In my work i am going to explain why i believe that new technology and weapons, America joining the war, the blockade of the German ports and the ludendorff offensive were all equally important in breaking the stalemate on the western front.

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Ricky Patel

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In my work i am going to explain why i believe that new technology and weapons, America joining the war, the blockade of the German ports and the ludendorff offensive were all equally important in breaking the stalemate on the western front. I believe that they were all equally important because without one them, the others would never had happened or succeeded.

In 1915 the generals decided to use some newly designed and created weapons, one of these was the Howitzer. This was one of the biggest artillery guns that were available. Before an attack both sides bombarded each other with shells from these guns. The shells exploded into metal splinters (shrapnel). One English soldier who saw a howitzer shell hit a German trench said this “We watched Germans fly up in the air as much as three or 400 feet”. During the war over 400,000 shells were used every month, this was what gave men shell shock. One weapon that was used in the trenches by both sides was the machine gun. This was very useful in defending an already won position (also kill a large number of soldiers at a time) because it could shoot many rounds per minute rather than the Enfield rifle, which could only shoot one round each time. The English did not see the use in these at the beginning of the war but they soon realised that they were a big help. At the battle of the Somme the English were

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“Slaughtered” by the German machine gunners. One of them said this “you didn’t have to aim, we just fired into them”. Another new weapon was the tank. This, however, was prone to break down. When the Germans first saw a tank they were so scared of it they just ran away but all it was was a big tractor with armour plating around it. Gas was used first by the Germans this was a very nasty attack weapon but the problem was you could not use it and then attack after. By 1917 every soldier had an effective gas mask ...

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