By Michael F. Duggan, Ph.D.
All periods of modern history have been transitional, intermediary. In periods of great technological change, this is especially true of great powers wars (and sometimes of high-intensity civil wars in powerful nations). This fact underscores the reality of scientific and technological progress (but not necessarily of social progress).
The American Civil War and German Wars of Unification saw the shift from muzzleloader to repeaters (one can see the full transition from the Crimean War to the end of the Franco-Prussian War, with the added developments of smokeless powder and modern machine-guns following in the 1880s). World War I began as a 19th century war of mobility at the First Battle of the Marne, quickly transitioned into “trench lock” and attrition as the modern Defensive Revolution arrived at tis apex, and arguably ended with something like a nascent combined arms campaign during the last 100 Days.
The Second World War saw the first jet combat aircraft (compare the fastest plane in the world in 1938 with the fastest planes in the world in 1948), the first cruise missiles (the V-1), the first long range ballistic missiles (the V-2), and assault rifles (the FG-42, MP-43 and MP-44).1
The Russo-Ukrainian War has introduced a new sort of defensive revolution–a digital and drone revolution–that has rendered the sweeping “big arrow” offensive operations of WWII and Cold War planners all but obsolete (or at least problematic between powerful, state-of-the-art armies), and has apparently reintroduced attritional impalement offensives, small unit tactics and raids, and the grinding “bite and hold” advances of WWI.
Note
The Russian Federov Model 1916, or “Automat,” is possibly first assault rifle (i.e. a selective-fire military rifle), but it was not produced in quantity. It was further developed by the Soviets as the Simov Model 1936, which proved to be unsuccessful. The German FG-42, MP-43, and MP-44 by contrast, are configured like modern assault rifles, and the MP-43-44 was produced in numbers. See W.H.B Smith and Joseph E. Smith, Small Arms of the World, 10th edition., New York, NY: Galahad Books, 1960, 1975. 420-427, 583.