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What Weapons Were Used in World War I? Fast Fact The first tracer bullet .303 SPG Mark VIIG became very popular upon its inception in 1916. This British invention had an unexpected side effect of igniting hydrogen, which made it a weapon of choice for the British soldiers against the hydrogen-inflated German Zeppelins that were bombing England. At the beginning of the First World War, the great powers of Europe thought that the conflict would only be limited to cavalry battles and small-scale skirmishes, similar to wars in the past. However, in the hundred years of peace preceding the war, Europe had developed technologies to create sophisticated and destructive weapons of war. Everyone soon realized that this conflict would be more deadlier than any before it. With the advent of trench warfare, it became a long war of attrition, that lasted for more than 4 years, and took millions of lives. Military development took place in several fields, like in personal weaponry, grenades, artillery, toxic gas, and new inventions such as tanks, warplanes, and submarines. Let's check out the World War 1 weapons in some detail. The preferred fighting method for both sides in the conflict was trench warfare, due to which grenades were used more than ever before. This led to many changes and improvements throughout the duration of the war. Both sides started mostly with grenades that used impact fuses. However, these weapons were not suitable for trenches, as the soldiers would sometimes strike the sides of the trenches with the grenade while attempting to throw it, resulting in detonation and death of the user itself. This meant that by the end of the war, grenades which had timing fuses were preferred over those with impact fuses. The most popular British grenades were the ball grenades, double-cylinder grenades, and the Mills bomb, all of which detonated over 5 - 9 seconds after ignition. Similarly, the French soldiers used the F1 defensive grenade. On the other side, the Germans used an impact detonation discus/turtle shell grenade, and a timing detonation black powder hand grenade. The Germans also used a rifle- propelled grenade, and the British responded with the stokes mortar that had an indirect firing system.

What Weapons Were Used in World War I?

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What Weapons Were Used in World War I?

Fast Fact

The first tracer bullet .303 SPG Mark VIIG became very popular upon its inception in 1916. ThisBritish invention had an unexpected side effect of igniting hydrogen, which made it a weapon ofchoice for the British soldiers against the hydrogen-inflated German Zeppelins that were bombingEngland.

At the beginning of the First World War, the great powers of Europe thought that the conflict wouldonly be limited to cavalry battles and small-scale skirmishes, similar to wars in the past. However, inthe hundred years of peace preceding the war, Europe had developed technologies to createsophisticated and destructive weapons of war. Everyone soon realized that this conflict would bemore deadlier than any before it. With the advent of trench warfare, it became a long war ofattrition, that lasted for more than 4 years, and took millions of lives. Military development tookplace in several fields, like in personal weaponry, grenades, artillery, toxic gas, and new inventionssuch as tanks, warplanes, and submarines. Let's check out the World War 1 weapons in some detail.

The preferred fighting method for both sides in the conflict was trench warfare, due to whichgrenades were used more than ever before. This led to many changes and improvements throughoutthe duration of the war. Both sides started mostly with grenades that used impact fuses. However,these weapons were not suitable for trenches, as the soldiers would sometimes strike the sides ofthe trenches with the grenade while attempting to throw it, resulting in detonation and death of theuser itself. This meant that by the end of the war, grenades which had timing fuses were preferredover those with impact fuses.

The most popular British grenades were the ball grenades, double-cylinder grenades, and the Millsbomb, all of which detonated over 5 - 9 seconds after ignition. Similarly, the French soldiers usedthe F1 defensive grenade. On the other side, the Germans used an impact detonation discus/turtleshell grenade, and a timing detonation black powder hand grenade. The Germans also used a rifle-propelled grenade, and the British responded with the stokes mortar that had an indirect firingsystem.

Page 2: What Weapons Were Used in World War I?

Soldiers on both sides primarily made use of bolt action rifles, which could hold up to 15 rounds, andwere capable of firing at targets located around 1 mile away. However, there were also a fewautomatic versions available. The Lee-Enfield rifles were the most used guns by the British, whilethe Gewehr 98 Mauser rifles were widely used by the Germans. The French used both, Lebel andBerthier rifles. Some troops were also provided with carbine guns. These guns also came withvarying bayonets and knives, that could be used in close-quarter combat. Pistols such as the M1911and the Luger were used by the American and German forces, respectively. However, pistols andrevolvers were used mostly by officers, and were not available to all soldiers.

Besides these, machine and sub-machine guns were also brought to use. The MP18 sub-machine andthe Lewis gun were easily portable, and found widespread use on both sides. The Vickers machinegun, the Maxim heavy-machine gun, and its German counterpart, the MG 08 were extremelypowerful, easily providing the firepower of around 100 guns, by shooting 400 - 500 bullets everyminute. These were very effective in stopping an infantry charge in its tracks. On the other hand,these huge guns were not easily movable, and had to be used from a single position, beforedismantling and moving them to another location. Also, they needed around 5 men to operate, andwould only work effectively if placed on a flat surface. Flamethrowers were also used initially, butdue to the risk of hurting friendlies, they were abandoned pretty soon.

There were many new weapons used in World War 1. Of these, toxic chemical gases were arguablythe most deadly. Poisonous gases were deployed for the first time in World War 1, through artilleryshells and canisters. The Germans began by deploying chlorine gas canisters over enemy lines, in1915, and causing severe disability and death in soldiers, which was retaliated in a similar way bythe British and the French. Even deadlier gases, such as phosgene and severe forms of tear gas wereexperimented with. However, the deadliest of these was mustard gas, which caused severe chemicalburns, internal and external bleeding, and a long, painful death. It was practically undetectable,making it incredibly effective.

Because of the chemical weapons used in World War 1, both sides created protective equipment fortheir troops. However, these were not always effective against gas attacks. More than 200,000soldiers were victims to this form of warfare, causing psychological distress, where even symptomsof cold and flu resulted in the fear of being under attack by gas.

Trench warfare was often about which army outlasted the other. This often led to trench raids, inwhich one side would jump out of their trenches, race over no-mans land to the enemies trench tobegin close-quarter combat. To counter this, soldiers would place barbed wires across no-manslands, which would make it difficult for charging soldiers to cover ground easily. Many troops wouldoften get stuck in these traps, which made them very vulnerable to enemy fire. Also, due to the useof snipers, the attack was doubly difficult. This type of warfare created huge problems, as capturinga small part of enemy territory took months. In close-quarter combat, soldiers used a variety ofweapons, such as billhooks, brass knuckles, trench spades, hatchets, improvised maces, machetes,push daggers, trench knives, etc.

In the beginning of World War I, airplanes were used mainly for reconnaissance, and only theZeppelins were used by the Germans to bomb enemy cities. However, with quick technologicaladvancements, airplanes were equipped with machine guns and bombs, leading to aerial attacks onground targets, with bombs as well as bullets. The planes also engaged in intense dogfights everynow and then. However, airplanes were still used primarily to patrol sea coasts, stopping artillery,and intelligence gathering. This speedy development of aircraft was responded on both sides withthe invention of anti-aircraft guns. By the end of the war, the Germans completely stopped the use ofZeppelins, because they were easily shot down by the enemy. The Sopwith Camels of the British and

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the Fokker aircraft of the Germans were among the most widely used models in this war.

The technological advancements made to artillery in the early 19th century helped both, France andBritain to gain an impressive arsenal. However, due to the spread of trench warfare, siege gunswere most commonly used in the battlefield to destroy fortified enemy locations. Most of these gunsdid not suit the rapid movements of troops, and were slow in mobilizing from one place to anotherbecause of their huge size and weight. The Paris Guns were the biggest guns of the war, developedby the Germans to bomb Paris from over 75 miles away. However, these guns easily wore out, andwere mainly used for their shock value, rather than causing any significant damage.

Factories had to create thousands of shells for field artillery, as these guns could easily fire over ahundred shells each day, from one location over a period of many days. Various modifications to theHowitzer canons were widely used in the war, each of which required over 12 men to operate.Despite all this, of all the types of weapons used in the war, the attack of artillery took the most livesduring the conflict. Around 2 million shells were fired by Britain and France, and an almost equalnumber was fired by Germany, making the artillery canons one of the most used weapons in WorldWar I.

Initially known as 'landships', the first tank was invented by the British Royal Navy. Tanks on bothsides of the war were huge machines, that initially scared soldiers into fleeing their posts. Althoughinitially successful in gaining victories, these tanks were rather slow (top speed of approx. 5 mph)and difficult to maneuver, not even being able to cross trenches or steep inclines. This eventuallymade it easier for the German artillery to defeat them. However, these tanks were the steppingstones in creating much better models, which were later used in World War II, where they were usedin tandem with ground attack aircraft.

Warships were greatly developed by the navies of both sides. During the war, this started an armsrace of creating more battleships than each other. The British Empire eventually ended up havingmore ships than Germany. However, the Germans created a huge fleet of submarines, that created amenace for the French and British navies. In a bid to further their stranglehold, the Germansresorted to torpedoing even civilian ships which were suspected of carrying supplies for the enemy.This cost the Germans all public sympathy, and was one of the reasons why the U.S. joined the war.

Another relatively new concept was the widespread use of naval mines. Besides the contact-detonation variety, even proximity mines were used for the first time in the seas. Eventually, theAllies set up enough naval mines to block the Germans in the North Sea.

The race to get better weapons led to several interesting inventions during World War I, such assanitary napkins, mobile X-ray machines, pilot-less reconnaissance drones, aircraft carriers,hydrophones, air traffic control, and depth charges, which have been used since with great successtill the present day.