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Was the Invention of New Types of Weapons the Main Reason Why the First World War Was so Deadly?

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The First World War, also known as ‘The Great War’ due to its immense number of casualties and also large amount of countries involved, took place in 1914-1918. The spark that started the whole war occurred when Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro Hungarian throne, was assassinated on the 28th of June, 1914. The First World War was pernicious in many ways; however there are three main reasons the Great War was so deadly: the new types of weapons, lack of successful leadership and the terrible living conditions. The first reason why so many me died during the Great War, was because of the new types of deadly weapons. For instance, a variety of weapons were used: rifle, machine gun, chemicals and gas, the zeppelin, tank, …show more content…

The leadership was neither efficient nor successful, as there was no planning involved, leaders were unable to be flexible when it came to tactics, and it was rare that anyone took their initiative. Because of all the previous reasons mentioned soldiers were unable to fight to their full potential as their leaders were incapable, thus making the World War deadly. Finally, the living conditions were inhumane and soldiers had to go through countless diseases and mental issues during the deadly war. After going through all of the reasons stated above, I have come to the decision that the most important reasons why the First World War was so deadly, was because of a combination in the leadership and weapons. For instance, the leaders would instruct useless tactics and sometimes no action to take whatsoever, consequently leaving their soldiers to then face the rapid, powerful and deadly weapons. The reason I have chosen the leadership and weapons, is because the weapons were so deadly and high tech at the time that not even the helmets or trenches could fully protect the soldiers, and even though there were leaders in charge of devising a plan to win the war and protect the soldiers, there were quite stubborn and ignorant, hence leaving the soldiers to possibly die and most probably get severely injured (shot, beaten, suffocated - through the use of

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