How Did World War 1 Use New Weapons

The new weapons used in WW1 included: The Rifle used by every country involved in the war, The machine gun, Gas bombs which included chlorine in the early stages of the war then mustard gas in the later stages of the war, Flamethrowers, a Zeppelin or blimp which was a massive aircraft used by the Germans, Tanks 1st used in the battle of Somme, Planes which could dispense bullets at an incredible rate, drop bombs and even support a cannon, and submarines with torpedoes, to make easy pickings on the biggest ships. The rifle, machine gun, and the airplane were invented before WW1 but were upgraded into war machines that were devastating for soldiers.

Technology greatly affected the way in which wars were fought, especially in World War I. The inventions of the repeating machine gun, the development of poison gas, and the introduction of the first tanks caused armies to fight using the bunkering method. This allowed men to huddle in trenches along what are called skirmish lines and throw, lob, and fire by other means weapons to cause damage while men were protected by about 4 to 5 feet deep earth. This caused men to fight in rear or echelon columns behind tanks can basically caused defensive fighting tactics resulting in drawn out protracted battles.

Imagine a war so great and powerful that new weapons and ideas were created in order to fight it. This is exactly what took place during World War 1. Both sides of the war invented different types of weaponry and artillery. These weapons that were invented were never introduced to society before the war. The men going to war had no idea what the other side was going to use or not to use. The new weapons were machine guns, mortars, poison gases, tanks, airplanes, and u-boats. During the Great War there were several consequences of these new weapons. These consequences were increases in casualties, trench warfare, and massive land destructions.

There is a sense that modern weapons during the 20th century proved to be the most technological advancements and thus created competition in which sprawled into a new stage of warfare enlightenment. At the brink of the war and the salient of forces perhaps the most technological tool used had been the trenches. The pursuit of territorial conquest would halt at the trench lines inventing a new progression in how war is envisioned today. The disadvantages often outnumber the benefits of war, however, war managed to create a boosted in advanced warfare starting as early as the Franco-Prussian War. As the war progressed during 1914, items such as uniforms called for change. The sense of pride in nationality struck in numbers and not in bright colors. For the sake of duty and country was the most powerful drive including those who sought ground in the western lines.

The first tanks came with the internal combustion engine and caterpillar tracks. These, however, were quite unreliable and broke down very frequently. The naval force devised bigger, stronger ships with bigger guns. Their new and improved submarines were imperative in this war. They aided in the strategy of war of attrition, or breaking the enemy down by attacking its personnel and supplies.[viii]

The first world war was one of the most brutal and remorseless events in history; ‘the global conflict that defined a century’. Over nine million soldiers and a large amount of innocent civilians lost their lives. Empires crumbled, revolution engulfed Russia and America rose to become a dominant world power. Huge armies deployed new weapons of devastating effect from rifles and pistols to torpedoes and flame throwers. These weapons were used not only in the trenches but by tanks too. This was an advantage to those who were able to access such machinery as they could easily launch bullets and missiles at nearby enemy bases. The downfall of the tank was the fact it was unable to cross the trenches. Tanks were not the only pieces of equipment that could access this machinery but U boats and planes too. The British carried ‘bolt action rifles’ in which fired 15 rounds per minute at a minimum range of 1,400 metres away. This allowed the British to take out foes at a far greater range. By using machinery in which rules out the need for getting up close to the enemy was a great advantage during world war one. Soldiers ran from trench to trench attacking with all that they had. This resulted in a massacre as the soldiers running toward the trenches were shot down. Machinery such as machine guns and heavy artillery were the weapons used in the trenches. In modern day society, machine guns are the main weapons used by soldiers. This wasn’t the case around the 1914s. They took four

World War 1(WW1) introduced many different types of machinery and weaponry to the world. It was known to be the greatest enhancements technological warfare. It introduced many different types of machinery and weaponry to the world. Some examples would include the first models of tanks, machine guns, airplanes and aircraft carriers(History 1). As the war progressed in years, the weapons and machines got substantially better. These improvements contributed and influenced modern war tactics which in the end, results in an overall more deadlier war.

Warfare is a grim and horrible thing. Napoleon’s wars cost hundreds of thousands of lives for example. Yet, less than one hundred years later, Europe would discover the full horror of modern war. The technology of World War I made that conflict incredibly agonizing and prolonged the conflict, costing many lives. In the end, technology also produced some startling results.

During the time period of 1789 to 1914, several changes began to occur within the European military. Leaders began changing their techniques on how they would approach battles, placement of their men, what kind of equipment they would utilize, along with their means of transportation, how would they communicate with others, along with several other changes. During this time period, the use of technology began to increase which had allowed for the battles to become easier for those using the new technology. There were three important changes that had occurred in the European military which included: transportation with the service of trains and railways, the newest weapons such as the breech-loading rifles, and communication by using telegraphs. With these three inventions, this had changed the outcome on wars and battles for the days to come.

These innovations were used for a more advanced warfare. Espionage was very popular, and the hot air balloon expedited the process. “Balloon operators used another wartime innovation, the telegraph, to let commanders on the ground know of Confederates movements.” (PBS “Civil War Innovations”) This made it that much safer to gain information about the opposing side. Another special invention was the submarine. Naval warfare was a changed fight. Many of the techniques that were previously used had to be re-thought. Submarines could surprise attack naval ships. The submarine was developed by Horace Lawson Hunley, James McClintock, and Baxter Watson. These crafts were not very effective, as the ship was the earliest model and had a difficult time firing its “torpedoes” or mines (gilderlehrman.org, The Civil War and early submarine warfare). Often times, it did more damage to itself than it did to the ironclad ships. Ironclad ships were an invention that came from Britain right around war time. There were very few weak points in the ship's hull, and enemy ships had hope that they hit one of the ships vulnerable points(Civil War Trust, Steel, and Steam). This caused strategists huge problems. They had to make precise shots in order to take down an enemy ship. They had to expedite the process to keep up with the ever-changing

types of weapons used in World War I. The greatest advances were in aircraft and tanks.

Different weapons used in the war are, atomic bombs, aircrafts, tanks, bombs, bazookas and battleships. These weapons were very useful in the war because it helped the allies defeat the axis and get rid of the Holocaust. The aircraft's would fly over and can drop hundreds of bombs. The B-24 liberators had four engines and they could travel three thousand miles, with 10 soldiers, 10 machine guns and many bombs. Another weapon used in the war was grenades, bombs and atomic bombs. These explosives can cause lots of damage to a village. When the americans created the atomic bombs it cost lots of money and years to fully complete it. A third type of weapon used are the tanks, these powerful vehicles were covered in armor and had very powerful guns,

Throughout World War I technology changed the way war was fought and new defensives were created every day to protect each respective side. Weapons were one of the major technological items that changed the course of the war from soldiers fighting style from trench warfare to the first line of defense. Artillery was a new piece of technology that impacted World War I especially during trench warfare. Artillery was considered to be the number one threat to infantry due to its high explosive power. Artillery’s main use was to counter trench warfare to due to it shot at a trajectory in order to shoot from a high angle. Artillery was the most impactful technology of World War I due to its high success rate for counter attacks as well as its threat

According to History.com, the First World War was considered one of the “first modern wars” (History.com). This was primarily due to the vast involvement of technologies such as machine guns, tanks, aerial combat, radio communications and many different chemical weapons (History.com). Although

American army officer Omar Bradley once said,“If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.” The meaning of this quote lies in the destruction and devastation of humanity and geography during war. If we do not stop advancing in ways of killing and causing suffering, we will soon face the consequences of these technologies. Throughout World War I and World War II, there was a ginormous technological boom in which countries were competing to invent new weapons or vehicles used in warfare. Specifically, World War I could be blamed for the start of the creating of new technologies used in warfare even today. These technologies were often invented or created during World War I,