Interwar Innovation Essay

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The interwar period hallmarked the transition from a war of attrition to one of rapid movement and maneuver underpinned by variously effective forms of innovation undertaken by the eventual belligerents. Innovative thought, collaboration, and resourcing were required to adopt feasible, acceptable, and suitable objectives, concepts, and systems against nebulous risk immediately following the end of WWI. Nations ability and willingness to realistically assess their national objectives, commitment to evolve military concepts and doctrine, and implement periodic recapitalization of their hardware played out in the opening years of WWII. Continual effective innovation is paramount to maintain military capability, however interwar innovation was …show more content…

This barrier to innovation was famously summarized by the former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s quote noting that, “you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have...” said in context referencing development, manufacturing, and fielding limitations. An examination of two specific British decisions made in the interwar period serve to articulate the point, the first being the governments rejection of Bomber Command’s request for a new generation bomber and the second being the overreliance on their poorly tested anti-submarine detection system. In contrast Britain successfully developed its radar capacity and resourced the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters whose fielding limitations were based on an underdeveloped industrial complex, based in part to Britain’s late transition to a war footing. Meanwhile the U.S. resourced long range bombers and sophisticated aircraft carrier operations at the cost of developing competitive fighter aircraft that were available in the early stages of the war. Rapidly changing technological development challenged innovation during the interwar period as nations were forces to assume risk in their strategic formulation with regards to resources, or means, available at the onset of the

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