The British Armed Forces and their Acquisition of Optical Technology: Commitment and Reluctance, 1888-1914

Abstract

During the latter part of the 19th and the early part of the 20th centuries a series of interlocking technological advances in military and naval engineering created conditions where the application of optical technologies became indispensable in the refinement and successful employment of newly emerging types of weapons of war. This article examines the way in which the British state, through the agencies of its armed forces, influenced the technological evolution, economic growth and international competitiveness of a specific sector of the optical industry. It illustrates how the British Army and Royal Navy at the start of the review period displayed distinctly different philosophies and practices towards this developing technology and its associated business infrastructure, and explains why those differences originally existed and how they came to be modified and substantially diminished by the start of the Great War. The account shows how each of these agencies of the state was committed to the adoption of new optical technology but displayed uncertainties over its acquisition and deployment that were rooted not just in technical development, tactical doctrines and financial constraints, but also in significant unofficial social and cultural factors that were rooted in the differing natures of these two military communities. The successive determination of these elements of indecision and tension within the armed forces resulted in the emergence of a new optical munitions industry which, though without any direct subsidy from the state, became not only adequate to the nation's armament needs but also, in its most important segment, an aggressive and highly successful exporter in the international arms trade.