Explain The Major Obstacles To Military Innovation During The Interwar Period

The interwar period, which separated World War I (WWI) from World War II (WWII) is characterized as the period between 1918-1939. During this time, the world witnessed profound changes in how technologically advanced military organizations would fight. Often overlooked though, are other contributing factors that hindered innovation during the period. Much like any time in history, countries were faced with challenges, threats and opportunities. It is the tension, which is nothing more than an obstacle, between the interworking dynamic of these factors – which drives innovation – that will be examined during the interwar period. The most significant obstacles to military innovation during the interwar period are socioeconomic factors, poor military leadership and the disjointedness between operational concepts and technological advancement. The first major obstacle to military innovation was the global socioeconomic state of affairs. In Britain for example, from 1920 through 1939, the general mood of the public was that of

There are many cases that show that technology simply would not support operational concepts developed by military planners. The rapid technological advancement in areas such as naval and air power put great pressure on scientist, engineers, designers and technicians. To put it simply, everything was expected to operate with greater efficiency; ships and planes were to operate further and faster and weapons were to be more deadly and accurate. At one point, the United States Army had developed over 360 types of different vehicles but failed to capitalize on the technological advancement because of spare parts problems. Once again, this illustrates the disjointedness between what can be done on paper as far as development vs. what can be accomplished in reality and