|
New Weapons used for the first time in World War 1 During World War 1, many new weapons were used for the first time.
One of these was the machine gun. This may have been one of the biggest killers during the First World War. With the ability to fire up to 600 bullets every minute, machine guns were to blame for thousands of deaths. However the machine guns used in World War 1 were very different to the type of machine used nowadays, as the picture below shows. These guns were not hand-held, but stood upright supported by a tripod-like structure. Both the British and the Germans used grenades. Early grenades were simply made from empty food cans, however as time progressed, more complicated grenades were developed. Each side used a different style of grenade. The British model was of oval shape, and when it exploded it broke into 48 different pieces which all flew off in different directions at a rapid speed. The German grenade was a totally different shape, complete with a long handle. Another innovation in weapons first seen in WW1 was gas. It was introduced by the Germans in 1915, but soon all armies were using it. When it first appeared it was a greenish-yellow colour, but it gradually turned into a white-blue mist as it dispersed towards the enemy trenches. This frightened soldiers as they had never encountered gas before and they didn’t know how to deal with it. However, gas masks were soon distributed to the soldiers.
The gas mask above shows the tin on the front, which contained chemicals to filter the gas and stop it from poisoning the wearer. If the chemicals in the tin ran out, then the tin could be replaced. It could also be altered if a new type of gas was used. At first, the gases used were lung irritants such as chlorine or phosgene. These caused their victims to choke and gasp for breath and the idea behind this was that they would be helpless and they would have difficulty in defending their trench. Later on, "tear producers" were introduced and these had a similar effect in making the defenders defenceless, by giving them irritated watery eyes. Other gases used, attacked the nervous system and caused paralysis. These were more lethal than the others. In 1917, the most notorious of all the gases appeared – Mustard Gas. This gas was like an acid; it caused blisters on the skin and formed foam in the lungs, which could be fatal. Worst of all, mustard gas was colourless and odourless, so it was almost impossible to detect before it was too late. Tanks were probably the greatest weapon of all, and possibly helped Britain to win the war. The name "Tank" was derived from the fact that when they were waiting to be shipped over to the trenches in France, they were hidden under large tarpaulins marked "Water Tanks" as a disguise, and the name stuck. They were based on the caterpillar tractors used on particularly muddy farms before the war. A plumber from Nottingham thought up the first ideas about a weapon such as the tank, but when he showed them to government officials they simply thought that he was mad. However, by 1916, tanks were being used. They were first unveiled during the Battle of the Somme, and they terrified the Germans. With the ability to crush the barbed wire defences of their opposition, the British were at a great advantage. The tanks carried a crew of ten men, plus two machine guns and a cannon and when the opposition first saw them, it was thought that there was nothing they could do. However, once the tank crashed through the front line, there was rarely enough men to defend the part of the tank which they had captured, and more often than not they were forced back. Once the Germans had captured one of the British tanks they were able to dismantle it, figure out how it was put together and then they built their own version. During World War 1, the range of new weapons used were to blame for a great number of deaths. With machine guns firing at attackers crossing No Man’s Land, men fell like flies. Although gas was the new wonder weapon of the war, it didn’t kill as many people as it was expected to. It was responsible for approximately 90,000 deaths and over 1 million were injured or blinded.
A War of Attrition At the battle of Ypres in October and November 1914 it was realised that whichever side attacked would lose thousands of men. It was stalemate. If neither side attacked then the war would never end, but if a side did attack then thousands of their soldiers would be killed by machine gun fire from the opposition. The Allies knew that as the Germans were occupying Belgian and French territory, they had to win it back and the only way to do this was to decide on a war of attrition. This meant that the Allies would attack. They would send their men out into No Man’s Land. They knew they would lose thousand of their British and French soldiers, but they too would kill many Germans. They also knew that it was the only way they could have any chance of winning the battle.
Conclusion Throughout this investigation I have been looking at the different causes of death in WW1, due to trench warfare. Firstly I looked at the living conditions and I found that due to the very unhygienic nature of the trenches and the fact that there was very little medical care available, many soldiers died from disease and infection alone. Diseases spread rapidly due to the fact that the men were living in such close proximity to one another, and also because they had no access to antibiotics or such like. The men also had problems with water. Although chloride of lime was added to kill off the bacteria, the water was still an ideal place for germs to thrive. Diseases were therefore also passed through the water resulting in illness and, of course, death. The tactics of the war also led to many deaths. If the tactics had been thought out and planned more extensively then perhaps not so many men would have lost their lives. Bombardment was not a brilliant plan, due to the fact that it didn’t cause as much damage as had been expected and many men died as they crossed No Man’s Land into what they thought was safety. The Creeping Barrage plan was a great one but if a slight miscalculation occurred then once again it resulted in many deaths. The idea of digging under No Man’s Land didn’t work very well either. The soldiers on the opposite side heard the digging and they too dug, resulting in a battle underground, where no doubt many men lost their lives. The new weapons used in the war were probably the biggest killers. Machine guns killed millions instantly, on the spot. Shells too caused many deaths. Gas, although it didn’t kill as many men as it was expected to, was to blame for thousand and thousands of deaths, as well as millions of injuries. The War of Attrition claimed thousands of lives, but it was due to the bravery of the soldiers that Britain won the war and it is down to them that today we have the privilege of our own heritage rather that the German lives we would be living if the war had been lost to Germany. And it is for that reason that I will be eternally grateful to all the men who fought in the First World War 1914-1919.
Bibliography Books
Other resources
|
