WW1 Weapons - New Technology

1. Machine guns:

Deemed to be "weapons of mass destruction". Machine guns inflicted appalling casualties on both war fronts in WW1. Machine guns were one of the main killers in the war and accounted for many thousand of deaths. Machine guns could shoot hundreds of rounds of ammunition a minute and the standard military tactic of WW1 was infantry charge. Casualties were huge, many soldiers barely got out of their trench before they were cut down.

8. Naval units

Naval ships were counted very important for some of the war. British specialised in ships such as battleships, and the Germans specialised in submarines.

7. Planes

Not until WW1 actually began countries of Europe began to seriously increase production of military aircraft. From the first days of WW1 - Planes demonstrated their ability to be the "eyes of the army". During WW1, the concept of "strategic bombing" was introduced. The ideas was to attack enemy cities away from the front line. This would prevent the enemy from being able to fight and would also damage civilian morale. Camouflage and combat aviation were born as a result of WW1.

3. Gas grenades (poisonous gas)

Poisonous gas was probably the most feared of all weapons in WW1. Poisonous gas could be used at any time and could be used on the trenches even when no attack was going on. Whereas the machine gun killed more soldiers overall during the war, death was frequently instant and not drawn out and soldiers could find some shelter in bomb/shell craters from gunfire. A poisonous gas attack meant that soldiers would have to put on crude gas masks and if they were unsuccessful an attack would leave a victim in agony for days and weeks before he finally succumbed to his injuries.

5. Communication

Radios and telephones were the main ways of communication. These were vital for the troops in the trenches. However, this did not mean that messengers, dogs and pigeons were out of business. Dogs had a vital role to play in WW1 - as the complexes of the trenches spread throughout the Western Front. Dogs were used as messengers and proved to be just reliable as soldiers in the dangerous job of running messages. The complexes of trench warfare meant that communication was always a problem. Dogs also were also a psychological comfort to soliders - for men trapped in the horrors of trench warfare. Pigeons were also great messengers to deliver messages, the great strength was not only its extraordinary homing instinct but also the speed at which it flew.

6. Tanks

Tanks were known as "The Chariots of God".

Poisonous gas (cont'd)

The number of fatalities was relatively few. However, these figures do not take into account the number of men that died from poison gas related injuries years later after the end of the war or the number of men who survived but were badly incapacitated by poisonous gas that they could hold no job once they were released by the army. Soldiers also made make shift gas masks if they were caught in the open without a gas mask - cloth soaked in their own urine and place over the mouth was said to give protection from a chlorine attack. By the end of the war, relatively sophisticated gas masks were available to soldiers in the trenches on the Western Front.

Vickers machine gun

The vickers machine gun was used by the British army in WW1. The vickers weighed about 20 kg and invariably had to be used with a tripod. Hence, it was not the easiest weapon to carry around a battlefield. A vickers gun team could be as many as 6 men. However, used ina defensive position, it proved to be a deadly weapon accounting for many German casualties.

2. Artillery

These were new and upgraded versions of cannons. Never had so many cannons been used in one war alone. For years the British had been using artillery but the Germans had a plan up their sleeves. German scientists were developing the biggest artillery ever known 'Big Bertha'. The cannons were so powerful they could fire at the heart of Paris 120 km away. Cannons weren't the only things that improved, shells upgraded as well. Instead of ordinary, new high-explosive shells were developed. This was so effective, that artilery fire killed hundreds and thousands of men. It also blew the ground, which made hiding more difficult.

4. Transportation

trains, lorries, taxis and horse were used.