How did conditions change between 1914 and 1918?

a massive advancement in machine guns during in World War One. For example Britain deployed a variety of improved machine guns with a combination of a recoil and gas pressure repeating mechanisms. A the start of the war Britain only deployed the Maxim gun, which was the first ever machine gun ever made, and was invented by Sir Hiram Maxim. In 1917 the British lent thousands of Browning .30-caliber, this was a very light machine gun and was carried over the top by special infantry units. Larger machine guns then came in such as the Browning .50-caliber in 1918. This was a heavy machine and was mounted on a tripod and used by specialist machine gun crews. The Browning .50-caliber had greater range and more penetrating power than other heavy machine guns before it but was less accurate as it was so heavy. The development of the better, stronger, faster machine guns meant that British tactics had to change as well. The development of short range firepower for British infantry units, combined with the development of long range weapons by the Germans ended the need for tightly packed infantry formations on the battlefield. This in turn led to a revolution in military tactics, training and organisation during World War One. The machine gun defence of the Germans caused the British infantry units to spread out within the battlefield, forcing soldiers to operate in smaller groups and therefore carry less supplies. Not being able to carry as much in a group meant that certain medical necessities had to be sacrificed in order for the soldiers to be able to carry more weapons such as knives and grenades. But by 1916 the first tanks had been invented, and these were used to carry some equipment that had had to be left behind by the infantry units. The tanks were very slow and weak, but provided protection as the infantry units could march slowly behind the tanks instead of walking openly in no mans land. The development of tanks also sparked a change in the over the top tactic the British army had been using throughout the war. Some famous battles were ended because Commanders or Generals were brave enough to ditch the old over the top tactic and instead of marching slowly over no mans land with lots of equipment, they ran across with no equipment but two grenades and a gun. It is still puzzling why some generals continued to walk over the top when running over the top was a tried and proven method that worked.         The use of military aircraft also changed during World War One for example, at the start of the war aircraft were just used to reconnaissance over the enemy trenches, the but the problem was they could only verbally tell there commander what they had seen, the first pictures were not taken until 1916 in the battle of the Somme, it was this battle that tanks were first introduced as well. In 1917 however the first ever bomb was dropped but it wasn’t very successful, as it had limited power and accuracy. Research proves that the bombs actually killed more men in friendly fire than it did enemy troops         The Germans also introduced gas in 1915 in the battle of Ypres. It was one of the few times the Germans attacked, as they were still more geared to defending. The gas used was chlorine gas, chlorine gas irritates the lungs, most people who were affected died of suffocation. In the problem with gas was that the wind had to be blowing the right way. The first time the Germans used gas they sent over causing death and panic in the British trenches but hen they advanced the wind suddenly changed direction and caused more German than British casualties. Later in World War One the Germans introduced Phosgene gas which was the same as chlorine but much more powerful and in 1917 they introduced mustard gas, which had no smell so was impossible to detect at night. The gas would temporarily blind its victims, burn their skin and poison their lungs. In most cases death was slow painful usually taking up to four weeks.         There weren’t that many developments in the living conditions for the British soldiers. There were minor medical advancements such as the use of herbs mixed into the scalp to prevent lice and soldiers would have improved damp protective clothing to try and stop things such as trench foot and all soldiers were also issued with personal med kits and gas mask. Supply got better so they had more food but the food was much worse. As it had to be mass-produced, packed and shipped, which meant ruled most foods out, and the food would have to things that didn’t have to be cooked as they couldn’t create fires in the damp and cold conditions.