ARTILLERY
The artillery of World War I was used to counter the trench warfare that set in shortly after the conflict commenced, and was an important factor in the war. The years of the First World War had provided several developments in artillery warfare. Artillery could now shoot farther and more explosively than ever before. Because of this, enemies in trenches would no longer always be safe, and would constantly be fired upon. Artillery barrages would also be used before an infantry battle, to create a distraction away from the place of attack. Mortars were revived by the Germans because of their ability to shoot at an angle above 45 degrees, and therefore could theoretically (although not often) land directly in an enemy's trench before exploding for maximum damage. The machine gun was a fairly primitive device when general war began in August 1914. Machine guns of all armies were largely of the heavy variety and decidedly ill-suited to portability for use by rapidly advancing infantry troops.
The 1914 machine gun, usually positioned on a flat tripod; that would require a gun crew of four to six operators. In theory they could fire 400-600 small-calibre rounds per minute. The reality however was that these early machine guns would rapidly overheat and become inoperative without the aid of cooling mechanisms. Cooling generally took one of two forms: water cooled and, increasingly as the war developed, air cooled. Water cooled machine guns would still overheat relatively quickly. Consequently machine guns would often be grouped together to maintain a constant defensive position. The inventor of the machine gun was an engineer called Maxim. Moving to London Maxim began to toy with the problems associated with the design and manufacture of automatic weapons, from which resulted his most famous innovation; in 1884 he unveiled the Maxim Machine Gun.The gas produced by the explosion of the powder in each machine gun cartridge itself created a recoil which served to continuously operate the machine gun mechanism. No external power was needed.
VEHICLES
Before World War I, no tanks, submarines, or combat planes existed. After, airliners and huge transatlantic ships, faster and sturdier, would appear.
Tanks were designed and produced simultaneously by France and Great Britain: they were aimed at breaking the Western Front stalemate, with their capability of withstanding machine gun and small arm fire. Two kinds of tanks actually saw combat: male tanks, more akin to modern tanks in that they were armed with small naval cannons and machine guns, and female tanks, which were lighter and armed with machine guns only. The prototypes were called “mothers”, from which a new line of tanks would be produced.
Another innovation, derived from an already existing machine, was combat aircraft. In 1899, the first Zeppelin was built and flown. Zeppelins were used during World War I by Germans, that employed them to bomb London, actually achieving relatively poor results (they actually managed to inflict only 500 casualties to the enemy, in spite of a very high cost of operation for zeppelins). Just five years later, the Wright brothers would fly the world’s first proper plane. Ten years later, when World War I broke, the world already knew aircraft that could carry front-firing machine guns, bombs, and travel for long distances at high speed. As a result, during World War I many aviators were, more or less formally, appointed “aces”, the first being the french Adolphe Pégoud: they were the heroes the people celebrated and were considered the best and brightest of the whole nation by the press.
Last but definitely not least, warships. High-yield ordnance, penetrating ammunition, far reach, big calibers, and historical use, contributing effective doctrines to apply in intensive naval warfare. All of these factor contributed to warships being the top notch weapon for every faction in the conflict. The “workhorse” battleship of World War I was the Cruiser: it was a relatively big and fast ship for the time, but it was light in armor and weapons, and it did not pack just enough power to be a serious menace on its own anymore. They were, in fact, brutally outperformed by their massive, powerful, heavily armored younger sisters: Dreadnought class battleships. Named after the first of their line, the british ship “Dreadnought”, these monsters were made exclusively in steel and iron, several inches thick, providing an incredibly resilient armor. They boasted a so-called “all big guns” configuration, carrying six to ten guns of unprecedented calibers on their main turrets. During the conflict all nations rushed to build more and more of them, tipping the balance of their navies towards them. The last innovation in naval warfare were submarines: in 1903, Germany completed the construction of Forelle, the first fully functional submarine. It was one of the infamous U-boots, that would make the route from America to Great Britain a very troubled one, sinking several hundreds of American vessels carrying supplies in an effort to starve the United Kingdom into surrender.
Another field of innovation was a real push for light industry, but it was steadily bound to “boots on the ground” use, and it populated the battlefields and trenches of the frontlines of World War I; that is, artillery.
Artillery had existed for a long time in the form of smoothbore cannons, with a relatively short range and no powerful ammunition. During World War I, artillery would become diverse and effective, adapting to specific purposes in a warring continent that was unfit for all-around weapon systems.
Before World War I, no tanks, submarines, or combat planes existed. After, airliners and huge transatlantic ships, faster and sturdier, would appear.
Tanks were designed and produced simultaneously by France and Great Britain: they were aimed at breaking the Western Front stalemate, with their capability of withstanding machine gun and small arm fire. Two kinds of tanks actually saw combat: male tanks, more akin to modern tanks in that they were armed with small naval cannons and machine guns, and female tanks, which were lighter and armed with machine guns only. The prototypes were called “mothers”, from which a new line of tanks would be produced.
Another innovation, derived from an already existing machine, was combat aircraft. In 1899, the first Zeppelin was built and flown. Zeppelins were used during World War I by Germans, that employed them to bomb London, actually achieving relatively poor results (they actually managed to inflict only 500 casualties to the enemy, in spite of a very high cost of operation for zeppelins). Just five years later, the Wright brothers would fly the world’s first proper plane. Ten years later, when World War I broke, the world already knew aircraft that could carry front-firing machine guns, bombs, and travel for long distances at high speed. As a result, during World War I many aviators were, more or less formally, appointed “aces”, the first being the french Adolphe Pégoud: they were the heroes the people celebrated and were considered the best and brightest of the whole nation by the press.
Last but definitely not least, warships. High-yield ordnance, penetrating ammunition, far reach, big calibers, and historical use, contributing effective doctrines to apply in intensive naval warfare. All of these factor contributed to warships being the top notch weapon for every faction in the conflict. The “workhorse” battleship of World War I was the Cruiser: it was a relatively big and fast ship for the time, but it was light in armor and weapons, and it did not pack just enough power to be a serious menace on its own anymore. They were, in fact, brutally outperformed by their massive, powerful, heavily armored younger sisters: Dreadnought class battleships. Named after the first of their line, the british ship “Dreadnought”, these monsters were made exclusively in steel and iron, several inches thick, providing an incredibly resilient armor. They boasted a so-called “all big guns” configuration, carrying six to ten guns of unprecedented calibers on their main turrets. During the conflict all nations rushed to build more and more of them, tipping the balance of their navies towards them. The last innovation in naval warfare were submarines: in 1903, Germany completed the construction of Forelle, the first fully functional submarine. It was one of the infamous U-boots, that would make the route from America to Great Britain a very troubled one, sinking several hundreds of American vessels carrying supplies in an effort to starve the United Kingdom into surrender.
Another field of innovation was a real push for light industry, but it was steadily bound to “boots on the ground” use, and it populated the battlefields and trenches of the frontlines of World War I; that is, artillery.
Artillery had existed for a long time in the form of smoothbore cannons, with a relatively short range and no powerful ammunition. During World War I, artillery would become diverse and effective, adapting to specific purposes in a warring continent that was unfit for all-around weapon systems.
SPECIAL WEAPONS
World War I had been the first modern conflict which saw the deployment of flame throwers. The first army to use it was the Imperial German Army. It was on the Western Front, in the north of France. There, the Imperial Army deployed the first flame throwers detachment, called Flammenwerfer Abteilung. It was equiped with two tipes of flame throwers: the Grossflammenwefer (big flame thrower) and the Kleinflammenwerfer (small frame thrower). The last one, being manoeuvrable by only one man, had a great success. So, in 1916 both France and Britain developed their own models of single-person flame throwers, using them efficiently in trenches, while Italian army begin using France flame throwers. An year later Italy started the production of its own models.
Explosives saw great use in World War I. Obviously not as much as in World War II, but as explosives ammunitions and granades proved to be very effective in trenches, both had been emproved during the conflict. While improvements in ammunitions consisted mainly on the development of more powerful ones, granades started also to be divided in assault granades and defence granades. The first ones was thoughts to be used by soldiers that had no repair, so they were less powerful and had a longer time fuse to be thrown farther. The second ones on the other hand was thoughts for soldiers that could make account on some sort of repair, such as their own thrench. So, they were more powerful, short-fused, and often enhanced with anti personell balls or nails. A particular case of a huge use of explosive was the first use ever of Ammonal. Ammonal was developed by British chemists and used for the first time in Hooge, in flanders. To destroy some fortified Germans structures, soldiers dig a tunnel under them and filled it with 3500 pounds of this new explosive. The result was a creater so big that, at now, is used as an artificial lake and home in his proximity a cemetery to World War I fallen. After such a big success, over a hundred tons of Ammonal had been used in the conflict.
Because of some international declaration, the use of poisonus gasses was considered a crime of war. So, in the first phases of the conflict, the only gas involeved was tear gas, used mainly by the French army that used granades filled with it. But when the situation began to go bad for Germany, some chemists suggested to use chlorine as a lethal weapon. Chlorine was already being produced as a by-product of the dye mamufacturing, so the German Army could afford to be supplied with a large ammount of it. On 22 April 1915 the Imperial Army released about 168 tons of gas on the front near Ypres, forming a gray-green cloud that caused the French troops to broke ranks, leaving a 7 km gap in the Allied line. However, counter-measures against chlorine was quite easy to adopt, as the gas is dense and easily filterable with simple anti-gas masks. So, while British army was starting itself the use of chlorine, France Army introduced a new lethal agent, named phosgene. Mixed with chlorine, as it was denser and so harder to spread, phosgene was highly deadlier than chlorine, and soon it was adopt also by German army. But the most infamous chemical weapon was developed in 1917 by Germany, that introduced ita t the third battle of Ypres. It was a volatile and viscous liquid called mustard gas. The mustard gas is a vescicant and it is cytotoxic. So, while it can easily kill a human if breathed, also the simple contact with skin is enough to cause large, painful blisters with subsequent internal and external bleeding.
World War I had been the first modern conflict which saw the deployment of flame throwers. The first army to use it was the Imperial German Army. It was on the Western Front, in the north of France. There, the Imperial Army deployed the first flame throwers detachment, called Flammenwerfer Abteilung. It was equiped with two tipes of flame throwers: the Grossflammenwefer (big flame thrower) and the Kleinflammenwerfer (small frame thrower). The last one, being manoeuvrable by only one man, had a great success. So, in 1916 both France and Britain developed their own models of single-person flame throwers, using them efficiently in trenches, while Italian army begin using France flame throwers. An year later Italy started the production of its own models.
Explosives saw great use in World War I. Obviously not as much as in World War II, but as explosives ammunitions and granades proved to be very effective in trenches, both had been emproved during the conflict. While improvements in ammunitions consisted mainly on the development of more powerful ones, granades started also to be divided in assault granades and defence granades. The first ones was thoughts to be used by soldiers that had no repair, so they were less powerful and had a longer time fuse to be thrown farther. The second ones on the other hand was thoughts for soldiers that could make account on some sort of repair, such as their own thrench. So, they were more powerful, short-fused, and often enhanced with anti personell balls or nails. A particular case of a huge use of explosive was the first use ever of Ammonal. Ammonal was developed by British chemists and used for the first time in Hooge, in flanders. To destroy some fortified Germans structures, soldiers dig a tunnel under them and filled it with 3500 pounds of this new explosive. The result was a creater so big that, at now, is used as an artificial lake and home in his proximity a cemetery to World War I fallen. After such a big success, over a hundred tons of Ammonal had been used in the conflict.
Because of some international declaration, the use of poisonus gasses was considered a crime of war. So, in the first phases of the conflict, the only gas involeved was tear gas, used mainly by the French army that used granades filled with it. But when the situation began to go bad for Germany, some chemists suggested to use chlorine as a lethal weapon. Chlorine was already being produced as a by-product of the dye mamufacturing, so the German Army could afford to be supplied with a large ammount of it. On 22 April 1915 the Imperial Army released about 168 tons of gas on the front near Ypres, forming a gray-green cloud that caused the French troops to broke ranks, leaving a 7 km gap in the Allied line. However, counter-measures against chlorine was quite easy to adopt, as the gas is dense and easily filterable with simple anti-gas masks. So, while British army was starting itself the use of chlorine, France Army introduced a new lethal agent, named phosgene. Mixed with chlorine, as it was denser and so harder to spread, phosgene was highly deadlier than chlorine, and soon it was adopt also by German army. But the most infamous chemical weapon was developed in 1917 by Germany, that introduced ita t the third battle of Ypres. It was a volatile and viscous liquid called mustard gas. The mustard gas is a vescicant and it is cytotoxic. So, while it can easily kill a human if breathed, also the simple contact with skin is enough to cause large, painful blisters with subsequent internal and external bleeding.