Britain twice went through a similar maelstrom, during the two world wars. Each time, technological developments leapt far ahead of the usual peacetime sluggishness. In 1914-1916, losses of aircraft and tanks were very high, caused less by enemy action, and more by primitive engines. By 1918, the survivability had soared, due to the speed with which internal combustion engines were made, and their vastly increased robustness.
Few had travelled in a motor vehicle by 1914, and many had never seen one. The War Office possessed 850 of all types. Horses were considered more reliable, of which the Army owned 25,000 and soon bought 460,000 more. Yet, by 1918, British forces were using 56,000 vehicles. Most were sold after the war, which brought public mobility and encouraged trade via the coach and goods vehicle fleets of the inter-war period.
From just 193 aircraft fielded by the Army and Navy in 1914, over 22,000 airframes were operated by the Royal Air Force in 1918, with 30,000 much improved engines in store. Thus began the air-passenger services of the 1920s. Wireless transmitters in 1914 were primitive affairs, but due to their extensive use in warships, aircraft and the trenches, the BBC was born in the war’s aftermath in 1922.
We have just observed the 86th anniversary of the end of Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk. Over the course of nine days, between May 26 and June 4 1940, around 800 “little ships” – privately owned yachts, motor boats, fishing boats and lifeboats – were requisitioned at no-notice and taken on numerous trips between Ramsgate and Dunkirk, in addition to larger naval vessels and cross-channel steamers. With a shortage of naval personnel familiar with small boats, many civilians volunteered to take and crew their own craft.