Information Capabilities and Military Revolutions: The Nineteenth-Century Experience

Since its emergence in the late 1980s from the shadow world of the academy, the concept of military revolution has focused on technology — in particular weapons systems and the direct or indirect relationships of organizations, institutions and societies to those weapons systems. The role of information has only recently become an issue. Even then, the emphasis is on technology, from electric telegraphs to JSTARS. This paper takes a slightly different approach — or perhaps it just focuses on a less obvious technology. It considers the role of nineteenth-century military publishing — newspapers, journals and periodicals — in contributing to the military revolution of the Great War.