Innovations of WWI

1
Innovations of WWI
2
An Industrialized War

• Weapons were produced with the same efficient
  methods of mass production that industrialists
  had applied to other products

3
The Machine Gun

• One of the most important weapons of WWI
• Highly effective
• Land armies often found any advance difficult and
  costly

4
Machine Guns
5
Trench Warfare

• Protection from machine gun fire and artillery
  bombardments
• Armies dug large trenches where they might live
  for months

6
(No Transcript)
7
British boys play acting Trench Warfare
8
Tanks

• Introduced by the British
• An armored vehicle mounted with guns
• Enabled troops to break though enemy lines

9
Front view of a British tank
10
Airplanes

• Airplanes in the early 1900s were neither very
  maneuverable nor very fast
• They were used primarily for observing troop
  movements and for dropping explosives

11
Gun on German Airplane
Balloons were also used in WWI
12
Submarines/U-boats

• First used by the Germans
• Did serious damage to Allied shipping

13
Loading torpedoes into a French submarine
14
Poison Gas

• The Germans were the first to use it
• The Allies quickly followed suit

15
American wearing a Gas Mask
British Horse wearing a Gas Mask
16
American wearing a respirator
Sounding the gong in preparation of a gas attack
17
Casualties From Gas - The Numbers
Country Total Casualties Death
Austria-Hungary 100,000 3,000
British Empire 188,706 8,109
France 190,000 8,000
Germany 200,000 9,000
Italy 60,000 4,627
Russia 419,340 56,000
USA 72,807 1,462
Others 10,000 1,000
18
The Draft

• Most European wars before this time had been
  fought by professional soldiers who worked for
  money and rations
• WWI was fought by armies of drafted citizens
• Those who could not fight worked at home to help
  the war effort
• Many women participated in the war effort by
  working in factories
• Governments made use of propaganda