Friday, October 25, 2013
Aerial Photography and WWI
In this week's reading about "Aerial Photography and the First World War", I feel like I was given more background information about the war and its relevance to the skies. I feel like sometimes WWI is pushed aside, as WWII is in many ways more famous than the first. But this war really was a great example of airplanes becoming increasing popular in warfare. Reconnaissance was made very efficient and it seems like a lot more was invested in the advancement of air transportation technologies once they saw the benefits in terms of war; and we know how important war is to politics and the economy. Mapping from above is most definitely an important move when trying to bring an army upon a city, so it really ties into our class's focus on geography and cartography. In this time period, zeppelins also became a very prominent technology, which is interesting because I often overlook their use. This is probably because they are not very fast- but in the reading, they were very much discussed because of how famous it became during the great war. Linking art, technology, and warfare is really important when discussing aerial photography here.
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I agree, it seemed like photography had taken a back seat compared to the war in this chapter. And yes, World War I gets less coverage than World War II because World War II was a much larger war. It was larger in terms of length, number of casualties and methods of combat and what happened after the war was also much more significant. And I find it interesting how you bring up Zeppelin's because they did not last that long in terms of mainstream usage. After the Hindenburg disaster they were not used nearly as often. I do agree however, that the usage of cartography and Geography are useful when scouting an area in war.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it does seem that WWII receives more attention than WWII. I think that one of the reasons it does is because of the racial killing. The amount of jews targeted in killed in WWII is unimaginable. Yes, the use of airplanes in WWI is historic in many ways and should get acknowledged, but i feel in today's society racism and discrimination still are many people's top priority. Also, making sure everyone is treated fairly and equally is huge in today's society. I had learned about airplanes in WWI before this class, but never about Zeppelin's, so I was surprised to hear those were a precursor to airplanes. They are interesting to read about, but I feel are over looked most of the time because most people are not taught about them in high school.
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