A History of War: Attack Part 2 – The Factories of War

On May 11, Interintellect founder Anna Gát returns to discuss aspects of warfare, with a look at wartime production and inventions. We will discuss necessity and motivation, coordination and mass production, new physics and statistics: all the steel, bullets, zippers, airplanes – and the social change that takes place as they roll off the conveyor belt. This salon is part of the A History of War series, but no previous attendance is required.

In the second part of Attack (for Part 1 see: From Flintstones to Drones) we will talk primarily about the wars of the 19th and 20th centuries, to investigate how the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions impacted not just how we do war, but also how we do science and industry.

We will marvel at some of the famed production numbers of factory-backed warfare (the USA manufactured 2,000 aircraft in 1939 and 96,000 in 1944!), and investigate how some of those numbers were pulled off.

We will look at the masterminds – and failed thinkers – of modern warfare: Victoria and De Gaulle, Kutuzov and Molotov, McGeorge Bundy and Paulus, the Manhattan Project–Eisenhower, Mladić, and Hillary.

We will examine warfare as a playground of genius: the science of killing, the terrible laboratories that plot the demise of nations; the invention and application of attacking from the air and with code. We will talk about technological deltas between steel and satellite, between horse and tank, between anti-aircraft missiles and drones–and why you can’t always out-supply the enemy. About the many forms of social and technological progress brought about in preparation or in reaction to war.

Finally, we will ask how demographies that change due to progress – more geographies under control, more births, or fewer births, ageing populations, shortage of women or men – affect the frequency and length of wars.

Join our discussion!

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The Salon series carries a 18+ age restriction.

During the series we will read, watch and discuss things that some attendees might find distressing. Participant discretion is advised.