• Machine Guns

• Made it possible for a few gunners to mow down waves of soldiers within minutes.

• •Evolution:

Would be mounted on airplanes and armored vehicles.

“The most determined line of soldiers cannot oppose a machine gun.”

Trench Warfare

: Strategy or tactic in which armies dig large lines in the ground in order to use them as a defensive barrier.

- Result = “Stalemate” and Mass death

• Front stretched 400 miles

•–Strategy employed because of stalemate, machine guns & artillery (video) stop at 1:30

Life in the trenches until 2:48

• Tanks (video until :30)

• Protected advancing troops as they broke through enemy defenses such as trenches.

• Early tanks were slow and clumsy.

Not used until late-1916 mostly on the allies side.. resulted in victories.

• tracked, armored vehicle armed with machine guns and/or cannons.

• Used to assault trenches, destroy barbed wire obstacles, machine gun nests

Impact: somewhat effective depending on use; infantry support, combined arms

• Submarines (U-Boats) - Video

• •Use: attack allied shipping, through use of deck guns and torpedoes

• •Impact: Very effective to sink enemy ships

• Also used to attack civilian vessels

• The allies used the strategy of convoy system as to counter attack the submarines

• Convoys Video

• –Using armed ships such as destroyers and armed merchant vessels to protect unarmed transport ships from submarines

• –A tactic not a technology

• •Impact:

• –Fairly effective once employed (late 1917).

• Airplanes (Video)

• At first, mainly used for observation.

• Later, used to bomb enemy locations and engaged in air combat.

Description/Use: 100 mph, monoplane, biplane, and tri-plane configurations. Constructed of canvas stretched over wooden frame

–Single pilot fighter to several men in a bomber

–Typically armed with machine guns

•Impact:

–Most aerial combat techniques used today are derived from WW1 dogfighting.

–Fixed wing aircraft most influential, though observation balloons and zeppelins played a role as well

–Fighter Aces – five kills

• Chemical Warfare

• Poison Gas Video stop at 2:00

• Gases caused choking, blinding, or severe skin blisters.

• Gas masks were not very effective and decreased soldiers accuracy (couldn’t see out of them)

•Description/Use: Chemical gas used to incapacitate or kill enemy. An attempt to find a breakthrough weapon to end stalemate

• –Mustard, chlorine, and “tear gas”

• –Horrible wounds and death

• –Initially just “sprayed”

• –Hard to control

•Impact: Troops had to wear masks making fighting difficult

• –Masks often ineffective