Those who are part of the military as either soldiers or their families have

seen technology transform their lives many times. In turn, this has affected how they
see the world around them. Because those who are “military people” can use any
technological advance to improve their lives and the ways in which they do their
jobs as well, technology has a unique and specific way of transforming their lives. A
chronological history of some of the ways in which technology has affected this
group provides insight into how they see the world right now, and in particular, it is
clear that the rise of the Industrial Revolution and the efficiency movement helped
to transform the military and those associated with it more than many other
emerging forms of technology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
and beyond; only the advent of space exploration with the Soviet launch of Sputnik
is comparable in terms of how it affected this group of people and their lives and
outlooks on life.
The beginning of the twentieth century represented the high point of the so-
called Industrial Revolution. With the rise of, among others, Frank Gilbreth, who
sought to eliminate the need for sleep from workers and others,1 a dominant
ideology emerged: that of efficiency. Instead of the idea of nationalism, which had
emerged in the previous few centuries as a major ideology that entailed loyalty and
dedication, the new ideology was focused on squeezing every bit of work and value
out of every worker under every circumstance.
The result was a change in the values and methods in workplaces, and, in
particular, a change in how the U.S. military worked. “The US was rapidly becoming
a world military superpower during this period which required advanced industrial
and management technique.”2 These advances would ensure that the growing
superpower was organized efficiently, and that it could apply emerging technologies
such as the telegraph, telephone, automobile, aviation and other technologies that

1 Frank Bunker Gilbreth, “Fatigue Study; the Elimination of Humanity’s Greatest

Unnecessary Waste, a First Step in Motion Study : Gilbreth, Frank Bunker, 1868-
1924 :,” Archive.org, accessed February 25, 2016,
https://archive.org/details/studyfatigueelim00gilbrich.
2 Peter B. Darmody, “Henry L. Gantt and Frederick Taylor: The Pioneers of Scientific

Management.,” AACE International Transactions, 2007, 15.1.

1
transformed battle from brute force on a field to the engagement of tactics and the
use of soldiers distant from, but nonetheless controlling, weapons in some cases.
This distancing of soldiers and commanders from battle was a major hallmark in
military history and arguably came about for the first time in this new technological
era.
Yet this new emphasis on efficiency and technology was not isolated to the
workplace or even the battlefield. It also transformed the home. The new ways of
thinking about efficiency also changed how the families of people in the military
engaged in even their most intimate and everyday activities. “The industrialization
of the home was a process very different from the industrialization of other means
of production, and the impact of that process was neither what we have been led to
believe it was nor what students of the other industrial revolutions would have been
led to predict.”3 The result of these new gadgets and objects, ranging from the
icebox to the washing machine, would ultimately result in a social and cultural
distancing of people from the work they did. Combined with the physical separation
of soldiers from the battle (e.g., having aviation bombers drop bombs instead of
ground warfare) and the separation of management from work, this distancing of
people from labor represented a major cultural shift that in some ways has led to
the ways in which these groups continue to see themselves and the world.
The focus on efficiency and coordination, along with communication and
excellence, dominated the military for several decades. This was enough time for the
American army to emerge victorious in two major world wars and to become the
world’s biggest superpower. One of the most important moments for American
military dominance in this era was the development of the nuclear bomb, which
came along with the added bonus of Einstein’s theory of relativity, or the idea that
space and time are relative.4 The investment of the American military into new
technologies to further the ideology of security and efficiency helped to spark these

3 R S Cowan, “The ‘Industrial Revolution’ in the Home: Household Technology and

Social Change in the 20th Century.,” Technology and Culture 17, no. 1 (1976): 1,
doi:10.2307/3103251.
4 Brian Greene, “Special Relativity in a Nutshell,” PBS.org, 2011,

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/special-relativity-nutshell.html.

2
major technological developments, and in turn helped to prove that space and time
can be as relative and subjective as we need them to be, as later technological
advances would show.
However, in the years after the conclusion of the Second World War, this
focus on efficiency had become more concentrated into the private sector, with
peace and prosperity allowing Americans and the military to rest on their laurels
somewhat. It would take another major technological advance – and one that was
not even America’s – to spark the change necessary for another major shift in how
the military engaged with and applied technology.
Many people consider Sputnik to be a major scientific event in American
history, but as is always the case, this story is much more complex than that. In the
case of Sputnik, “There was a sudden crisis of confidence in American technology,
values, politics, and the military. Science, technology, and engineering were totally
reworked and massively funded in the shadow of Sputnik. The Russian satellite
essentially forced the United States to place a new national priority on research
science, which led to the development of microelectronics—the technology used in
today's laptop, personal, and handheld computers.”5 This new urgency led to
another era of swift transformation for the military and those involved in it. The
technology that was used to race the Soviets eventually became available to
consumers.
This technological transformation consequently changed everything, since it
led to the rise of the Internet,6 and with it, additional transformations in how the
military engaged with the enemy, itself, and with its own external stakeholders (e.g.,
families of people serving in the military). The rise of the Internet allowed for quick
communication across vast distances, and this subsequently transformed the
meaning of a military marriage or the impact of a parent serving. Meanwhile,
generals and others could command troops from thousands of miles away from the

5 Paul Dickson, “Sputnik’s Impact on America,” PBS.org, 2007,

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/sputnik-impact-on-america.html.
6 Andrew F. Wood and Matthew J. Smith, Online Communication: Linking Technology,

Identity, & Culture (Routledge, 2004).

3
battle location. People were better able to find information on their own and weigh
evidence from their own perspective, instead of having to rely on mainstream media
such as television.
Sputnik was also useful for refocusing America’s efforts and talents on things
that mattered more than what they had been used for. “On another level, Sputnik
affected national attitudes toward conspicuous consumption as well, symbolically
killing off the market for the Edsel automobile and the decadent automotive tail fin.
It was argued that the engineering talents of the nation were being wasted on
frivolities.”7 Just as the Industrial Revolution had led to the transformation of the
military from a pre-modern to a modern power, the rise of Sputnik indirectly
sparked the technologies that we all take for granted and that allow us to research
and discuss the history of technology itself.
The narrative of technology and its relationship to the military shows how
military technologies percolate down into the everyday lives of households and
families.8 The different ideologies of efficiency and connection have led to military
investment in different technologies, which have in turn led to changes in how this
group engages with technology and how the vast majority of people view the world.
Only a century ago, few people valued efficiency or had standardized systems in
place to get the most out of work or even home environments. There were no
technologies that made it easy for people to communicate across large distances in
real time, and military clashes were bloodier and more personal, involving the face-
to-face combat of people with guns or swords. Yet the rise of the efficiency
movement and the Industrial Revolution harkened to a newer view of technology
and of values, one that led to continued investment in military technology. This
brought about the nuclear bomb, and along with it, scientific advances such as the
theory of relativity. Although America existed in languor for a few years after its
decisive victory in World War II, the advent of Sputnik sparked military research

7Dickson, “Sputnik’s Impact on America.”

8Darmody, “Henry L. Gantt and Frederick Taylor: The Pioneers of Scientific
Management.”

4
and development back into action, which in turn led to the rise of sophisticated
contemporary communications and information technology.
Bibliography
Cowan, R S. “The ‘Industrial Revolution’ in the Home: Household Technology and
Social Change in the 20th Century.” Technology and Culture 17, no. 1 (1976): 1–
23. doi:10.2307/3103251.
Darmody, Peter B. “Henry L. Gantt and Frederick Taylor: The Pioneers of Scientific
Management.” AACE International Transactions, 2007, 15.1–15.3.
Dickson, Paul. “Sputnik’s Impact on America.” PBS.org, 2007.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/sputnik-impact-on-america.html.
Gilbreth, Frank Bunker. “Fatigue Study; the Elimination of Humanity’s Greatest
Unnecessary Waste, a First Step in Motion Study : Gilbreth, Frank Bunker,
1868-1924 :” Archive.org. Accessed February 25, 2016.
https://archive.org/details/studyfatigueelim00gilbrich.
Greene, Brian. “Special Relativity in a Nutshell.” PBS.org, 2011.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/special-relativity-nutshell.html.
Wood, Andrew F., and Matthew J. Smith. Online Communication: Linking Technology,
Identity, & Culture. Routledge, 2004.