Weapons of World War I

WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR I

World War I was a deadly conflict as shown by the 38 million military and civil casualties it caused. The large number of casualties was caused, in part, by the development and use of new weaponry that took place during the war. The following weapons either made their debut in World War I or had a dramatic effect on the major battles of the war: machine gun, tank, poisonous gas, airplanes and submarines.

MACHINE GUN

The machine gun would come to transform warfare in World War I upon its introduction into the war effort. The first machine gun was created 30 years before the start of World War I in 1884 by Hiram Maxim. This “Maxim Gun” though was not widely used before the start of World War I, but similar designs of the “Maxim Gun” would come to dominate the battlefields of World War I. For example, in 1912, the United States Army only issued four machine guns per regiment but by 1919 the number increased to 336 machine guns per regiment.

The machine gun allowed soldiers to rapid fire bullets at the enemy at a rate of 400 to 600 rounds per minute. This allowed defenders the ability to dominate the battlefield and cause the death of advancing enemy soldiers. Early forms of the machine gun were heavy and required small teams of soldiers (3-5) in order to fully operate, making them ideal for defensive positions on the battlefield. The gun would easily overheat or jam with continuous use in the heat of battle and result in the weapon not operating at all. As the war progressed, models with water and oil cooling mechanisms were produced but they could still overheat relatively quickly with repeated use. To combat this effect soldiers would group machines guns together on the battlefield to try to ensure continuous firing even if one or two of the guns jammed. As well, soldiers, in desperation, would sometimes use their urine to try to cool the gun when the water or oil cooling systems failed.

The machine gun would eventually be used as a weapon on many different types of vehicles during the course of the war. For examples, some submarines and ships used machine guns and airplanes were outfitted with machine guns in the first examples of aerial dogfights in battle.

In all, the machine gun was a devastating weapon that was a major contributor to the casualties produced by World War I. The war led to the machine gun being developed and used in the battlefield in a number of new and deadly ways. All of the major countries involved in World War I would come to develop their own versions of the machine gun.

TANK

World War I was characterized primarily by the stalemate of trench warfare and each country sought a way of breaking the stalemate in their favor. Britain was the first country to develop the tank and use it in battle. Britain hoped that the new invention would end the stalemate on the Western Front and allow British forces to advance against the Central Powers.

British commanders wanted to use the tank as a surprise attack against German forces on the frontline trenches in 1916 and therefore worked to keep the development of the tank a secret. For example, the original name of the tank was “Trench Crossing Machine” as they were designed to cross over enemy trenches and help advancing soldiers to capture the trenches. To maintain secrecy, British commanders began referring to the new invention as “Water Carriers” or “Water Tanks”. This was because the shape of the vehicle resembled a water tank and this allowed the British to offer a reasonable explanation for what it was while transporting it to the frontlines. The name stuck and remains to this day.

The first tank to be used in battle was the British Mark I in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 under the command of British General Douglas Haig. The Mark I could hold a crew of eight and had a top speed of about 3-4 miles per hour. The slow speed of the tank was due to its heavy steel armor and any heavy machine guns or cannons it had on board. In its first use several of the Mark I’s stalled and became stuck in the thick mud on the battlefields in Northern France. However, they were able to attack the German lines and convinced the British that they were a useful tool in the war effort. This caused the British to order the construction of more tanks for use in other battles. As well, other European nations including the Central Powers would all begin to develop their own tanks as the war continued, and the tank would come to play an important role in the remainder of the war.

Some historians debate the effect that the introduction of the tank had on the outcome of the war and the overall war effort for each country. Others argue that the tank was more important as a psychological weapon because of the fear and confusion it caused for the enemy. Regardless, the tank is significant as a new weapon in World War I and the impact it’s invention has had on warfare since.

POISONOUS GAS

As with other new weapons poisonous gas was used as a method to end the stalemate of trench warfare. It was first used by the Germans against Allied soldiers in April of 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres and immediately had a devastating effect on French soldiers in the trenches. The first type of poisonous gas used in World War I was chlorine gas and it caused soldiers to choke and suffocate as their lungs became inflamed from the gas. The effects of chlorine gas were quick and deadly. As it was the first use, soldiers were unprepared for its effects and did not have gas masks to protect themselves. Some soldiers in World War I were known to urinate on rags and cover their faces with the rags in an attempt to prevent the gas from entering their airway. While the German use of poisonous gas was criticized heavily in the Allied nations, it would eventually become a weapon used by both sides in World War I. As well, as the war progressed, soldiers were supplied with proper gas masks or gas hoods to help prevent the devastating effects of the gas.

After the initial uses of chlorine gas, a new type of poisonous gas saw use by both sides in the battlefields of World War I. It was called phosgene gas and it was more deadly than chlorine gas. It caused soldiers to cough less at first which allowed the gas to be inhaled more readily, thus making it even more poisonous to men in the trenches. As well, unlike chlorine gas, phosgene was not visible, making it more likely that soldiers inhaled it before securing their gas masks.

The next poisonous gas that saw use in World War I was mustard gas which the German forces used against Russian soldiers in 1917. Unlike chlorine and phosgene, gas masks were not effective against mustard gas since it affected the surface of the skin. Soldiers who were exposed to mustard gas would experience burning of the skin, blisters, swelling of the eyes and choking. With that said, while mustard gas caused the injuries described above it rarely led to death.

In the end, poisonous gas was a deadly weapon that had an initial impact on the nature of war in World War I. However, as the war continued the poisonous gases lost their overall impact due to the introduction of the gas mask in 1916.

AIRPLANE

At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the airplane was still primitive in design. This was primarily due to it being a recent invention. The first flight was only carried out by the Wright Brothers a little over a decade earlier in 1903. As such, when World War I began many of the commanders of the armed forces only used the airplane as a way to track enemy movement and the position of enemy trenches on the battlefield. Pilots would be tasked with taking photographs of the battlefield and reporting back on their findings to help forces on the ground decide where to strike. For example, spotting and reporting back on enemy artillery placement was vitally important. However, as World War I advanced do did the technology and uses of the airplane in battle. As a result, World War I would be the first major conflict that included airplanes and fighting in the air.

While aerial photography was still useful throughout the war, by the war’s end both sides had established bombers and fighter divisions. For example, at the beginning of World War I, carrying out a “bombing run” basically involved the pilot and a passenger pushing a small bomb out the side of the aircraft as it flew over the desired target. This was not accurate and rarely had any effect on the battle occurring on the ground. However, within a few short years planes were being used that were designed specifically for bombing runs as they had longer frames and could carry heavier payloads to desired targets on the ground.

As well as the bomber, fighter planes were developed during the course of World War I and the victorious pilots who flew them became known as “aces”. Fighter planes were smaller than the bombers and could turn and swerve much more easily in the air. Fighter planes changed dramatically throughout World War I in construction and design. In the early stages of the war pilots would only carry handheld pistols which they could use to fire at other enemy aircraft, which meant that actual combat in the air was uncommon and rarely resulted in a pilot successfully taking down an enemy pilot. However, soon machine guns would be fitted to the airplanes and rival enemy pilots began to participate in midair “dog-fights” against one another. The issue that many planes struggled with in regards to the mounting of a machine gun was the placement of the gun. Early designs had the barrel of the gun placed behind the front propeller. This was not ideal as it meant that the bullets of the gun could hit the front propeller of the plane. To overcome this the machine gun was sometimes positioned above the propeller, and sometimes the blades of the propeller would be covered with metal in order to deflect any bullets and prevent the blades from being destroyed. In the end, most fighter plane designs included machine guns that would time their firing to match the propeller to solve the issue.

Ultimately, airplanes were an important new weapon and vehicle during World War I but played a much larger role in terms of spying on enemy movements and spotting enemy artillery placement then any other role.

SUBMARINE

The final new weapon of World War I was the submarine. Germany used submarines (called U-boats) during World War I to great success in its attempt to stop British merchant shipping in the Atlantic Ocean. At the time Britain was receiving war-time supplies, such as food and munitions, from the United States and Canada. Germany sough to halt this trade in order to put pressure on the British war effort and began to attack and sink British merchant ships. However, British shipping prevailed as the German U-boats were unable to fully stop the Atlantic trade and ultimately German submarine warfare caused the United States to enter World War I on the side of the Allied nations.