Title: Do wars drive technological advancement? | HowStuffWorks
Headings: Do wars drive technological advancement?
Do wars drive technological advancement?
Is the Internet a War Baby?
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Content: And war places a burden upon a nation's citizens. As soldiers march off to battle, the people left behind must work even harder to keep the nation's infrastructure from collapsing. Advertisement
But wars can also have beneficial effects on economic and technological development. In general, wars tend to accelerate technological development to adapt tools for the purpose of solving specific military needs. Later, these military tools may evolve into non-military devices. A relatively recent example of this is radar. While scientists around the world worked on using radio antennae to detect distant objects during the early part of the 20th century, we credit Sir Robert Watson-Watt with building the first practical radar set in 1935. The British Air Ministry adopted his design and used it to detect aggressors during the early days of World War II [source: Wired ]. Radar became an important tool in militaries around the world.