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World War I individual Research Final
New technology developed during World War I made the war
incredibly complex with mass casualties on all sides. There are
popular images of World War I where soldiers crawled out of muddy
trenches through belts of barbwire across no man's land to reach enemy
trenches. World leaders were slow to adapt to the availability of new
weapons in 1914. The new weapons produced were deadlier than anything
had that had been known before. There was great power and defensive
weaponry that made winning the war on the Western front nearly
impossible for either side. When Allied soldiers went over the top to
climb out of their trenches even if they succeeded in their goal they
usually only seized a few hundred yards of earth at a terrible cost in
lives. As men cross no man land they were hit with sniper and
artillery fire and even poison gas. There were great advancements in
science and technology in airplanes, tanks, trains, chemical warfare
and guns.
At the beginning of the war airplanes were used by men
literally dropping bombs over the side of the plane. By the end of
World War I aircraft have become far more sophisticated with many new
types of fighters, bombers and long-range bombers. The development of
aircraft was stimulated by the wars requirements of what the plane he
needed to do. The first recorded powered flight was in 1903 so it is
not unexpected that by 1914 aircraft remained crude. Navigation was
based on map reading while in the air and looking for landmarks on the
ground. By the end of the war both sides had light highly maneuverable
fighter planes that could attack each other midair in battles called.
dogfights. In 1916, the Germans armed planes with machine guns that
could fire forward without shooting off the fighters’ propellers.
The Allies soon armed their airplanes the same way. Germany also used
its fleet of huge dirigibles, or zeppelins, and large bomber planes to
drop bombs on British and French cities. Britain retaliated by bombing
German cities. By the end of the war Germany had produced 2,000
aircraft. The United States, Britain and France had produced over
11,000 aircraft.
The British and the French first used tanks in
1916. The Germans did not have tanks at all in the beginning of the
war so they were incredibly surprised to see them coming their way
through the trenches. Tanks proved to be the answer to the stalemate
in the trenches. The British used American designed Caterpillar tracks
to move the armored vehicle forward. They were equipped with machine
guns and light cannons. The tanks worked effectively on firm dry
ground and moved very slowly. The tanks also were known to have
mechanical problems and were vulnerable to artillery fire. Tanks are
able to crush barbwire and cross trenches moving through machine gun
fire. They often terrified German soldiers with their seemingly
unstoppable slow speed. Britain and France had a total of 7500 tanks
by the end of the war. Germany had 20 tanks by the end of the war.
Trains During World War I brought supplies and
troops all over Europe. Britain used trains as a reliable method of
supplying the front lines with shells, timber, and other supplies
directly from England via train ferries to France. Russia used a mix
of light and heavy armored trains. Austria-Hungary also used armored
trains against the Italians
in World War I. A Royal Navy armored
train from Britain, armed with four 6
inch naval guns and one QF 4 inch naval gun,
was used in support of the British Expeditionary Force in the opening
phase of the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914.
The Germans first used chemical warfare during a surprise
attack in Belgium in 1915. Gas was released from large cylinders and
was carried by the wind into nearby enemy lines. As the war rages on
chemical warfare had spread into artillery shells that were shot into
enemy trenches. The Germans used chemical warfare the most. All sides
used chemical gas warfare by 1918. Soldiers did not fight as well when
they had to wear gas masks and there was a great deal of suffering and
death.
There were a variety of guns used during World War I. Guns
ranged from huge cannons to short-range trench mortars. The soldiers
near the front lines were never safe from artillery bombardment. The
Germans used super long-range artillery shells to attack Paris from 80
miles away.
The most significant technological advance during World
War I were machine gun improvements. American Hiram Maxim originally
developed the machine gun. By 1914 the Germans recognized the machine
guns potential and had large stockpiles ready to use for the war
effort. In 1916 in Somme German machine guns killed or wounded 60,000
British soldiers in one day.
The
war ended in November of 1918 but not before millions had been killed.
World War I left a legacy of disease and death in its wake long after
the fighting had stopped. Technological advances in warfare during
World War I were directly responsible for 37-80 million deaths,
depending on who you ask.
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