Weaponry in world war one To understand the role of women and children in world war one

Weaponry before the war? Before the war most battles were fought with swords and guns had become more popular. World War One saw a new type of fighting. It saw the countries digging trenches and fighting over deserted and damaged land in the middle called “no-man’s land.” This meant that the armies had to come up with new ways to fight. The leaders of the armies came up with new weapons and new ways to attack the enemy that did not involve soldiers being close to one another or even having to be able to see the enemy.

Weapons of World War One! For each of the weapons on the following slides, I want you to create a top trump for each one. You need a drawing of each weapon at the top of the top trump, then you need to rate the weapon, out of 10, on the following things: How easy is the weapon to use? /10 How good is the weapon for a soldier? /10 How dangerous is the weapon? /10

Gas Mask Every solder had to carry a gas mask. Both sides used chemical gas to try to force the enemy out of the trenches and to poison them. Due to this, the government gave every soldier a gas mask. Early gas masks were a piece of cloth dipped in anti- chemical liquids to help the soldier breath but over time they were added with a special box to stop the gas coming through.

zepellins The Germans used massive airships filled with helium to attack the British public. This was the first time the war had come to the Britain and was not just between the soldiers fighting far away. The Germans sent two on January 19th 1915 and they each carried 8 bombs. 9 people in total were killed and some building damaged. The British people were terrified and it caused them to be scared of future bombings.

guns The most common rifle used by the British army was the Lee Enfield. This had been used for centuries by the British Army. The only problem was they had to be reloaded regularly. The British began to use a pistol called the Webley Revolver. It allowed 6 bullets to be fired at once.

The Tank Tanks first appeared in September 1916. It was the first time tanks had ever been used in military conflict. They were the best and safest way to avoid machine gun fire and get over the top of trenches and barbed wire. The British sent 49 tanks into the first battle. They were slow and only travelled at 4 miles per hour. By the end of the war Britain and France had 6.500 tanks between them. Germany had only 20.

The Grenade Grenades are thrown at the opposite trenches to blow up the enemy. The most commonly used was the Mills bomb. This was a fragmentation grenade. The grenade would explode and the metal on the outside of the grenade would break into pieces and fly everywhere, causing even more damage.

Machine Guns Machine guns were used regularly to shoot at the opposite trenches and kill the men who were coming to attack. They were deadly and could fire up to 60 rounds of bullets per minute. The downside was they needed reloading and took up to three men to work.

Artillery Artillery are huge guns that can fire across long distances. They usually involved putting a bomb into a long tube and then the soldier would fire it. Many were so large they had to be dragged by horses.