The Tank
By far the most important invention introduced during the Great War was the tank. Primitive tanks were introduced for the sole aim of having protected artillery that could break through the defence line. Tanks were introduced after days of negotiations, they were transported by ship on a night in 1916, but the tank did not prevail as its heavy machinery allowed it to sink in deep mud. However, as the war progressed the Tank advanced, with larger guns and more armour. The brains behind it were the caterpillar style wheels, which could easily manage to move through the muddy, watery fields without getting stuck. These first tanks had only enough fuel to power them for 8-km due to the weight and bulk but were still enhanced and were able to go further carrying less fuel. This creation saw soldiers being protected from machine-guns and allowed troops move further on in ‘No Mans Land’.
The Machine Gun
The Machine Gun has claimed the most lives in World War One although this is only on hospital counts so the actual amount of people killed is not certain. However what is certain is that, it was thought of as a massacre weapon and it certainly lived up to its name. Before the war, guns had to be manually loaded but in 1916 Hugo Schmeisser designed the Maschinen Pistole 1918 Bergmann which was brought in during the last few months of the war. This had a catastrophic effect on the war; thousands upon thousands of men were literally mown down when they went over the top of the trenches due to these machine-guns. Because the earlier versions of the gun such as the MP 18 had to use a heavy bolt and spring it was limited to firing about forty rounds a minute. Yet although compared with machine guns today this seems slow, it was the fastest firing weapon ever at the start of the war. These were thought to put an end to the war, but soon after, Gas was introduced so going over the top was not so necessary.
The Flame Thrower
The machine gun claimed to have taken the most lives in World War One, however sources say that the flame-thrower was the “most frightening weapon in the war.” This weapon had a fuel container filled with oil (later with paraffin) and a cylinder containing a gas propellant that would shoot out a flame into the air. However, primal flame-throwers could only shoot about eight feet and sixteen feet for the larger ones therefore they were soon mounted onto the tanks for better use. Another drawback was the vast fuel consumption that the flame-thrower had. The smaller version, which could fit on a soldier’s back, would only have enough fuel for a ten-second solid stream. This weapon was invented to end the war but still took a long time to do so, however it did succeed in scaring and intimidating the enemy
Gas
As well as the flamethrower, gas was supposed to end the stalemate. The idea was to send gas over the enemy trench to either poison them or to force them out the trenches to become easy targets. But it was easy to say, but it needed to be put into practice, which wasn’t so easy. The Germans first used gas in the Battle of Ypres in April 1915, where they released the gas using the wind to transport the gas. The earliest method of gassing was simply to release the gas from pressurised containers, like the Germans did at Ypres. But then if the wind happened to change in direction the gas would be blown right back in the faces of the advancing troops. This meant that the gas could only be used when the wind was blowing the correct way. But, again advancements were made and gas shells were introduced so that the gas would only be released when it actually landed in or nearby the enemy trench.
However, when there is a right there has to be a wrong; gas masks were introduced to help soldiers to be immortal from any gas attacks, which helped save thousands of soldier’s lives in the short term. Early versions of the mask were just a basic mask with a filter on the front that stopped most of the toxic vapours from getting through. They were very effective and even more so when they were improved later on. Before long the Gas Mask was part of the basic kit that a soldier would have and so unless people were caught unaware, gas could not prove much of a problem for the rest of the war.
With all these new weapons being introduced it seemed like the war would soon be over, but each side started designing ways and items to prevent the new weapons causing too much damage. But these in turn eventually caused the war to create more deaths because even though individually they saved lives, overall they killed more people as the war lasted longer.
In my view, technology did ‘break’ the stalemate but only in short term cases. The Great War saw a case of cat and mouse being played, when the cat always caught up. Thus, if a side comes up with an invention it will prevail for a short period of time until the opposing side invents an area of defence, this cycle was repeated with every weapon introduced. Although, it did have some effect on the war, the battle still remained stalemate. Therefore, I conclude that although this war saw a new face of technology, the impact remained only on the outside and not in the actual war, which in my view remained stalemate.
World War One has been classed as one of the most memorable events to ever take place in History. Not only did it cause the most deaths ever recorded at the time, but it also went down in history for the vast amount of weapons and ideas that were invented during it. Some of these have been modernized for use in the 21st Century but the majority were just mindless killing machines. World War One changed history and if it had never taken place then it would be a wonder to know what kind of world we would be living in.
