Military Technological Impact of Early WWI

I'm thinking in terms of a contintal generalized war in the vicinity of 1900, give or take a few years. Off hand it reduces the number of armiured cars and trucks quite severely, probably removes tanks from the picture and almost certainly reduces aviation to the odd experiment, but I don't really have a sense of what, if anything it means... Submarines would be out initially, but Holland boats seem pretty likely to crop up over the course of a conflict in this era.

Would there really be anything all that different in a war tenish years earlier in any important sense? Are there any real wrenches in the works of a trench war along OTLs lines still being more or less the outcome? Would I be right in thinking that moving things a little earlier makes the static lines, if anything, harder to dislodge?
 
Well the British would be using the Magazine Lee-Enfield, not the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield, so the rifles will be a little more unwieldy. Germany wouldn't have a native MG design, though Austria-Hungary would have. Navally, as well as a lack of submarines, there are no dreadnought battleships, and Germany is way down on warships. Also, there's no (or virtually so) radios, so everything has to either hand-delivered, or go by telegraph.
 
The Germans will have the 7.7cm FK 96 field gun (the FK 96 nA with recoil system started entering service in 1904, IIRC). The French will have their modele 1897, a much superior gun, but it only started going into service in 1898, so they probably won't have large numbers of them. Artillery will be less effective relative to small arms.

The German Army adopted the Maxim only in 1908. The French tried a Puteaux gun in 1905, but it was unsatisfactory; the St. Etienne and Hotchkiss were adopted in 1907 and 1909, I believe. So barring significant changes, neither nation have many machine guns in 1900. Britain will have more, having adopted them in the 1880's; not sure of the scale of issue, though, and the small initial size of the BEF will deny any huge effect initially. The other nations will speedily build copies of the Maxim.

All nations had effective magazine rifles, though, even if the designs are mostly not as refined as in 1914. And I suspect that the fire of magazine rifles will be enough to quickly push things toward stalemate -- it may take longer, and the tactical stalemate may not be as ironclad as OTL, until the QF guns and MGs become prevalent.

All nations have the ability to mobilize tremendous numbers of soldiers, and the production capacity to supply them. This results in a large troop-to-front ratio.

The European railway network was quite dense in 1900, so the capability to mobilize, deploy, redeploy and supply the armies exists. Nonetheless, all nations kept building their railroads from 1900 to 1914, especially in the areas they expected they might have to fight; so the carrying capacity in the relevant areas won't be as great as it would in 1914.

One of the reasons that warfare on the Eastern Front was more fluid in 1914-17 was the relative scarcity of railroads; if one side achieved success, it took too long for the other side to bring in reserves. Since the railway network of 1900 was less dense than that of 1914, this factor might well be in evidence. We might see a bit more movement, until the lines are pushed to a point of balance, where the defender is now close enough to his local railway to stabilize the situation.

So the high troop ratio and relative ease of moving reserves will contribute to an operational or strategic stalemate.

We won't see either side sweep so rapidly through Belgium; the massive guns needed to quickly crack fortresses weren't in existence yet.

So I figure you'd see a bit more fluidity on the direct front (A-L and, possibly, the Ardennes) but still ending in stalemate. On the northern part of the front (if Belgium is even invaded), you'd see less fluidity than OTL 1914, ending in stalemate somewhere inside Belgium.
The nature of the stalemate won't be quite as firm, since magazine rifles can't kill at the rate that QF guns and MGs can, and the railway net isnt quite as dense. Once those guns are fielded in large numbers (which will be a priority for everyone), and additional war-built rail links are constructed, though, we get a situation almost exactly like in OTL WW1.

(I'm not considering political factors, nor butterflies resulting from a presumably more tense Pre-1900 period, at this point; but these would have an impact)
 
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This isn't a military technology per se, but the lack of the Haber process will cripple German munitions production if they get blockaded, since they won't be able to manufacture ammonia for munitions. If the factions are the same - which they probably won't be - German commerce can be quickly brought to heel by the Franco-British fleet. Even without the British onboard the French still have an effective commerce raiding arm and powerful navy which would be able to largely cut off German commerce. Of course, if things change more heavily then the situation could be more substantially impacted. The same deficiencies of ammonia could presumably apply to other nations it blockaded, although on this matter my ignorance may lead me to hasty conclusion.
 
I'm thinking in terms of a contintal generalized war in the vicinity of 1900, give or take a few years. Off hand it reduces the number of armiured cars and trucks quite severely, probably removes tanks from the picture

2nd Holt Crawler, steam powered in November 1904

591px-Holt_prototype_track-type_tractor_1905.jpg


But they followed the Market that Lombard Log Haulers were doing, patented since 1901

040312_2228_thelombardl5.png
 
Aviation would have been limited to balloons.

OTL both sides used large numbers of Draken and Cayout balloons to photograph enemy trenches and call down artillery.
Circa 1900, only Count Zeppelin was building rigid airships.
Most nations needed at least until 1910 to field flimsy spotter airplanes.
 
If it's true aircraft led directly to trench warfare (due to an inability to move in secret)...

Artillery will still dominate, since the French M1897, with hydraulic recoil, will be in service. Rifles will be (as usual) secondary.

Without trenches, the development of tanks may not happen at all.

Armored cars, however, seem likely anyhow, & may (to a degree) replace railroads.

Horses will, of course, be the prime mover of choice, which limits mobility. Moreover, the ability to move away from railheads (which crippled Germany's OTL attack on Paris) will, if anything, be even worse.:eek:
 
If it's true aircraft led directly to trench warfare (due to an inability to move in secret)...
Yes, that's why the Entente only finally stopped the Germans at Marne. Trench Warfare was going to happen, unless one side managed to beat the other before the lines stabilised sufficiently.

Armored cars, however, seem likely anyhow, & may (to a degree) replace railroads.
Armoured whats? A lot of the big names weren't even around in 1900, so it's hard to see where you'd get chassis from, never mind engines.
 
MattII said:
Yes, that's why the Entente only finally stopped the Germans at Marne. Trench Warfare was going to happen, unless one side managed to beat the other before the lines stabilised sufficiently.
And air recce made no difference at all? I'm not sure about that, either.
MattII said:
Armoured whats? A lot of the big names weren't even around in 1900, so it's hard to see where you'd get chassis from, never mind engines.
Offhand, I can't name European makers.:eek: I do recall both Duryea & Olds building cars in numbers before 1900. Given demand, even if there aren't large numbers, I won't rule out adding armor.
 
I do recall both Duryea & Olds building cars in numbers before 1900. Given demand, even if there aren't large numbers, I won't rule out adding armor.

1899-1901.............................. 1901.................................. 1902
Columbia 1500......................Locomobile 1500 ................... Locomobile 2750
Locomobile 750 ....................Winton 700 ...........................Oldsmobile 2500
Winton 100 .........................Oldsmobile 425 .......................Rambler 1500
Packard 49 ..........................White 193 .............................White 385
Stanley 30 ..........................Autocar 140 ...........................Knox 250
Stearns 20 ..........................Knox 100 ................................Packard 179
Knox 15 ..............................Packard 81 .............................Stanley 170
Oldsmobile 11 ........................Stanley 80 .............................Union 60

1903 ....................................... 1904 ...................................... 1905
Oldsmobile 4000 .....................Oldsmobile 5508 ...............Oldsmobile 6500
Cadillac 2497 .........................Cadillac 2457......................Cadillac 3942
Ford 1708 .............................Rambler 2342 .....................Rambler 3807
Pope-Hartford 1500 .................Ford 1685 ..........................Ford 1599
Rambler 1350..........................White 710...........................Franklin 1098
Winton 850 ............................Stanley 550 ........................White 1015
White 502 ..............................Franklin 400 .........................REO 864
Knox 500................................Packard 250 ........................Maxwell 823
 
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And air recce made no difference at all? I'm not sure about that, either.
The difference it made would be marginal I suspect.

Offhand, I can't name European makers.:eek: I do recall both Duryea & Olds building cars in numbers before 1900. Given demand, even if there aren't large numbers, I won't rule out adding armor.
Oldsmobile produced one vehicle at the time, the Curved Dash (okay, started in 1901, but close enough). This thing had no body to speak of, seated two, weighed ~850 pounds and its 5 hp engine could take it to a top speed of ~20 mph. Add in another 250-300 pounds of men, and say, 200 pounds of other kit (armour, the gun, etc), and you've raised the weight by 45%, which drops the speed to, well, something atrocious. Armoured cars aren't going to appear, or if they do it won't be in any numbers, the engines are too weak to take any load, and the cars themselves are little more than seats on top of engines, no body or anything.
 
1899-1901.............................. 1901.................................. 1902
Columbia 1500......................Locomobile 1500 ................... Locomobile 2750
Locomobile 750 ....................Winton 700 ...........................Oldsmobile 2500
Winton 100 .........................Oldsmobile 425 .......................Rambler 1500
Packard 49 ..........................White 193 .............................White 385
Stanley 30 ..........................Autocar 140 ...........................Knox 250
Stearns 20 ..........................Knox 100 ................................Packard 179
Knox 15 ..............................Packard 81 .............................Stanley 170
Oldsmobile 11 ........................Stanley 80 .............................Union 60

1903 ....................................... 1904 ...................................... 1905
Oldsmobile 4000 .....................Oldsmobile 5508 ...............Oldsmobile 6500
Cadillac 2497 .........................Cadillac 2457......................Cadillac 3942
Ford 1708 .............................Rambler 2342 .....................Rambler 3807
Pope-Hartford 1500 .................Ford 1685 ..........................Ford 1599
Rambler 1350..........................White 710...........................Franklin 1098
Winton 850 ............................Stanley 550 ........................White 1015
White 502 ..............................Franklin 400 .........................REO 864
Knox 500................................Packard 250 ........................Maxwell 823

Thx.:cool:

However, I may have overestimated the abilities of armored cars, too...:eek: (I am wondering if they can't still beat horses.)
 
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