WWI: New Weapons, Warfare, and trenches;

New Weapons 1.Machine Guns 2.Hand Grenades 3.Poison Gas 4.Tanks 5.Airplanes 6.U-Boats 7.Heavy Artillery

Machine Guns

A. Hiram Maxim 1. American 2. Took advantage of the European move towards militarism in the late 1800s. 3. Understood new weapons technology would make him millions. 4. Went on to improve airplanes for war.

Machine Guns

Shot 500 rounds/minute with a fire power of 100 rifles. Maxim Machine Gun

Machine Guns One Machine Gun equaled the power of sixty men. German Maxim Machine Gun Squad

Machine Guns British Vickers Machine Gun. Came apart into two pieces for easier carrying. Weighed over 100 pounds. This was a variation of the Maxim made to be more portable.

Machine Guns British Vickers Machine Gun. Disassembles into two parts for carrying

Machine Guns British also developed the Lewis machine gun. This was a lighter weight, single piece gun made for one soldier to carry

Machine Guns Germans Motorized Machine Guns to help solve the problem of mobility. Problem was these would get stuck in the mud and were too heavy to carry.

Hand Grenades

Hand Grenades are actually small bombs. Come in many sizes and shapes May be filled with chemical or explosives Four kinds of grenades 1. Offensive: filled with TNT. Designed to stun the enemy in enclosed places. 2. Fragmentation: Kills everything with shrapnel within 5 to 10 yards. 3. Chemical: Toxic gas meant to kill or slow down troops 4. Illuminating: Filled with white phosphorus that would burn bright for about 60 seconds.

US Hand Grenades In WWI Offensive Fragmentation Chemical Illuminating

Poison Gas

Germans were the first to use poison gas during trench warfare. By 1916 Allies began using it on the Western Front. Allied advantage = the wind blew from the west! 250,000 soldiers died from gas on the Western Front. 10,000 died quickly, the rest suffered to varying degrees.

Poison Gas Gas would be carried by the wind to the enemy troops. If the wind changed direction gas could wipe out the wrong troops!

Poison Gas Three Basic types 1. Tearing gas a. Caused temporary blindness b. Inflamed the nose and throat of victim Soldiers that were blinded by tear gas leading each other to safety

Poison Gas 2. Asphyxiate a. Poisonous gas (chlorine gas – turns to hydrochloric acid when contact lungs and eyes)

Poison Gas 3. Blistering Agent a. Mustard Gas - Attacked any exposed moist skin and respiratory system - Lungs, eyes, armpits, and groin areas mostly - Produced large burns and blisters - Gas mask did little to help Mustard Gas Burns

Mustard gas burns

First gas masks were only made of cloth

Early gas mask developed by the British

Germans putting carrier pigeons in gas shelters

US WWI Gas Mask Italian WWI Gas Mask

Tanks British WWI Tank

Tanks 1. Used for the first time in WWI 2. British used the first tank on the Western Front on September 15, Early tanks had many problems a. Too hot for humans to operate b. Heat could cause explosion c. Exhaust was not ventilated properly d. difficult to see out of e. Became stuck in mud easily 1 st British Tank

Tanks Psychological Effect: 1. Germans feared tanks even with all of their early problems 2. They could not be disabled quickly 3. Easily went over barbed wire and trenches 4. Not stopped by machine guns 5. Cannons were very accurate and could get close

Tanks Early British Tanks (Experimental Phase)

Tanks 1 st Canadian Tank

Vintage British WWI Tank

First United States Tank

First American Tank

1 st German Tank

Russian Tank Prototypes Russia begins to develop practical tanks in the 1920s

Airplanes “Dogfighters”

WWI Airplanes Initially used for observation Later fitted with machine guns “dogfights” – aerial fights between pilots American Rickenbacker Biplanes

American Planes: Spad and Morane – Saulnier Parasol German Planes: Albatross and Fokker

WWI Airplanes German Albatross

WWI Airplanes WWI American Fighter Plane

Who was this person known as? A. Manfred von Richthofen 1. German dogfighter – flew the Fokker plane 2. Downed 80 planes and killed or captured 127 pilots 3. Became a target for the Allies 4. Had his plane painted red to attract the Allies 5. Boosted German morale and influenced other dogfighters to paint their planes red also

The Red Barron Manfred von Richthofen

Dogfights between the Allies and the Central Powers were common during WWI Fokker WWI Planes

U-boats Freighter sunk in the North Sea during WWI

U-Boats (Unterseeboots) 1.Developed first by the Germans 2.Most feared weapon a. Attack without warning b. Sunk both military and commercial ships 3. Fragile a. Even the smallest tap would sink the earliest U-boats.

WWI German U-Boats

WWI German U-boats

WWI German U-Boat

Heavy Artillery

1. Could be heard over 40 miles away 2. Long range shelling capabilities 3. Psychological Use 1. Bomb heavy before sending troops in 2. Cause “shell shock” – nervous disorder 3. Wear the troops down – loud, nonstop noise that would shake the trenches all night. Did not allow for sleep or rest.

Heavy Artillery shells - French

Allied Howitzers

Heavy Artillery WWI British Howitzers

WWI British Canons

Trench Warfare

1.Located on the Western Front (between France and Germany) 2. Fighting in a series of deep trenches. 3. Dug by soldiers – about 6 feet deep 4. Result of new Warfare technology (Machine Guns, Hand Grenades, and heavy artillery) 5. Lasted from 1914 – 1918

Aerial View of trenches “No Mans Land” Trenches

Parapet Firing Step Muddy bottom Barbed Wire Basic Cover/Shelter Narrow Walk Way

Typical section of front line trench. Heavy artillery shelling, attacks, and counterattacks prevented burials. Shell explosions would kill and bury several men while simultaneously exhuming others killed in previous weeks or months. Smell of decaying bodies was the norm Rats were huge due to gorging themselves on human remains. Muddy Trench Walls Broken Leg

French troops eating in the trench Notice the firing ports built into the side of the trench

*Some trenches were not as well built or as large as other trenches. *Mud and water were common in all trenches *Foot rot was very common

French preparing to leave trench to cross “no man’s land”

Too much water and mud made moving heavy artillery difficult. Soldiers were not always able to move weapons in time to provide cover for the soldiers in the trenches.

Trying to move supplies to the front proved difficult with all the water and mud

Standing in water knee high was common. Water also made great breeding grounds for lice, frogs, and bugs.

Not all trenches were deep and well fortified. These were used as stepping stones to get across “no man’s land”

Trench Warfare 2,500,000 bodies were never found on the Western Front

Military Casualties in World War I Belgium 45,550 British Empire 942,135 France 1,368,000 Greece 23,098 Italy 680,000 Japan 1,344 Montenegro 3,000 Portugal 8,145 Romania 300,000 Russia 1,700,000 Serbia 45,000 United States 116,516 Austria-Hungary 1,200,000 Bulgaria 87,495 Germany 1,935,000 Ottoman Empire 725,000

Grand Totals for Both Sides Total Mobilized = 65,038,810 troops Total Casualties = 37,508,686 troops (57.6%) Known Killed in Action (KIA) = 8,538,315 Missing or prisoners = 7,750,919 troops Wounded = 21,219,452 troops

The End