New Technology of WWI

1. New Technology of WWI

2. Industrialization and mass production made it possible to develop new weapons and technology • New technology raised the death toll

3. Submarines • WWI was the first time submarines were used as a serious weapon of war. • Germans used submarines (which they called U-boats) to block trade. They were equipped with guns and torpedoes.

4. Airplanes • WWI was the first major conflict in which airplanes were used in combat. • Fighter pilots fought each other above the clouds.

5. Trench Warfare • Soldiers on both sides dug trenches and the troops would huddle at the bottom of the trenches • The area between the trenches was known as “No-Man’s Land”

6. Poison Gas • Poison Gas was first used by the French against the Germans • Within seconds of breathing in the vapors, the gas attacked the victim’s respiratory system, causing the victim to choke. • Mustard gas was introduced later in the war and was it did not have a smell. After being exposed to the gas for several hours, the victim would develop blisters inside and outside the body.

7. Protection against Gas Attacks • Gas masks had not been invented by the beginning of the war. • Soldiers were told that holding a cloth covered in urine would help the effects of chlorine gas in an emergency. • Masks were available by 1918 • Poison gases used in wartime were banned in 1925

8. Machine Guns • Machine guns could fire 600 bullets a minute. • Airplanes were soon stocked with machine guns

9. Tanks • The tank was a British invention. It was able to cross trenches, clear paths through no man’s land, and smash through barbed wire. • The first tanks were unreliable and broke down often.