WW1 - technology and trench warfare.

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First world war research project

World War 1 or ‘the great war’ is the first war where so many people from all over the world died for their country. It is also the first war where such large scale destruction came from man made machinery. Also the trenches were put into use for one of the first time. The trenches went almost the whole way from one side of Belgium to the other side of France. This image shows both trenches from where they started to where they ended.  There were many battles and many deaths. In this project I will go into greater detail about the world war and what made it ‘the great war’.

I will explain how the new technology changed the nature of this war and all others after it. There were new weapons that were used to devastating effect. Each country had their artillery gun. Firstly there was the ‘paris gun’. Made by the French this gun was a long fire cannon. It had head on impact and destroyed anything it hit. The length of the gun was 35 metres and was 138 tons. The main advantage of having this gun was its superior range; it could hit something 75 miles away. The ‘paris gun’ was a huge gun which made it hard to move around so it had to stay at one place and could not be taken to the trenches. Also this gun had poor accuracy so it was very unreliable and would easily kill allied forces. The Germans also had a huge gun called the big bertha. It was lighter than the Paris gun weighing at 2,200lb and only had a range of nine miles. However the shorter range and lighter build made it possible to bring the guns to the trenches and fire at the enemy. The British had the ‘Rail gun’. It only weighed 138lbs so it could be taken to the trenches. The gun could only fire 5,800 yards so it was not useful for long distance fighting. It had great mobility, but the rail gun also had 100 yard recoil. This meant that the person firing the gun could easily be killed.

Chemicals and gas attacks were also used to kill enemy soldiers. Nearly 100,000 people died in World War 1 as a result of chemical and gas attacks. There were three main gases used in WW1. Chlorine gas was one of them. It made the victims look with a glassy stare and turned the skin yellow or black. However the main damage was done inside the body. The gas destroyed the respiratory system from inside the body and froth came out of their mouth. It would have been a terrifying experience for the people who were attacked by chlorine gas but it could be seen and prevented by gas masks easily. Phosgene gas was also used in the war. It was twice as deadly as chlorine gas but had no affects on the victims’ sight or skin. However the gas would kill quickly and was terrible for the soldiers moral. The other gas was mustard gas. It gave the skin terrible blisters and every shell could be poisoned with mustard gas so all the soldiers would be scared to go near shell holes.

At Lochnagar Crater there was evidence shell warfare had been used because there was a huge dip in the ground made by a huge shell. At almost every battle ground there were shell holes everywhere because the shells scared and did kill a lot of soldiers. Also there was evidence of machine guns because there were pill boxes with holes where the machine guns would be fired from.

It was a war with airplanes, machine guns, and tanks – the weapons were made to kills thousands as quickly as possible. However, the leaders of regiments often fought World War I as if it was an older war with less sophisticated weapons. The troops would be made to march across no mans land and be killed by machine guns. Because of this, a tactic known as trench warfare was put into practice. Many viewed trench warfare to be an effective tactic against enemy advancement. Because of this view, trench warfare proved to be, in World War I, an ineffective and terrible experience for all. In September 1914, the German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn ordered his troops to dig trenched that would provide protection from the allied troops. When the allies reached the trench, they soon realized that they could not break through the line that the trench provided. They also realized that the trench provided the Germans with shelter from their fire. Soon after, the allies began to dig their own trenches and, then, trench warfare began. Not very long, after the first trenches of the war were dug, a network of trenches arose. This network spread across France and Belgium for many miles.

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Within the network, there were three different types of trenches: front line trenches, support trenches, and reserve trenches. The first line of trenches was called front line trenches. These were usually two meters deep and had a zigzag pattern to prevent enemy fire from sweeping the entire length of the trench. In order to prevent the trench from caving in, sandbags were stacked against the trench walls. Between the trenches of opposing forces laid no man's land. This area between the opposing front line trenches was filled with barbwire and mines to prevent enemy crossing. If a soldier was ever ...

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