Why Are Machine Guns Important In Ww1

They knew about the basics like hand grenades, rifles, and pistols; but they didn’t have the slightest idea of the gas attacks, machine guns, and tanks. The Germans used the machine gun and gas to their advantage, and it was a deadly combo in trench warfare. The Germans would shoot gas into the enemy’s trenches, sort of like a mortar shell. The unlucky soldiers who have broken their masks would crawl out of the trench to try to get some fresh air (or so they thought). The German machine guns would tear through the crawling soldiers that were desperate for air. On the Western Front, many soldiers died because of this, mostly French and British, due to lack of knowledge and disastrous plans. However, due to this cruel and disastrous plan, the Germans had to pay for all of the damages that they have caused in the Great War. They only fully paid out this debt in

Technological developments in the late 19th century had made artillery and machine guns extraordinarily effective defensive weapons, creating a deadly zone of fire in front of the defenders' positions. Soldiers and laborers were required to dig trenches and machine gun placements, which would protect men from enemy

There was a 17% difference in casualties from the Napoleonic Wars to World War I. This can be credited mainly to the new weapons. There were many different weapons in World War I, whether they were completely new or just variations and improvements of previous weapons. Some of the new weapons included machine guns, mustard gas, Zeppelins, and planes, while some of the improved weapons included the bolt-action rifle, the Howitzer, and pistols. The innovative new weapons that were introduced in World War I have forever changed the way wars were fought.

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.

The most common weapon used in the trenches by the British were rifles. The rifles that the British used were robust and were ideal for the harsh conditions in the trenches. This rifle was called the bold action rifle which could fire 15 rounds per minute and could kill a person from 1400 meters away. Machine guns in WW1 needed approximately 4-6 men to work it, they also had to be on a flat surface. The machine guns had roughly the firepower of 100 guns. The artillery

Weapons in WW1 could decide who would win and who would lose. Newer weapons were brought into the War constantly as they were the most efficient in destroying and making other weapons useless. Making them more powerful for this reason making the death count rise double- time, however, not for long…

The tactics used in World War II had to come from somewhere and that was the past. The main reason for this was because most high ranking officers only knew old tactics. One of the biggest strategies that most are familiar with is the use of trench warfare. The many problems both sides faced when using trenches was how vulnerable soldiers were inside them. They were prone to constant chemical attacks, artillery barrages, and tanks. Trench warfare was not a pretty fight but it was one of the most used tactics throughout the war. An offensive at Somme was a prime example of the use and tactical advantage tools of war gave a side. In the summer of 1916, General Douglas Haig ad ordered and eight day artillery bombardment to soften up the German

Trenches were long, narrow ditches dug into the ground where soldiers lived day and night. There were many lines of German trenches on one side and many lines of the trenches on the allied side. In the middle there was no-man’s land, so called because it didn’t belong to either army. Soldiers crossed no- man’s land when they wanted to attack. Soldiers in the trenches did not get much sleep, but when they did it was in the afternoon during daylight and at night for only 1 hour at a time. They were woken up at different times, either to complete one of the daily chores or the go to fight. The system of trenches was employed because a German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn, decided that his troops must at all costs hold onto those parts of France and Belgium that Germany still occupied. Falkenhayn ordered his men to dig trenches that would provide them with protection from the advancing French and British troops. The Allies soon realised that they could not break through this line and they also began to dig trenches.

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.

They could fire up to six hundred rounds per minute and was able to cut down the lines of attackers causing huge casualties. Machinery guns was used on the Western Front to bring down/cut down the lines of attackers very easily. There were many more weapons used. However, this source does not show any of these weapons or how it is being used at the Western Front. It also does not tell us or show us how many people were injured or died in the first battle of the Somme, but from my own knowledge I know that there were sixty thousand casualties on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Casualties includes both dead and wounded. The normal proportion was about four wounded for every man killed, so approximately twelve thousand died and fourty eight thousand were wounded. Because this photograph is quite a close up one you begin to question whether or not this image was actually staged. The soldiers are actually looking at the camera and smiling which makes you question the reliability of the source. I also happen to know that it would have been pretty hard for a person to have taken a photograph of the trenches close up. There were shells everywhere; it would have been really dangerous

All trenches were similar but the German trenches were stronger and built to a higher quality than the British and this was proven in the battle of the Somme. Along the top of a trench there would be sandbags which soaked up water but also protected the soldiers from bullets and bombs. There would also be barbed wire this stopped the enemy approaching the trenches. In the trench itself there was an ammunition shelf which is self-explanatory; below this there was the fire step to shoot from. To prevent their feet from getting wet/muddy there were duckboards laid down on the ground. A place for the soldiers to keep dry was the dugout in here there was a table, chair and bed where they could get some rest. A soldier would spend one week in a front line trench they would then go back one hundred metres and spend four weeks in a support trench then the soldier would go to a reserve trench for eight weeks which is three hundred metres behind the support.

World War I, otherwise known as The Great War, is considered by many as the first modern war. Poison gas, heavy artillery, armored tanks, mortars, ground breaking military guns, advancement in war machinery, and shell bombardments were all newly utilized weapons that caused mass destruction that was never seen before at the time. However, a lot of deaths and conflict occurred in the man-made trenches. Both strenuous and unproductive, living and fighting in the trenches cost soldiers who endured them both severe physical and psychological injuries. Most soldiers were not even lucky enough to make it out of the trenches alive. All Quiet on the Western Front portrays an accurate picture of trench warfare and how gruesome it was.

During World War I there was an increase in casualties because of the introduction of new infantry weapons, artillery, and vehicles that greatly impacted the war. There were many causes of casualties but these were the most common. WWI was a very new type of warfare so it had new, deadly weaponry. Some people agree this was the bloodiest war in history. The question that makes many wonder is, what was the main weapon that really caused all this bloodshed?

During battles, battlefield tactics and order were organized by several factors terrain, number of troops available, and ect. The British marched in lines and waited for commands and the Americans used the land. Both stood in lines facing each other on the battlefield shooting while the other reloaded. War Generation Two formed by an advancement in technology and by having fortified positions. In World War 1, the Maxim gun gave small units in trenches the chance to operate more independently.

From observations from the battlefield and experimentation the Allies developed a number of tactics that allowed them to gain substantially more ground than in the past while reducing the number of casualties. To reduce wastage, the number of soldiers killed during a normal day, the French adopted the use of “difeme en profondeur (defence in depth)…” (Smith 195). The British, also, developed the tactic Bite and Hold that centered on advancing troops only as far as they could hold, which reduced the chance of a successful German counterattack. Both the British and French developed the creeping barrage to force the Germans defenders to stay under cover until the attackers advanced up to the German lines. With these new tactics and more available to them the allies could