Science and Modern Warfare

Introduction: For a number of centuries science kept itself aloof from warfare. It was not until the Chinese invented the gun-power that science became an active and powerful associate of war. It is curious that the gun-power was invented for a very innocent and harmless purpose to be used in firecrackers. The evil nature of man, however, soon began to misuse the gun-power for destructive purposes. And in sheer disgust we speak ill of science for all those acts of cruelty. Endowed with tremendous power modern science is yoked to the chariots of war. It is bound to annihilate life on earth

Modern wars: Modern wars are being fought with scientific weapons like tanks, aeroplanes, guns, bombs, missiles and rockets, etc. The warriors are simply media for the application of the scientist’s inventions. Ingenious scientific inventions are made every day in order to render war more and more destructive. Science extended the war front from the land to the sea and then to the air. It is said that the science is relegating human values completely into the background. Man in increasingly becoming the slave of the machines. His attitude towards himself is becoming increasingly mechanical. Man is regarded either as a chemical phenomenon or as automation. Thus the aesthetic and spiritual significance of human personality finds no place in the scientific conception of the political organization of humanity. The invention of motorized vehicles was a revolutionary step. Formerly men went to battle on foot or on horseback or on elephants. Now they go in armored cars. In order to make these cars operate on all kinds of terrains, tanks were invented. This resulted in the creation of various kinds of high explosives and remote controllers, (RDX) that could smash the tanks. With continuous firing with smoke¬screens, frontal attack is rendered almost suicidal. This necessitated fighting from behind trenches, dugouts and pill-boxes. Thus, the whole process of fighting was revolutionized.