WWI: Innovative Weapons of War
Use this blog to share your reseach regarding innovative weapons designed and used during The Great War (World War I). Were innovations helpful or harmful during the war? What are examples of modern day weapon/warfare innovations?
Many innovative weapons were designed and used during The Great War. In 1914, the airplane was still a new invention. World War I was the first war that had airplane to airplane combat, called "dogfighting." Early in the war, planes were used mostly for reconnaissance. The planes flew high above the trenches, and took pictures. A mosaic of these pictures worked effectively as a map. This map could be used by artillerymen to range their targets that are invisible to them. Early bombings such as the bombing of German airship sheds by the Royal Naval Air Service were successful. However, bombing was still very basic. When it comes to early dogfighting, there are stories of pilots throwing things, or shooting handheld firearms at the enemy. Obviously they needed mounted machine guns. However, it is not easy. To be most effective, a machine gun would best be mounted between the pilot and the propeller. However, that would destroy the propeller. The ideal solution is a gun synchronized with the propeller, so it would shoot between the propeller blades. Many planes used a synchronizing gear for this, which worked, with occasional catastrophic failures. Another way to avoid hitting your own propeller is to mount the gun above the propeller. This, too, had its problems. The gun could not be reloaded or unjammed easily, as it was above the pilot's head on the upper wing of a biplane.
ReplyDeleteThese innovations in aviation are mostly helpful, but a little harmful. In general, these innovations helped advance aerial warfare, and assisted pilots in war. On the other hand, sometimes there were failures. Today in aerial warfare, we have supersonic planes flying 16 miles up for reconnaissance. We have cruise missiles that can hit targets with precision, and atomic bombs with which one's aim can be a mile off, and is still devastating to the target. Our combat planes can reach supersonic speeds. Innovations in warfare have come a very long way, especially in aerial warfare.
Chemical warfare was a large innovation of warfare during WW1. The chemicals were used vastly by both sides. The French were the first to use the chemicals even though they were banned by the Hague Declaration (1899) and the Hague Convention (1907). Even though the chemicals were not allowed, 124,000 tons of it were created throughout the war by both sides. The French first used the chemicals and what they used at first was teargas which was not very deadly but could cause an injury. The Germans next used the chemical xylyl bromide against the Russians. They fired the bromide out of shells from an artillery type object called a mortar. This use of chemical by the Germans was in Bolimów, Poland in January 1915. There wasn’t really a full scale deployment of chemical warfare until April 22, 1915 in the 2nd Battle of Ypres when the Germans attacked the allies with chlorine gas. The fatality count from the gas was relatively low but the casualty rate was relatively high. Any chemical that was used or is going to be used can be categorized into 5 categories. The 1st is chemicals that blister: sulphur mustard, lewisite, nitrogen mustard, mustard-leweisite, and phosgene-oxime. The 2nd is chemicals that affect the nerves: VX, Sarin, Soman, tabun, novichole agents. The 3rd is chemicals that cause choking: chlorine, phosgene, diphosgene, chloropicrin. The 4th is chemicals that affect the blood: herygem, cynanide, cynaogen chlorine. The final category is chemicals for riot control: tear agent 2 (SN gas), tear agent 0 (CS gas), psychedelic agent 3 (BZ). The last category is a much more current use of chemicals. Chemical warfare was a highly effective tactic in WW1. One reason it was a good tactic was because it trench warfare was being used so the gas could just fall in the trench and kill the enemy. Another reason is it could be fired across no man’s land to avoid any deaths of someone trying to do it by hand. The third reason is you could hurt or kill the enemy without the loss of your soldiers or much money. During the war there were 1,176,500 non-fatal casualties and 85,000 fatalities directly due to chemicals. Today unopened and unused canisters are still found underground periodically by the French and Belgium people because they accidentally got buried. After the war the countries disposed of most of their chemicals in lakes. The bad thing about this is eventually the canisters will rust and release the gas which if it’s something like mustard gas will come up to the surface as a wax and wash to the shore. This is very bad because the chemicals are still highly active and can cause problems if touched.
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Today chemical warfare is still used. Before every war one of the things a country stocks up on is chemicals to use for chemical warfare. Today the chemicals are mixtures of different chemicals which cause much more damage and a lot more death. If we had current chemicals during WW1 there would have been no one in either of the trenches because they would all be dead. Also today we have incendiary chemicals such as napalm which burn you to death. Currently chemical gasses are used for riots or managing out of control crowds. The chemicals we use for this are mostly tear gas. This tear gas is not the same stuff that the Germans used instead it is more of very painful or really uncomfortable and not fatal like it was back then.
Wow! Great details and information guys! Because you submitted these for the 1890-1920 deadline, I'll use these as your first semester scores. Remember to do another WWI blog for the WWI Unit!
ReplyDeleteWorld War 1 is arguably the most innovative era of weapons in history. Huge technological advances, such as machine guns, chemical weapons, trenches, and tanks coupled with outdated military tactics led to one of the bloodiest conflicts of all time.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the greatest military invention of WWI is the machine gun. This weapon allowed the user to fire hundreds of bullets a minute simply by squeezing the trigger. This was devastating to charging troops who were cut down by the relentless fire. Military defensive strategy was usually involving miles of barbed wire which would concentrate enemy troops into small areas where they could be annihilated by machine gun fire.
Chemical weapons were the most horrific new technology to emerge in the war. Chlorine gas, Mustard gas, and Phosgene killed and maimed soldiers in horrible ways. Soldiers weren't used to these kinds of weapons and initially thought of them as smoke screens which caused many deaths. Gas masks weren't supplied until more than a month after the first attack so soldiers used makeshift techniques, such as soaked rags over their mouths, to stop the gas. By the end of the war, an estimated 1,000,000 casualties were caused by chemical weapons.
Trench warfare is a terrible thing. It was a result of other technologies which had made attack and defense perfectly equal, meaning that progress was almost impossible. Soldiers lived in muddy trenches for months on end, harassed by gas attacks, artillery fire, and disease. In between trenches lay a hellish “No man's land”, an uninhabitable stretch of land pockmarked with dead trees, rubble, and craters. The deadlock of trench warfare resulted in battles lasting months, costing hundreds of thousands of lives, all for a few feet of land.
Tanks were invented in an attempt to break the stalemate. Tanks could take heavy blows with little damage, and cross the trenches. They were also a weapon of fear, terrifying the Germans when they first appeared. However, early tanks were unreliable, and prone to breaking down. For tanks, WWI was less of a war and more of an opportunity to improve.
All of these weapons added untold horror to the already horrible institution of war. Weapon innovations of this era resulted in a war with more deaths, more carnage, and more destruction then ever before.
Of all the weapons innovations of WWI the U-Boat was definitely one of the most important. The Central Powers and The Allied Powers were locked in a gruesome stalemate. On land trenches, machine guns, and poison gas forged the war into a battle of numbers, and time. In the air airplanes and occasionally blimps were stuck in fierce dogfights that ended in piles of barely recognizable wreckage. But at sea there was no competition, the Allied Powers commanded the biggest and most powerful fleet on the planet. There was no way the Central Powers could match it, that is, until the U-Boat was invented. The U-Boat is what leveled the oceanic playing field. Allied battleships did not have much defense against underwater attacks, all previous fights had been above the water. U-Boats used their stealth and invisibility to sneak up on Allied ships and shoot torpedoes at them until they were destroyed. Torpedoes were simply missiles that could be shot underwater, they had propellers attached to the rear end to allow them to maintain speed underwater. Without the use of U-Boats the war would have ended very differently. On one hand the Allied Powers would have ruled the sea which would have given them a huge advantage. On the other hand the Lusitania would never have been sunk and the US might not have joined the war to help the Allies. Today, U-Boats are called submarines and are essential to US Navy. They are used for surveillance, reconnaissance, precision strikes, deterrence, and special operations.
ReplyDeleteNice job providing details about the various weapons!
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