World War I Weapons

Better Artillery

Advances in artillery weapons during WW1 made heavy artillery the most effective and deadly weapon utilized during the Great War. Both sides made artillery that was more accurate, delivered bigger more powerful shells, and was easier to handle than had existed prior to the war.

Better Machine Guns

Early machine guns were hand cranked, but by the end if WWI, machine guns were fully automatic weapons that fired bullets rapidly up to 450-600 rounds a minute. Primary role: kill a lot of people in a short amount of time

Flamethrowers

Having a relatively short range when compare to artillery and guns the flamethrower was used mainly to clear forward trenches and enemy positions before the launch of an infantry attack. This short range greatly limited their effectiveness.

Chemical And Biological Weapons

Numerous chemicals were used for poison gas attacks during World War 1; starting with tear gas, then moving on to more deadly gasses such as chlorine and phosgene. In 1917 the Germans introduced perhaps the most effective one, mustard gas. Mustard gas was not a particularly deadly weapon but did cause many casualties who would suffer with horrible burn wounds.

Tanks

Tanks in WW1 played an extremely important role as they increased mobility on the Western Front and eventually broke the stalemate of trench warfare. Primary role: protection

Airplanes/Airships

The Fokker Scourge (a German plane operational from as early as July 1915) was the first fighter plane in history with an "interrupter gear". This meant a machine gun could be fired through the propeller of the ww1 aircraft without hitting the rotating blades. Primary role: transportation, drop bombs

Better Hand Grenades

The capabilities afforded by hand-thrown explosives were both viable and effective and gave rise to a variety of specialized grenades including concealing and colored (signaling) smoke, tear gas, and even longer range rifle-launched grenades. Primary role: create holes between trenches

Submarines

To combat the German U-Boats the British built antisubmarine submarines. These submarines sank 17 German U-boats during WW1.