Tanks also started to be used in warfare in this war ...



Information Sheet #1 – Trench Warfare

In World War I, soldiers were fighting a new kind of battle – trench warfare. Troops huddled at the bottom of rat-infested trenches and fired artillery and machine guns at each other. The trenches themselves were little more than muddy tunnels that were dug about ten feet deep and were meant to protect soldiers from enemy fire. The trenches themselves often housed a commander and about 60 men. The trenches covered about 450 miles of Europe. On average, trenches were about ten feet deep and had fire steps – a ledge two or three feet up from the bottom of the trench used for shooting. The sides of the trenches were held up by sandbags and timber. In trench warfare, soldiers fire on one another from opposing lines of dugout trenches. Between two enemy trenches was an unoccupied territory known as “no man’s land,” an area that was too dangerous to occupy because of steady artillery firing and bombs being dropped from planes above.

Lines of trenches stretched across France from the English Channel to the border with Switzerland – this area was where most of the fighting of the Great War occurred and was known as the Western Front. Fighting in the trenches was never comfortable. For more than three years, the battle lines remained almost unchanged. Neither side could win a clear victory. When soldiers left their trenches to attack enemy lines, they rushed into a hail of bullets and clouds of poisonous gas.

Conditions in the trenches were horrible – the cold, mud, rain, rats and fatigue often seemed harder to deal with than enemy fire. These soldiers weren’t trained to cope with the heavy, thick mud, the 70 pound backpacks and the other hardships that came with living in the trenches. Health hazards associated with living in the trenches including “trench foot” where your feet swell to two or three times their normal size and you can’t put on your boots. Gangrene often followed and feet often had to be amputated.

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Information Sheet #2 – U-Boats

The death toll of World War One, also known as the Great War, was definitely increased by the introduction of new technology. At sea, the Germans used submarines, which were often called U-Boats, to block trade. U-boat is the English version of the German word U-Boot , an abbreviation of Unterseeboot (undersea boat), and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II. Although in theory U-boats could have been useful fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used as an economic weapon by sinking Allied trade ships and enforcing a naval blockade against enemy shipping. The primary targets of the U-boats were the merchant ships bringing supplies from Canada and the United States to the Allied Powers, especially England.

These U-Boats were equipped with both guns and torpedoes. German U-Boats sank over 11 million tons of Allied shipping. By sinking their enemies trade ships, the Germans hoped to destroy their ability to wage war. The hope was that they would destroy these countries’ economies as well as sink ships with possible shipments of supplies for soldiers on the European front.

During World War One, the Germans began a practice known as unrestricted submarine warfare. This meant that Germany warned they would sink any ship flying an Allied Powers’ flag no matter what type of ship it may be. This led to the sinking of passenger ships as well as merchant ships and military ships. The Allied Powers were shocked by this practice because it often meant the loss of innocent civilian lives.

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Information Sheet #3 – Tanks and Poisonous Gas

Tanks: The development of tanks in World War I began as a solution to break the stalemate of trench warfare being fought on the Western Front. The first prototype of the Mark I tank was tested for the British Army on September 8th 1915. Although initially termed "land ships" by the British Army, their name was later changed to “tanks” to preserve secrecy. While the British took the lead in tank development, the French were not far behind and fielded their first tanks in 1917. The Germans, on the other hand, were really slow to develop tanks, concentrating on anti-tank weapons to try and stop the British and French tanks instead.

Developed by the British Navy, the tank changed the way wars were fought, starting with WWI.

The first tank was nicknamed ‘Little Willie’ and needed a crew of three. Its maximum speed was 3mph and it was unable to cross across trenches. This inability to cross over the trenches that were scattered throughout the battlefields in Europe was definitely a drawback to the use of the tank.

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Poisonous Gas: During World War I, both sides used poisonous gas to burn and blind soldiers. Poisonous gas was perhaps the most dangerous of the new technologies used during WWI because it was often difficult to detect before it was too late and was hard to protect yourself from – the only protection from poisonous gas is a gas mask, which is uncomfortable to wear and makes it difficult to see.

Chemical weapons in World War I were primarily used to injure and kill soldiers in the trenches. The types of chemical weapons used ranged from disabling chemicals, such as tear gas and the severe mustard gas, to lethal (deadly) agents like phosgene and chlorine. The killing capacity of gas, however, was limited – only four percent of combat deaths were caused by gas. Because it was possible to develop effective countermeasures against chemical attacks, such as gas masks, gas was unlike most other weapons of the period.

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Information Sheet #4 – Machine Guns

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Machines guns were perfected for use during World War I. The machine guns used in the war were often heavy and not easy to carry around because of their bulk and size. They also required extra supplies such as mounts and carriages for bullets. Often times, a machine gun would require a crew of four to six men for operation. Additionally, these weapons were prone to overheating and would have to be cooled before they could be used again. In order to maintain a defensive position, machine guns were often grouped together down the line of the trenches.

Machine guns inflicted huge numbers of casualties on both war fronts in World War One. Men who went “over-the-top” in trenches and into “no man’s land” stood little chance when the enemy opened up with their machine guns. Machine guns were one of the main killers in the war and accounted for many thousands of deaths. These machine guns could shoot hundreds of rounds of ammunition a minute and many soldiers barely got out of their trench before they were cut down.

One example of machine gun technology was the British Vickers, which was fired by a team of two men who wore gas masks in case of a gas attack. To ensure that the machine gun's barrel did not overheat, the weapon was cooled using a large water cooling jacket. An ammunition belt fed it bullets. This machine gun could shoot 450 rounds a minute. As well as the Vickers machine gun, the British used the Hotchkiss and the Lewis gun. At the start of the war, senior British army officers were less than sure about the effectiveness of the machine gun.

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Information Sheet #5 – Airplanes

World War I was the first major conflict in which airplanes were used in combat. Airplanes were just coming into military use at the outset of the war. Initially, they were used mostly for reconnaissance missions - exploration or examination of an area to gather information. Pilots and engineers learned from experience, leading to the development of many specialized types, including fighters, bombers, and ground-attack airplanes. In addition to fighter and bomber planes, Germany also used Zeppelins for reconnaissance missions over the North Sea and for strategic bombing raids over England.

By 1917, fighter planes fought each other far above the clouds in what were known as “dog fights,” to protect the men on the ground. The First World War also had planes starting to be used for the first time to deliver bombs. Planes now became fighter aircraft armed with machine guns, bombs and even cannons.

Ace fighter pilots were portrayed as modern heroes. One famous example of a fighter pilot in WWI was a man by the name of Manfred von Richthofen – better known as the Red Baron. The Red Baron was Germany’s top ace – an aviator who had downed five or more enemy aircraft. He had downed more than 80 enemy aircrafts throughout his time in the Great War. While the impact of aircraft on the course of war was limited, many of the lessons learned would be applied in future wars.

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