Abstract

The essay suggests ways in which the general history of warfare in its military, social and cultural dimensions might be brought together with the historical discussion of science, technology and war in the modern era. The thesis is advanced that more is involved than the use of science as a mere instrument for the development of weapons technology. Rather, developments fundamental to modernity itself are at work: a loss of inhibition in interacting with nature; the industrialisation of warfare, including specialisation and professionalisation within the military; a loss of inhibition in viewing other human beings, including noncombatants, as resources for war, aided in part by the employment of scientific metaphors in the service of nationalistic ideologies; and scientists' self‐employment as resources for war efforts, accompanied by their attempts to use governments as resources for research projects that would not have been conceived, let alone funded, in peacetime. The essay concludes by outlining ways in which the following articles relate to these broader concerns.