World War I: Technology
Introduction:
World War I was one of the defining events of the 20th century. From 1914 to 1918 conflict raged in much of the world and involved most of Europe, the United States, and much of the Middle East. In terms of technological history, World War I is significant because it marked the debut of many new types of weapons and was the first major war to “benefit” from technological advances in radio, electrical power, and other technologies.
One of the saddest facts about World War I is that millions died needlessly because military and civilian leaders were slow to adapt their old-fashioned strategies and tactics to the new weapons of 1914. New technology made war more horrible and more complex than ever before. The United States and other countries felt the effects of the war for years afterwards.
Your task today is to research specific elements of technological advancements and to determine the effect on the Great War.
Machine Gun:
Perhaps the most significant technological advance during World War I was the improvement of the machine gun, a weapon originally developed by an American, Hiram Maxim. The Germans recognized its military potential and had large numbers ready to use in 1914. They also developed air-cooled machine guns for airplanes and improved those used on the ground, making them lighter and easier to move. The weapon’s full potential was demonstrated on the Somme battlefield in July 1916 when German machine guns killed or wounded almost 60,000 British soldiers in only one day.
Trench Warfare:
Trench warfare is a type of fighting where both sides build deep trenches as a defense against the enemy. These trenches can stretch for many miles and make it nearly impossible for one side to advance.
During World War I, the western front in France was fought using trench warfare. By the end of 1914, both sides had built a series of trenches that went from the North Sea and through Belgium and France. As a result, neither side gained much ground for three and a half years from October 1914 to March of 1918.
The trenches were dug by soldiers. Sometimes the soldiers just dug the trenches straight into the ground. This method was called entrenching. It was fast, but left the soldiers open to enemy fire while they were digging. Sometimes they would build the trenches by extending a trench on one end. This method was called sapping. It was safer, but took longer. The most secret way to build a trench was to make a tunnel and then remove the roof when the tunnel was complete. Tunneling was the safest method, but also the most difficult.
The land between the two enemy trench lines was called "No Man's Land." This land was sometimes covered with barbed wire and land mines. The enemy trenches were generally around 50 to 250 yards apart.
The typical trench was dug around twelve feet deep into the ground. There was often an embankment at the top of the trench and a barbed wire fence. Some trenches were reinforced with wood beams or sandbags. The bottom of the trench was usually covered with wooden boards called duckboards. The duckboards were meant to keep the soldiers' feet above the water that would collect at the bottom of the trench. The trenches weren't dug in one long straight line, but were built as more of a system of trenches. They were dug in a zigzag pattern and there were many levels of trenches along the lines with paths dug so soldiers could travel between the levels.
Soldiers generally rotated through three stages of the front. They would spend some time in the front line trenches, some time in the support trenches, and some time resting. They almost always had some sort of job to do whether it was repairing the trenches, guard duty, moving supplies, undergoing inspections, or cleaning their weapons.
Airplanes:
Reconnaissance: The first use of airplanes in World War I was for reconnaissance. The airplanes would fly above the battlefield and determine the enemy's movements and position. One of the first major contributions of airplanes in the war was at the First Battle of the Marne where Allied reconnaissance planes spotted a gap in the German lines. The Allies attacked this gap and were able to split the German armies and drive them back.
Bombings: As the war progressed, both sides began to use aircraft to drop bombs on strategic enemy locations. The first planes used for bombings could only carry small bombs and were very vulnerable to attack from the ground. By the end of the war, faster long-range bombers were built that could carry a much larger weight of bombs.
Chemical:
The advent of gas warfare compelled nations to integrate a new method of war into their existing military organizations and doctrines. At times seeking to maximize the element of surprise or, alternatively, opting to create sustained hazardous conditions in areas for hours or days, military units in Europe experimented with a variety of techniques for the employment of gas in combat and fine-tuned the types of targets considered optimal over the course of the war. Producing gas weapons and defensive equipment required the creation of supporting scientific and manufacturing institutions, facilitating a diffusion of chemists into business and policy-making fields in First World War nations. Data related to gas casualties is inherently inaccurate given the stringencies of war and the recording methods of the period. For some nations only generalized estimates exist.
Nation Gas Casualties
France:130,000
Germany:107,000
United Kingdom:186,000
United States of America:73,000
Total:496,000
