University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1915-07-30
UNIVERSITY MISSOURIAN
WAR PROGRESS DUE TO SCIENCE.
FRIDAY, July 80, 1915)


back to the Napoleonic wars of a
hundred years ago. But there is vast
difference between warfare then and
now. Armies of millions have re-
placed the armies of thousands. Open
formations have largely replaced the
mass formations of Napoleon's ar
mics. Science and invention have ad-
ded many new features and improved
many old ones.
To science and invention must be
largely attributed the great progress
of war since the time of Napoleon
Science has perfected the war bal
loon, which was used experimentally
during the Napoleonic wars. The ar
tillery of that period has been trans
formed.
tor, Robert Fulton, showed to Ma
poleon at the Boulogne camp has been
developed into the modern dread
naught and submarine. Electrical
science has made possible the power
full army and navy searchlights and
the telegraph and even the wireless.
The development of methods of war
fare in the last century can be traced
on the land, in the air, on the sea
and beneath the waters. On the land
the automobile has revolutionized
army transportation. The powerful
motor trucks make possible the quick
moving of the large guns of today.
The Importance of the automobile in
the present war is shown by the fact
that England, France and German
requisitioned large numbers of them at
the beginning of the war.
The armored automobile has not
played the part which was expected of
it, except in fighting aeroplanes and
airships. The automobile wireless
station has proved a great success,
however, and nearly all the ambu-
lances used in the war are motor am
balances.
The increased deadliness and ac
curacy of gun-fire has made neces-
sary the hundreds of miles of trench
es of the present war. The full value
of artillery was not appreciated in the
time of Napoleon, although he made
a greater strategic use of it than
any one before him. Napoleon did
not have the huge siege guns which
made possible the fall of Liege. The
machine guns of today were then un-
known.
The grenadiers of the Napoleon.c
armies had discarded the hand gren-
ade The Japanese revived it as an
of destruction in the Rus
so-Japanese War. In the present war
it is one OF the deadliest weapons. The !
"aasen,' a grenade weighing only |
one kilogram, contains $50 bullets. |
grenade can be shot 400 yards |
from a rifle by means of stick. A |
mine grenade" weighing eight |
pounds and containing 400 large bull
let's, can be discharged by electricity,
moving down every man in the vicin
ity. The bomb, sort of grenade, also
has played a large part in the pres
ent war.
Napoleon's dream of conquering
England with a fleet of balloons is
recalled with startling effect in the
raids of the German Yep
plins on the English coast AS war
machine, the airship is much more
than the aeroplane. The
has shown itself to be
chiefly useful for scouting. The
prominence of these aerial fleets is
)ne thing that makes the present war
from those that have been
ought before.
There is great difference between
he mighty dreadnaughts of today and
he sailing ships with which Great
Britain won the supremacy of the
eas at Trafalgar. But the change
las been gradual. Steamships were
N untried experiment in 1900. Iron
or