In Between the Trenches Technology in WWI
In the early weeks of the first world war the Germans initially swept through parts of Belgium and Northern France gaining territory along the way(1). During the first battle of the Marne in September, 1914, the Germans were pushed back by the allied forces(1). They subsequently "dug in" to avoid losing any more ground(1). Unable to break through this line of defense the Allies also began to dig protective trenches. By October 1914, neither army could advance their position mostly because war was being waged in a different way than it had been in the 19th century(2). The modern weapons that each side is producing like machine guns and artillery is keeping the men in there trenches and dreading no mans land. Machine gun fire alone makes up 85% of the casualties during the great war(2). As you can see in the chart to our right this 20th century technology was simple but proved to be very devastating. Even though the machine gun caused most of the casualties during the war, it was the poisonous gas that was feared by all(1). Poisonous gas was indiscriminate and could be used on the trenches even when no attack was going on(1). Whereas the machine gun killed more soldiers overall during the war, death was frequently instant or not drawn out and soldiers could find some shelter in bomb shell craters to hide from gunfire(1). A poison gas attack meant soldiers having to put on crude gas mask, if these were unsuccessful, the gas could leave a victim in agony for days and weeks before he finally succumbed to his injuries(1). It is assumed that the Germans were the first to use the gas(1). But truly it was the French who first used it out of desperation as the Germans were pushing them back and gaining ground in north eastern France and Belgium(1). However while the French were the first to use the a gas against an enemy, the Germans had been giving a great deal of thought to the use of poison gas as a way of inflicting a major defeat on an enemy(1). All of these advancements in technology made the great war a lot more deadly.
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This graph shows the number of casualties from each country that participated in the great war.
This image shows 2 soldiers manning a WWI machine gun, while protecting themselves from poisonous gas by wearing gas masks.
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Citations:
1. Congress, Library Of. "Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures."Newspaper Pictorials. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.
2. Bohr, Felix. "A Revolution in Killing: The Technological Innovations of WWI - SPIEGEL ONLINE." SPIEGEL ONLINE. Spiegel Online, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.
1. Congress, Library Of. "Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures."Newspaper Pictorials. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.
2. Bohr, Felix. "A Revolution in Killing: The Technological Innovations of WWI - SPIEGEL ONLINE." SPIEGEL ONLINE. Spiegel Online, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.