WW1 and weapons By: Brad Sleight

Timeline December 24, 1914 February 21, 1916 April 6, 1917 Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by the Black Hand Start of the battle of Verdun Germany signed an armistice with the Allies. The official date of the end of World War 1 December 24, 1914 February 21, 1916 April 6, 1917 November 11, 1918 June 28, 1914 June 28, 1919 A cease fire was called for a Christmas celebration The United States of America joined World War 1 The Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany Gas Zeppelin For a full view of the events of WW1, click on the following link http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_of_world_war_one.htm

Gas

Types of gas used in WW1 Tear gas (French) Chlorine gas (Germany) First introduced by the French in 1914.  Tear gas is an irritant and is not deadly. When they first deployed this against the Germans by using hand grenades, the Germans didn't even know they were using it.  The Germans retaliated with larger amounts with still no effect.  While there was a treaty in effect before the war to stop the use of chemical warfare (The Hague Treaty of 1899), no one believed that tear gas was against that. Chlorine gas (Germany) Just a few, short months later, Germany had the Bayer come up with a more toxic type of gas to use against people.  The result was Chlorine gas, which was a by-product of their dye manufacturing.  Chlorine gas looked like a greenish-gray cloud of smoke and was very visible to the enemy.  They started putting chlorine in artillery shells in 1915.  This time, the gas was found to kill people if they went untreated from it.  Chlorine gas is a powerful irritant that can inflict damage to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs.  At high concentrations and prolonged exposure will cause death by asphyxiation.  After they used this against the Russians and injured over 9000 of them (killing 1000) in an attack, the Russian military got into the act and started using gas warfare.  The Germans found out that you needed a lot of Chlorine gas to kill their enemies and that gas masks were a highly effective deterrent to the gas. 

Types of gas used in WW1 p.2 Mustard gas (Germany) As if these chemicals weren't scary enough, mustard gas, which was first unleashed in 1917, was introduced by Germany.  It wasn't a particularly effective killing agent (though in high enough doses it is fatal).  The reason it was so terrifying is that mustard gas was painful, caused huge yellow blisters, and incapacitated a person just by touching their skin.  Gas masks didn't work against this stuff!  Not only that, it didn't go away like other gasses.  When the other gasses were used against an enemy, wind could disperse it and make it less lethal.  Not so with Mustard gas.  It was heavy and sunk into crevices and trenches, then stayed there for weeks, months, and even years.  Because of this, the Germans found that it was difficult to attack the enemy with Mustard gas and then advance to their position.  Phosgene gas (French) This was the next step in the chemical warfare progression.  The French retaliated against the Chlorine gas with phosgene.  Phosgene was a potent killing agent, deadlier than chlorine. It had a potential drawback in that some of the symptoms of exposure took 24 hours or more to manifest. This meant that the victims were initially still capable of putting up a fight; although this could also mean that apparently fit troops would be incapacitated by the effects of the gas on the following day.  Colorless and having an odor likened to "moldy hay," phosgene was difficult to detect, making it a more effective weapon. Although phosgene was sometimes used on its own, it was more often used mixed with an equal volume of chlorine to help it spread across the battlefield.  It killed a lot of people, about 85% of the 100,000 deaths caused by chemical weapons during World War I.

Types of gas used in WW1 p.3 Lewisite (America) In 1918, the Americans came up with a gas that was just as deadly as Mustard gas, but invisible like Phosgene.  It was created in Cleveland, Ohio and never actually saw World War One.  The war ended before it was available in enough quantity to cause any damage.  However, why waste a good gas.  We sold the technology to the Japanese to use against the Chinese prior to World War Two!  It is not known, however, if this gas was ever used against live troops.  Lewisite had a tendency to break down in moist environments (like if it was raining or there was mud anywhere on the battlefield), so large quantities of the gas was not produced during World War One

Planes

Fighter planes used in WW1 Nieuport 11 and 17 (French) Sopwith Type 9400 (French) SPAD VII and XIII (French) Ansaldo S.V.A. Scout (Italian) Bristol F2.B "Brisfit" (British) Royal Aircraft SE 5 (British) DeHaviland DH-2 and DH-4 (British) Siemens-Shuckert D.III (German) Fokker E-III monoplane (German) Roland C-II "Whale" (German) Hansa-Brandenberg W-29 (German) Albatross D-III and D-V (German)

Bomber planes used in WW1 Sopwith Type 9400 (French) Handley Page O/400 (British) Gotha GI thru GIV (German)

Scout planes in WW1 Sopwith Type 9400 (French) Ansaldo S.V.A.(Italian)

Guns

Machine guns Machine guns needed 4-6 men to work them and had to be on a flat surface. They had the fire-power of 100 guns. Large field guns had a long range and could deliver devastating blows to the enemy but needed up to 12 men to work them. They fired shells which exploded on impact.

The bolt-action rifle The main weapon used by British soldiers in the trenches was the bolt-action rifle. 15 rounds could be fired in a minute and a person 1,400 meters away could be killed.  

Other weapons

Zeppelin The Zeppelin, also known as blimp, was an airship that was used during the early part of the war in bombing raids by the Germans. They carried machine guns and bombs. However, they were abandoned because they were easy to shoot out of the sky

Tank Tanks were used for the first time in the First World War at the Battle of the Somme. They were developed to cope with the conditions on the Western Front. The first tank was called 'Little Willie' and needed a crew of 3. Its maximum speed was 3mph and it could not cross trenches. The more modern tank was not developed until just before the end of the war. It could carry 10 men, had a revolving turret and could reach 4mph.

Torpedoes Torpedoes were used by submarines. The Germans used torpedoes to blow up ships carrying supplies from America to Britain.  The Germans torpedoed the passenger liner Lusitania on May 1st 1915 which sank with a loss of 1,195 lives. Americans were outraged and joined the war in 1917 on the side of the allies.