In The River War (1899), Churchill’s second book, the Dervish uprising in the Sudan was put down with comparative ease, thanks to the railway that the British built from Cairo south into the desert and that carried into the field ten thousand men and their supplies. In his first book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898), the young Churchill describes Pathan mullahs who invoked prophetic hoodoo to ignite martial enthusiasm in their followers, but who provided no solid guidance in how actually to defeat the infidel the infidel, for his part, deployed the formidable arsenal of modern technique, notably machine-gun fire, to rout a fanatical but ineffectual enemy. As a young man, he took part in so-called small wars, with an air of exotic sport, conducted against foes far inferior in firepower, technological know-how, and strategic and tactical ability. The romance inherent in braving death allured him from his youth. Every war involves a descent into barbarism, however civilized certain participating nations may suppose themselves.Ĭhurchill was shaken by the suffering that war causes, but he also thrilled at the call to battle as only men born warlike do. Still, the taking of human life, especially on a vast scale, is naturally more striking than the amelioration or even the saving of life.
Conversely, war provides the occasion for advances that can immensely improve the conditions of peacetime life: the horrific conditions of the First World War, Churchill observed, yielded vast improvements in sanitation and surgery. Before he was a prime minister faced with the daunting task of applying recent discoveries and inventions in military and political affairs of the highest consequence, he was eyewitness to a technological revolution that transformed the face of war.Īdvances in science and technology, Churchill understood, are most dramatically evident in advances in war-making.
Churchill’s understanding of the role of science and technology in human history and in the affairs of state flowed not only from his voracious reading and his long friendship with physicist Frederick Lindemann, but also from his own life lived vigorously in the arena.
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