Transcript Innovations of WWI

Innovations of WWI
An Industrialized War
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Weapons were produced with the same efficient
methods of mass production that industrialists
had applied to other products
The Machine Gun
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One of the most important weapons of WWI
Highly effective
Land armies often found any advance difficult
and costly
Machine Guns
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Trench Warfare
Protection from machine gun fire and artillery bombardments
Armies dug large trenches where they might live for months
British boys play acting Trench Warfare
Tanks
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Introduced by the British
An armored vehicle mounted with guns
Enabled troops to break though enemy lines
Front view of a British tank
Airplanes
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Airplanes in the early 1900’s were neither very
maneuverable nor very fast
They were used primarily for observing troop
movements and for dropping explosives
Gun on German Airplane
Balloons were also used in
WWI
Submarines/U-boats
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First used by the Germans
Did serious damage to Allied shipping
Loading torpedoes into a French submarine
Poison Gas
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The Germans were the first to use it
The Allies quickly followed suit
American wearing a Gas Mask
British Horse wearing a Gas Mask
American wearing a respirator
Sounding the gong in preparation of a gas attack
Casualties From Gas - The Numbers
Total Casualties
Death
Austria-Hungary
100,000
3,000
British Empire
188,706
8,109
France
190,000
8,000
Germany
200,000
9,000
60,000
4,627
419,340
56,000
USA
72,807
1,462
Others
10,000
1,000
Country
Italy
Russia
The Draft
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Most European wars before this time had been
fought by professional soldiers who worked for
money and rations
WWI was fought by armies of drafted citizens
Those who could not fight worked at home to
help the war effort
Many women participated in the war effort by
working in factories
Governments made use of propaganda