World War II: American Vs. German 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.

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.

World War II is one of the most recognized battles in the history of the world. The battle originated with Germany’s invasion of Poland. This sparked the beginning of the war, though the United States was not yet involved. The U.S. came into the picture after the attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. Though Japan was the more “direct opponent”, the United States Army Rangers, Marine Corps., and every other branch of military took on Japan and Germany.

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.

Furthermore, weapons such as the AR-15 and AK-47 were developed for war. Developed to inflict maximum amount of casualties in little amount of time. Something that is overkill for protection or hunting. As Ronald Reagan states “An AK-47 in not a sporting weapon, nor needed for defense of a home (Snopes, Arms Talks)”. Reagan didn’t want to take the 2nd Amendment away from people, but to make the purchase of a weapon harder. An AR-15 fires 45 rounds a minute, which is way too excessive for hunting and protection. As well the AR-15 hold 30 rounds of ammunition, which is way too much for hunting or protection. A trained marksman only needs one bullet..

World War 1 or the Great War was one of the most brutal if not the most war the world has faced so far. It originated in Europe which quickly went global, the war started on the 28th of July 1914 and ended November 11th 1918. The war consisted of many weapons and deadly gases. The weapons include;

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…

In wars prior to the Civil War, soldiers wielded weapons such as the musket which shot only one bullet at a time. Though these types of weaponry could shoot as far as 250 yards, they were inconvenient and wasted time. To even aim at the target accurately one had to be 80 yards away. Similarly to muskets, rifles were inconvenient because they took a while to reload because the bullet was almost the same size of the barrel and again, wasted time. Bullets with a pointed tip were created in 1848 by Claude Minie. Because the diameter of the bullets were smaller than the barrel, soldiers could put them into the gun quicker and more effectively. With Minie’s bullets, rifles were simpler to reload but still had to be reloaded with one bullet at a time. That unprotected gap of time made soldiers more vulnerable so in 1849 a repeating rifle called the Volitional Repeater was patented by Walter Hunt. They were popularized in 1863 during the Civil War. By this time many models were being sold but the most common one was the Spencer Carbine which could shoot seven bullets in just 30 seconds. These, like most Civil War era weapons, were produced and used by the North, but not

This design lead to greater and more powerful weapons to be used in the First and Second World War. The weapons used in the World Wars were by far the most advanced of their time. The new weapons produced three times the amount of firepower either sides of the Civil War could produce at any given time. These weapons were feared by the citizens of the time. These new weapons consisted of the Thompson, a submachine gun, which fired a .45 caliber bullet at high velocities. This rifle became the standard fully automatic rifle for the United States Armed Forces. Though this weapon had a very important role in winning the war, it was also used in various crimes throughout the United States in the early nineteenth century. Does this make this rifle a bad thing to own? While some would argue that the weapon was a threat to the public’s safety, and while the others would say it was not, it still fired at a high velocity which makes the possibility of multiple deaths more possible. This caused a large concern to erupt among the public in large cities where mobs were becoming popular. It was obvious that these new found guns would be great for protecting the public, however, it would also come to harm them since they were falling into the hands of criminals. These weapons would never stop evolving with years to come weapons would become more deadly and even more common than the thompson would ever be.

The Civil War wouldn't be the bloodiest war in American history without the weapons. the rifles used in the war included "Lorenzo rifle the Springfield the colt revolving rifle the Smith carmine dispenser repeating rifle the Burnside carbine." because of a rifled barrel the gun is way more accurate than traditional muskets.and took less time to load than the muskets

The result of World War II was affected by many different factors. One major factor which affected the war was the weapons and artillery used during the war. Since the beginnings of time, weapons have always been around. From swords and knives to nuclear weapons and missiles, weapons have evolved greatly throughout the years. The weapons and artillery used in World War II basically were evolved types of weaponry that were used during World War I (Military History 1).

The new weapon was the handgun. The handgun was invented well before the war began yet it was not widely used due to their short range and long reload time. When the war begun handgun technology grew. Smith & Wesson a gun company created rimfire cartridges which allowed the gun to have the ability to ne reloaded from behind, decreasing the reloading process. Handguns also used the new technology to be able to be extremely accurate up to fifty yards and hold several rounds before needing to be reloaded. Edward C. Ezell teaches us that, “By linking the trigger to the hammer-cocking and cylinder-revolving mechanisms, double action permitted a pistol to be fired with a simple pull of the trigger.” This is important because before Smith & Wesson created this new trigger system soldiers had to manually pull back the hammer before the gun could fire now when they pulled the trigger the hammer was automatically pulled back and released firing the handgun. With the combinations of all these new technologies the handgun or as they called them revolvers quickly became popular replacing the centuries old weapon the sword. The sword had been used as a weapon for thousands of years even as a sidearm once guns started to be primarily used but now with new advantages of the handgun swords were made obsolete. With all the new invented technologies of firearms being put together how do the

As the need for more weapons grew, the process of making them transformed from a single person hand crafting a gun, to an assembly line of people each trained to build a separate part of a gun. In 1808 a policy for arming the United States’ militia called for more guns to be made. This act supplied the militia with $200,000 in arms and military equipment annually.(Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, 2013) Pretty soon thereafter national arms systems were set upon the national armories. A network of reliable arms manufacturers emerged. Contracts were drawn up between these armories and private manufacturers, who were more likely to test new means and materials to improve guns. This was key to an ideal system of arms production. This was the beginning of the military industrial complex. It was here that the desire for an innovative military arms snowballed into the high-tech industry that it is today.

The M4 was developed and produced for the United States government by Colt Firearms, which has an exclusive contract to produce the M4 family of weapons

In a war of mass destruction and huge weaponry, development of the next big offensive device was on the minds of all the leaders involved. Many of these weapons were designed in secret laboratories under the top scientists and physicists in the world. High emphasis and funding put into these designs, the developments flourished. Some of these weapons were unbelievable successes, making their way to the battlefield meeting all the expectations set by their imaginative creators. Others, however, did not make it any further than the testing unit. Numerous previously unheard of ideas were presented, several being far ahead of their time. This was cause for some of the weapons failures. Although, these were