ww1 - 3.3

• different, more por--
• example, cross out some of the
• different ones. Many front-line soldiers dia
• LEARNING OBJECTIVES


  • Understand the new types of weapons introduced
  • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the new weapons
  • Understand the new fighting methods used
• attrition


  The process of gradually destroying or weakening your enemy by attacking them continuously
• In 1914, the generals on both sides had confidently believed that the war would be fought by quick-moving armies. By the start of 1915, however, there were millions of men dug into strong positions in trenches, facing equally strong positions on the other side of no-man's-land. Many thought that new technology could break the stalemate. Others disagreed, and thought that only by attrition would the war be won. The enemy had to be weakened by continual attacks that would eventually cause them to surrender. This approach to war depended on manpower; the side with the most men to throw into the combat would win. It would also lead to huge numbers of dead and wounded.
• In 1914, no one knew whether or not aircraft would play an important part in the war. The first plane had flown only 11 years earlier, and the Great Powers had only a few hundred planes each. These were made of wood and thick cloth, held together with piano wire. Cockpits were open and pilots had to wear layers of warm clothes, thick gloves, leather helmets and goggles to stop them from freezing to death in the air. There were few instruments. Engines were unreliable and there were no parachutes. Courage was needed just to fly a plane, let alone fight in one.
• battalion


  A large group of soldiers consisting of several companies
• The British Royal Flying Corps and the Imperial German Flying Corps used planes and observation balloons as the 'eyes' of their armies. They flew high above the enemy lines and reported back on such things as troop movements, trench systems and ammunition dumps, Planes were particularly useful during a battle, when they could advise as to whether the enemy was attacking, regrouping and preparing for another attack, or retreating altogether.
• Most of the first airmen were armed with revolvers or machine guns and sometimes they had bombs, which they dropped over the sides of their cockpits. Gradually planes developed into fighting machines. For example, Antony Fokker, a Dutch engineer working for the Germans, invented a mechanism that meant airmen could fire through the blades as the propellers went round. Planes on both sides fired on men in the trenches. Dog fights between fighter planes over the Western Front were common, and some pilots became heroes because of their skill. By the end of the war the 'score' (number of enemy aircraft shot down) for the top pilots was Baron von Richthofen (80), Rene Fonk (75) and Mick Mannock (73). But the reality for most airmen was very different. By 1916, many were young men aged 18, who were given a brief training and sent to war. They could expect to live for three weeks. By 1918, the Great Powers were, altogether, using over 10,000 planes at the front line, and over 50,000 airmen had been killed.
• All soldiers were given rifles, bayonets and hand grenades, but these were of little use until they had crossed no-man's-land and could actually use them against the enemy. Crossing no-man's-land was the problem. Soldiers moving slowly across open ground were an easy target for machine gunners. Whole battalions were killed in this way, and the machine gun proved to be one of the most effective weapons on the Western Front. The British thought little of them at the start of the war. They were heavy, difficult to transport, became too hot inside and often broke down. Soon, however, both sides developed lighter, more reliable machine guns. The British Vickers machine gun, for example, could fire 450-500 bullets a minute over a distance of 2000 m. However, with both sides using similar machine guns, this only added to the stalemate on the Western Front. A breakthrough was urgently needed.
• At the start of the war, all the Great Powers used artillery (mobile field guns). These fired about six shells a minute and were fairly accurate. They were not, however, a lot of use once both sides were dug into trenches along the Western Front, Larger and more powerful guns were developed to bombard enemy lines. The largest gun of all was made by Germany. It was known as 'Big Bertha' and could fire a 108-kilogram shell a distance of 132 km. An artillery attack (called a barrage) on enemy trench systems was not reliable. It was supposed to destroy the barbed wire that protected the trenches, but could go badly wrong. Sometimes, despite hours of artillery fire, the wire was left unbroken, or the ground was turned into mud that could not be crossed. In 1916, the British developed fuse 106 that caused shells to explode parallel to the ground and these proved very effective in cutting barbed wire. By 1917, these fuses were widely used on the Western Front.
• Poison gas was useful as a weapon of war more for the fear it created than the casualties that resulted from its use. The commander of the BEF, Sir John French, said that the use of gas was 'a cynical and barbarous disregard of the well-known usages of civilised war'. But soon both sides were using it. Gas was first used on the Western Front by the Germans at the second battle of Ypres in April 1915. Hundreds of French and Algerian soldiers suffocated in thick chlorine gas. Canadians were gassed later that month, and British troops for the first time in May. Soon both sides were using chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas. Gas suffocated and blinded soldiers.
• Gas was a terrifying but unreliable weapon. In damp weather, the gas would move slowly around at knee height. If the wind changed direction, troops could end up gassing their own side. A gas alarm system was developed, and troops were supplied with gas masks that they had to put on as soon as the alarm wedsounded. Sometimes, however, they were not able to put on the gas masks in time.
• The most significant attempt to break the stalemate of trench warfare was the tank. A British army journalist, Lt-Colonel Ernest Swinton, designed an armed vehicle that could cross difficult ground. Fifty tanks made their appearance at the battle of the Somme, but they were not a success. It was a different story in November 1917. At the battle of Cambrai, more than 400 Mark IV tanks smashed their way through the German trenches. In 3 days they had driven 8 km behind the German lines. The German High Command believed that to use tanks was to admit that all proper military tactics had failed. German field commanders, however, were happy to use captured British tanks. German development work was slow, and German tanks did not come into service until March 1918, when it was almost too late.