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Technology during World War II and its effects

By: Osamwonyi.I

7/8-1

8th grade exit project

The Deadliest conflict in human history was War World II. A world war is a war involving many countries fighting against each other on sides. This is what happened here; the axis powers fought the allied powers.

The Axis Powers Countries:

  • Germany
  • Japan
  • Italy

Other axis countries were: Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria

The allied powers:

  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • France
  • U.S.S.R

The were several international countries that were also allied forces which gave it the world war definition.

Causes for this war were due to rise of dictators and invasion of countries. Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933 and invaded Poland, and later Belgium. Benito Mussolini became head and dictator of the Italian government in 1935. He also invaded Ethiopia. Lastly Already head of the Japanese government, Emperor Hirohito launches the invasion of China in 1937, and the U.S.S.R in 1938. Also the attack on pearl harbor on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 which is known as “a day of infamy” by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. These causes. were the ignition for a 6 year 1 day conflict which took the life of 75 million people

Technology played a big role in World War II because due to the new advance military technologies, both sides had advantages and disadvantages against one another which would decide the war's winner. One of the new technologies was the atom bomb.

The Manhattan Project was a research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II which were Little Boy, and Fat Man. It was supported by U.K, U.S, and Canada and was active from 1942 to 1946. Its base was Manhattan District in Tennessee which helped it get its name, Development of Substitute Materials. 130,000 people were hired and the project cost nearly $2 billion at the time (around $26 billion as of 2013). Several times, the scientists try to make an almost "Perfect" Atom Bomb, but almost all attempts failed. On July 16 1945, they successfully tested the first atomic bombs at the Trinity test, which was conducted at New Mexico's Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range. This was one of the most greatest achievements during WWII. On August 6, 1945 because the Japanese refuse to sign the Postdam Declaration, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron Little boy dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later on August 9, 1945, Fat man dropped from the B-29 bomber Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles Sweeney of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron.

While the atom bombs finished the war, tanks and vehicles roamed the battlefields, naval fleets controlled the seas, and planes ruled the skies shooting opposing sides.The Germans had an advantage because they had the supplies and workforce to make the vehicles, planes, and tanks. An example is The German Tank named “Panzer tiger” was able to destroy the United States’ strongest tank, the “Sherman tank” .

The Germans created the first cruise missiles called the V-1 and rocket powered missiles that were called V-2. Fortunately, they were developed when the war was nearing to an end. The V-1 rockets were one of the first guided missiles in the world at the time but was carried by jet fighters. It was designed and tested against Great Britain, targeting London. The V-1 rocket had a simple guidance system. With the help of autopilot it was very easy for the V-1 to guide itself. Inside the rocket there is a gyrocompass to help guide it to its destination. This was very effective in its creation. The V-2 rockets were short-range ballistic missiles hat were also targeted at London, England. Its official name was the Agreggat-4 or A4. It was a liquid propellant rocket which actually helped it go farther than the V-1.

Mortars were effective in War World II like any other weapon. Mortars are a type of cannon in which the explosive projectile would be shot in the air and then land and explode on its target.Mortars had the advantages in trench warfare. An example was when the Japanese used it to hold off most American troops during the battle of Iwo Jima. They used the 320 mm Type 98 mortar on the beaches to hold off the Americans.

The U.S Air Force and Navy had a significant amount of fighters, bombers, cruisers, destroyers, and carriers. But going against German technology was challenging. While the Americans had a larger quantity of ships, the Germans put a lot of money, time and work into they’re U-boats. The U-boats were German submarines that sank merchant convoys bringing supplies from Canada, the British Empire and the United States to the islands of Great Britain, to the Soviet Union, and the Allied Countries in the Mediterranean.

The U-boats main weapons were the torpedoes. Secondary weapons were the mines and when surfaced the deck guns. In WWII, the U-boats became larger and had longer battery life so that it could sustain long periods under water. The U-boats were most useful during the battle of the Atlantic. They took down 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships.

On the Aircraft side the Allied had faced numeral challenges against the German fighters. When the Americans came into the war they supported the British and French aircrafts like the P-51 Mustang that really help the allied forces in the western front. Taking down a staggering 4,950 axis jet fighters.

The only problem that the Americans faced was the tactic called the kamikaze that was used the Imperial Japanese Army. The kamikaze was suicide tactics by military aviators from Imperial Japan against Allied naval vessels. At least 47 Allied vessels were sunk by kamikaze attacks, and about 300 damaged. The Americans later made defensive strategies against the kamikaze.

Sonar systems or ASDIC were very effective to German U-boats. Sonar works with sound transmitter and a receiver. The sonar creates a pulse of a sound and then its waits for an echo or a reflection (which is a change of direction is physics’ terms) from an underwater object. The time lapse between the first pulse from the sonar and the reflection from the object is calculated into distance and then they (users of sonar device) can determine how far the object is underground. This was critical in the battle of the Atlantic in which sonar help Allied forces track and destroy almost 783 submarines.

Even though the advancement in Warfare Technology changed history in different ways, it comes with a cost. Over 60 million people were killed and the worst part was that the deaths of both sides of the military were over twenty four million. There were about sixteen million allied troops died and eight million axis troops died. That means over forty million civilians die in World War II. But, the holocaust is what symbolizes the casualties of World War II.

The holocaust was genocide or the mass murders of six million Jewish civilians during World War II. German scientists tested new gases or projects on Jews if they weren’t killed in the Gas chambers. These tests were gruesome and caused disgusting mutations of the body. Also Mercedes Benz also supported the gas chamber that the Nazi Germans used to kill many Jews.

Another effect of the war was the aftermath of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Now, to understand this when a nuclear weapon is exploded is releases radioactive gases into the air for miles so the atomic bombs didn’t cause all the casualties from two instant explosions. Seventy Thousand people died instantly on Hiroshima and forty thousand people died instantly in Nagasaki. A hundred thousand people died of the effects of radiation.

Sources

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii

http://armedforcesmuseum.com/advancements-in-technology-in-world-war-ii/

Atom Bomb by Tom Seddon

WWII by R.G.Grant

The airman’s war by Albert Marrin

General declarations of war (Pink= axis declarations of war Green= allied declarations of war)

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