/revolutionary-thinking-questioning-the-conventional-wisdom-on-nuclear-deterrence/
How modern weapons changed combat in the First World War. Imperial War Museums. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-modern-weapons-changed-combat-in-the-first-world-war
Hughes, T. A. (2022, August 30). World War II. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II
International Affairs. (2022, July 13). Do memes matter for the Russia–ukraine war? Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/international-affairs-blog/do-memes-matter-for-the-russia-ukraine-war-c86887b5b7f5
Sayegh, E. (2021, September 15). When Cyber War Becomes War. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilsayegh/2021/09/15/when-cyber-war-becomes-war/?sh=b91e37161863
Stokel-Walker, C., & Milmo, D. (2022, March 15). 'it's the right thing to do': The 300,000 volunteer hackers coming together to fight Russia. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/15/volunteer-hackers-fight-russia
Warner, M. (2022, March 2). Wiperware (pseudo ransomware) used in Ukraine cyberattacks. Security Magazine RSS. Retrieved from https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/97176-wiperware-pseudo-ransomware-used-in-ukraine-cyberattacks
Zabecki, D. T. (2015, May 7). Military developments of World War I. International Encyclopedia of the First World War . Retrieved from https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/military_developments_of_world_war_i
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