Technology of WW1
Technologies of World War I
Roland Brown
HIST102
Dr. Kahan
September 21, 2014
There have been several technological improvements on the battlefield since the start of the first Great War. Armies set foot in combat zones anticipating offensive victories with the use of their numbers alone. Trench warfare proved these old tactics to be erroneous and obsolete. Complimenting these new approaches to warfare were also new weapons. The development of the machine gun, artillery, tanks and other devices were some of the most technological advancements of World War I.
One of the first warfare devices used early in the war was the machine gun. The machine gun was invented by Hiram Maxim in 1884.1 The machine gun weighed about 100 pounds and fired up to 600 rounds per minute.1 This device was used with the trench warfare tactics. Solders would be in a defensive trench and when the enemy forces charged forward to attack they would be ripped apart with the machine gun. “Maxim’s Design became the standard for most machine guns during the war.” 1 The machine gun kept enemies from advancing but also proved to be a good offensive weapon as well. Attackers would use the machine gun to lay down suppressive fire on defenders. This essentially kept trench fighters pinned down until the attackers gained enough proximity to overtake the trench. Maxim’s invention was one of the most deadly devices introduced to the war. “A battle that typifies WWI is the battle of Somme that started on 1 July 1916. On this day masses of British infantry went “over the top” to break through German trenches between the Albert-Bapamue road and Gammecourt, France. The British lost 600,000 casualties on that one day, mostly caused by machine gun fire.”1
World War I technology was far ahead of using fuse detonated cannons but the idea of mass concentrated damaged and indirect fire was still relevant to warfare. In 1898, the first traditional artillery piece was put
Roland Brown
HIST102
Dr. Kahan
September 21, 2014
There have been several technological improvements on the battlefield since the start of the first Great War. Armies set foot in combat zones anticipating offensive victories with the use of their numbers alone. Trench warfare proved these old tactics to be erroneous and obsolete. Complimenting these new approaches to warfare were also new weapons. The development of the machine gun, artillery, tanks and other devices were some of the most technological advancements of World War I.
One of the first warfare devices used early in the war was the machine gun. The machine gun was invented by Hiram Maxim in 1884.1 The machine gun weighed about 100 pounds and fired up to 600 rounds per minute.1 This device was used with the trench warfare tactics. Solders would be in a defensive trench and when the enemy forces charged forward to attack they would be ripped apart with the machine gun. “Maxim’s Design became the standard for most machine guns during the war.” 1 The machine gun kept enemies from advancing but also proved to be a good offensive weapon as well. Attackers would use the machine gun to lay down suppressive fire on defenders. This essentially kept trench fighters pinned down until the attackers gained enough proximity to overtake the trench. Maxim’s invention was one of the most deadly devices introduced to the war. “A battle that typifies WWI is the battle of Somme that started on 1 July 1916. On this day masses of British infantry went “over the top” to break through German trenches between the Albert-Bapamue road and Gammecourt, France. The British lost 600,000 casualties on that one day, mostly caused by machine gun fire.”1
World War I technology was far ahead of using fuse detonated cannons but the idea of mass concentrated damaged and indirect fire was still relevant to warfare. In 1898, the first traditional artillery piece was put
Bibliography: 1. Antal, John. "World War I and Technological Change." Military Technology 28, no. 6 (June 2014): 28. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 21, 2014) 2. O 'Connell, Robert,L. "The Miraculous 75mm Gun." MHQ : The Quarterly Journal of Military History 13, no. 2 (Winter, 2001): 74. http://search.proquest.com/docview/223679413?accountid=8289. 3. Chemical Warfare: Poison Gases in World War 1, Compound Interest, accessed September 21, 2014 http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/05/17/chemical-warfare-ww1/ 4. Weapons of War- Tanks, Michael Duffy, Accessed September 21 2014, http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/tanks.htm 5. Weapons of War- Poison Gas, Michael Duffy, Accessed September 21, 2014 http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm 6. Naomi Pasachoff. Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. 7. Inventions That Flourished Thanks to WW1, Accessed September 21 2014 http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/inventions-flourished-due-wwi.html