Electricity in War

Abstract

THE important rôle played by electricity in modern warfare affords an excellent example of the influence which science has of late exerted in naval and military affairs. It is no isolated example of scientific warfare that we have here to deal with, for the electric fluid has in a great measure changed our whole practice of war, and bids fair to revolutionise it still more in the future. Every soldier or sailor, if he desires to make his mark, must be something of an electrician, for there seems to be no limit to the useful applications of the galvanic spark in battle. Broadly, we may divide these applications under three heads; namely, the employment of electricity for signalling, for the explosion of charges, and lastly, for illumination, both for the purposes of attack or defence, it being a difficult matter to decide in which connection the electric spark fulfils the most important duty.