Technological Determinism: Guns and History
(Room ICC, Rooms 140-142)
28 Apr 19
1:00 PM
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3:00 PM
A common theme in military history holds that revolutionary pieces of technology tend to provide advantages that determine outcomes. In this way, technology is imagined as being an empirical maxim, a scientific absolute that never fails. But is the formula really that rugged and dependable? Or is the truth more dependent on variables other than simply who had the best gun? Historical examples from New Orleans, to Gettysburg, Plevna, Isandlwana, the Waterberg and the Somme present sometimes contradictory evidence that questions the validity of technology as a deterministic factor.