Warfare

Battlefield Dominance

Technology played an important part in warfare in the 1990s, helping to make campaigns shorter and more precise, and ensuring U.S. military superiority through technology. During the Persian Gulf War (1991) the United Nations (UN) forces functioned with a computer-like war plan that devastated essential Iraqi command and control facilities. Superior weaponry and better information through technological resources helped UN forces to dominate the Iraqi military.

Chemical and Biological Weapons

Chemical and biological weapons were, unlike nuclear weapons, easy to produce, hide, and use. Biological warfare was the use of pathogens to harm or kill an adversary's military forces, population, food, or livestock. Any nation with a reasonably advanced pharmaceutical and medical industry had the capacity to mass-produce biological weapons, which were especially threatening because they could be self-replicating; simply infecting a few individuals could lead to a mass outbreak that could kill thousands. Yet, biological warfare was unpredictable. Biological agents could spread into unintended areas and were difficult to clean up. In the 1990s there was a general agreement among many countries that biological warfare was inhumane; however, many countries were suspected of harboring supplies of biological weapons, including the United States, Chemical weapons could be manufactured in a laboratory by any trained chemist with the right materials. Some of the most feared biological weapons included anthrax and botulinum toxin. Anthrax is an airborne bacteria that produces a toxin that could be fatal when inhaled; by the turn of the century, the U.S. military was routinely administering anthrax vaccines to its members. The bacteria botulinum toxin killed by causing suffocation and respiratory failure, and could be fought with the injection of an antitoxin or by wearing a gas mask. Other possible chemical weapons included VX, a drop of which could kill by blocking the transmission of impulses along the nervous system; mustard gas, which caused painful blisters all over the body; and Sarin, a gas that, when absorbed through the respiratory tract or the skin, could cause death by suffocation. Desert Storm brought home to Americans the fear of chemical and biological weapons. Fortunately, no chemical weapons were used in the conflict, but the specter was raised, and for much of the decade, Americans were determined to rid other countries of these low-cost, highly dangerous agents. Beginning with this brief war, finding and destroying Iraqi biological and chemical weapons was a major preoccupation for the U.S. government and the UN throughout the decade. In March and April 1991 the UN voted that Iraq must disclose information on its weapons of mass destruction, and remove or destroy them, Yet, UN weapons inspectors were repeatedly thwarted in their efforts to find the Iraqi chemical and biological arsenal.

Sources:

Desert-Storm.com, Internet website,

Scott D. McCulloch, and others, "Biological Warfare and the Implications of Biotechnology," Cal Poly CBW Page, Spring 1996, Internet website.

"Strike on Iraq—Biological and Chemical Weapons: What they are and what they can do," CNN.com, 1998 Special Report, Internet website.

warfare in Gaelic society was on a small scale. The local battles of early Christian Ireland were waged by freemen whose landownership entailed military service to their kings, and who could be reinforced by pagan warrior‐bands or fianna. After the Viking invasions and still more in post‐Norman times there was an increasing use of mercenary troops, the cult warbands of the fianna giving way to paid bands of ceithearnaigh, or kerns, though the methods employed changed little before the 16th century. An anonymous writer c.1515 calculated that the largest chieftaincy could field no more than 2,000 men (500 mounted spearmen, 500 gallowglasses and 1,000 kerns) besides the irregular troops of armed subjects; the norm was 200 spearmen and 600 kerns, with the smallest districts furnishing perhaps 40 spearmen and 200 or 300 kerns. This reflected not only low population levels, but lack of financial resources in a rural, subsistence economy. Large imported warhorses, for instance, were unaffordable, and Irish cavalrymen used the small domestic breed. Technology was also primitive. In particular large‐scale foundries seem to have been lacking, so that home‐produced armour and weapons ran to chain mail rather than plate armour, and handguns rather than cannon. Fourteenth‐century statutes forbade Anglo‐Irish to supply armour, weapons, or horses to the Gaelic Irish at any time, though this was often violated. At the same time the rough terrain and poor communications made the reduction of little independent chieftainships difficult for the crown forces, and the small stone tower houses of the 15th to early 17th centuries retained their defensive function long after cannon made private castles obsolete in England.

Some major battles are recorded, as when Brian MacMahon (Mac Mathghamhna) defeated the English of Co. Louth in 1346, killing at least 300 of his enemies—a figure confirmed by the kerns' custom, inherited from the warrior cults of earlier times, of decapitating the slain and counting the heads. However, most Irish chiefs used harrying and plundering, raiding at dawn, burning houses and crops, rounding up and driving off cattle, to gain control over additional subjects, or increase their political influence. Fighting took place as the pursuing force (tóir)' caught up with the plunderers (creach), when the chief himself and his relatives defended the rear, while the light‐armed kerns were chiefly employed in driving cattle. If warning was received, the raiders might have to pursue a band of refugees and cattle, the imirce, protectively surrounded by their spearmen and gallowglasses. The booty gained in such raids was quickly shared out among military followers, with shares to the church and the poets. With the possible exception of the Irish of Wicklow, the chiefs' profit from these raids lay not in the booty itself, but rather in gaining added territory, and enforcing tribute or black rent from victims who feared a repetition.

Bibliography

Bartlett, T., and Jeffery, K. (eds.), A Military History of Ireland (1996)
Hayes‐McCoy, G. A. , Irish Battles (1969)
Simms, K. , Warfare in the Medieval Gaelic Lordships, Irish Sword, 12 (1975)

Katharine Simms

warfare violent conflict between armed enemies. In modern times warfare has usually been conducted by the armed forces (e.g., army, navy, and air force) of a nation or other politically organized group. The way in which war is carried out is governed by the principles of strategy and tactics , by the type of weapons employed (see articles on individual weapons), and by the type of communication and transportation facilities available. Thus, throughout history the methods of warfare have changed. See air forces ; amphibious warfare ; chemical warfare ; biological warfare ; fortification ; mechanized warfare ; trench warfare ; guerrilla warfare ; siege .

war·fare / ˈwôrˌfe(ə)r/ • n. engagement in or the activities involved in war or conflict: guerrilla warfare.

warfare n. engagement in or the activities involved in war or conflict: guerrilla warfare.

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