“Technology, ‘Machine Age’ Warfare, and the Military Use of Dogs, 1880–1918,”

Phillips, Gervase (2018) “Technology, ‘Machine Age’ Warfare, and the Military Use of Dogs, 1880–1918,”. Journal of Military History, 82 (1). pp. 67-94. ISSN 0899-3718

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Abstract

Military historians have often emphasised technological innovation as a, or even the, defining characteristic of modern, “machine age” warfare. Even when the presence of animals in large numbers is acknowledged, as with equines during the world wars, they are often seen as evidence of military anachronism. This dated paradigm ignores the central roles that animals have played in twentieth-century wars and fails to recognise that the scale of their exploitation has actually escalated in modernity, largely in response to technological innovation. In short, the military employment of animals on a massive scale is as much a defining characteristic of modern warfare as is mechanisation. Here, the example of the establishment of permanent, regular, military dog units, for use in “civilised” warfare, from the 1880s onwards is used to illustrate this point.