1. The main weapon used by German soldiers in the trenches was the bolt-action rifle. 15 rounds could be fired in a minute and a person 1,400 metres away could be killed. The training and skill of the rifle operator himself was very important. Bolt-action Rifles Offensive & Defensive + 5

2. 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. Early machine guns would rapidly overheat and become inoperative without the aid of cooling mechanisms; they were consequently fired in short rather than sustained bursts.. Machine guns Defensive + 10

3. Large field guns (artillery) 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 Artillery Offensive & Defensive + 10

4. Grenades - either hand or rifle driven - were detonated in one of two ways. They were either detonated on impact (percussion) or via a timed fuse. Generally speaking, infantrymen preferred timed fuses (of whatever amount of time) to percussion devices, since there remained the constant risk of accidentally jolting a grenade while in a trench and setting off an explosion. Grenades Offensive and Defensive + 10

5. Mustard gas was the most deadly weapon used. It was first used by the Germans against Russia in 1917.It was fired into the trenches in shells. It is colourless and takes 12 hours to take effect. Effects include – blistering skin, vomiting, sore eyes, internal and external bleeding. Death can take up to 5 weeks. Mustard gas Offensive + 10

6. 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. Zeppelins Offensive + 5

7. The infantryman in World War 1 was equipped with standard issue weapons at the start of the war but by the end of World War 1, most infantrymen had become adept at using other weapons that had been developed as the war had progressed. The basic British infantryman, like his French and German contemporaries, was issued with his uniform, webbing and a rifle with bayonet. Some infantrymen were trained to use the relatively new machine gun but the majority had to make do with his rifle. Infantry Offensive & Defensive + 10

8. Planes were also used for the first time. At first they were used to deliver bombs and for spying work but became fighter aircraft armed with machine guns, bombs and some times canons. Fights between two planes in the sky became known as ‘dogfights’ Airplanes Offensive + 10

9. 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. Torpedoes Offensive + 10

10. When the war broke out in Western Europe in August 1914, both Britain and Germany had a cavalry force that each numbered about 100,000 men. A cavalry charge was essentially from a bygone military era and machine guns, trench complexes and barbed wire made such charges all but impossible. Cavalry Offensive + 5

11. The Western Front during World War 1 stretched from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier with France. Both sides dug themselves in ending any possible chance of a quick war; this caused a stalemate, which was to last for most of the war. Many men died in the trenches of WW1, most of who died in battle, but many died from disease and infections brought on by the unsanitary conditions. Trenches Defensive + 20

12. Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand(s). It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property. It is a major feature of the fortifications in trench warfare. Barbed wire Defensive + 10