New weapons of the first world war

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New weapons of the first world war

NEW WEAPONS OF WAR: WWI, An Industrialized War

Poison gas was first used by the Germans in 1915. Its goal was to kill or incapacitate large numbers of the enemy so that their men could charge largely unopposed and take the enemy trenches. This invention worked until both sides perfected gas masks that protected their men from the gas.

Mortars were used to lob large shells straight into the air so that they would fall directly into an enemy trench and destroy it.

Flamethrowers fired a stream of gasoline or petrol that was ignited at the muzzle of the flamethrower. This jet of flaming fluid was then sprayed on the enemy to kill or disable him. The Germans first used this as a shock weapon in 1916 to attempt to shock the Allies out of their trenches.

Artillery had been around for many years, but in WWI, the new inventions allowed for rapid fire, breech-loading artillery with great range. These guns had bores (the size of the hole in a barrel) that were as big as fourteen inches across. You could stick your head completely in them. They fired shells that were the size of a modern day motorcycle and their purpose was to smash and kill the enemy before you launched your attack against them.

In a belt-fed machine gun, cartridges (bullets) were inserted into cloth belts and fed into machine guns that could fire over 1,000 cartridges per minute. When the enemy would charge, in the open, against these machine guns, they would be cut down by the hundreds. The use of machine guns was the major reason for the digging of trenches so that soldiers could escape their deadly hail of fire.

Tanks were invented by the British in 1916 as mobile armored platform, armed with machine guns and cannons. They were designed so that the English could attack enemy trenches and break the trench lines with their own fire, while being protected from enemy fire by the tank’s armor.

Airplanes were originally used only for observation to keep a watch on enemy troop movements: eventually, however, they came to be armed with machine guns and bombs. In the middle to the late part of the war, there were large “dogfights” in which opposing aircraft attempted to shoot each other down with their machine guns. These planes were also used to drop bombs on the enemy from the air.

Questions to Answer: (on a separate sheet of paper, please.)

What was the main goal of these weapons?
What weapon was most responsible for starting trench warfare? Why?
What weapons were designed specifically to overcome trench warfare? How did they do this?
One of these weapons was so cruel in its effects on men that it has been banned by international law. Which one do you think it is? Why?
What revolution made all of these weapons possible? Why?
Which of these weapons do you think was the most terrible? Why?
Which one of these weapons held the most promise for future use? Why?
Pretend you are a soldier in a trench. Either write a letter home, or write a diary entry, in which you describe combat in the trenches. Be descriptive about weapons used, their effect on men and your emotions. Also, include your feelings about the war overall. It doesn’t matter if you take the position of supporting or condemning the war, you just have to sound convincing in your opinion. Minimum ¾ page.

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Web site link: http://www.sanpedrohs.org/

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