| Popis: |
During the majority of the 20th century the tank has been the dominant weapons system of land combat. The two most produced, and possibly the two most influential examples of this type of weapon were the T34 Medium tank, designed in the Soviet Union and the M4 Medium tank, designed in the United States. Both tanks were produced in incredible quantities; largely sacrificing marked technical improvement in favor of continued high-rate production. The central focus of this thesis is an examination of the developmental and production histories of these systems including the doctrinal, cultural and political factors influencing them. These, non-technological influences are critical because they had as direct an effect on the vehicles that were produced as technological advances. The comparison of the systems themselves reveals that they were very similar in terms of potential effectiveness, with each having their own advantages and shortcomings. From the comparison we determine that the M4 was superior to the T-34 in terms of firepower and survivability, counter to popular history. Clearly of more significance are the influences on each of the design and production processes and how they differed between the two nations. The Soviet T34 was a revolutionary design largely originated at the bottom of the hierarchical chain, by its design bureau. The American M4 was a doctrinally driven design, largely determined by requirements articulated from the top, these disparities of origin run counter to conventional logic that would predict that, the centrally-controlled command economy of Soviet Russia and the independent spirit of American ingenuity would have caused the reverse to be true. What is clearly demonstrated is that each nation’s military and industrial "character" reflects in its product, with the American product being precisely and reliably made but only of adequate design, with numerous versions being produced simultaneously in order to satisfy all consumers and maintain production rates. The T34, on the other hand, was an incredibly innovative, but simple design built crudely and in huge numbers. Production was maintained by standardization and adhering to the basic, solid design until it could no longer compete with its German adversaries. |
