Modern Weapons of War World War I Standard 7-5.1

A New Kind of War… Hopes for a quick victory faded fast. Both sides found themselves fighting a two-front war. A front is a line along which opposing armies face each other. On the Western Front, each side engaged in trench warfare. Soldiers fought from two lines of trenches, or ditches, that soon reached the English Channel into Switzerland. Here the war stalled for 4 years.

Trench Warfare

On the Eastern Front… The broad stretch of land along the Russian border--- large armies met in battle. Each side tried to cause as many causalities as possible.

The Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution and new technology made the fighting even more deadly. Factories churned out guns, shells, and bombs faster than ever. New and mass-produced weapons increased the destruction.

Other New Weapons of World War I: Airplanes Appeared over battle fields for the first time.

Submarines Brought death to the oceans.

Machine guns Became widely used.

Long-range Artillery Hurled bombs behind enemy lines.

Poison Gases Were used for the first time.

Gas Masks Were issued to protect soldiers from poisonous fumes.

Tanks Another first, rolled over bombed-out landscapes.

Flamethrowers Blasted fire at advancing troops or into “foxholes” dug to escape exploding shells.

Human costs…(deaths) The human costs of war reached into the millions. Battlefield deaths soared to record numbers. The death of civilians, nonmilitary citizens, pushed the death toll even higher. By the end of the war, civilian causalities numbered around 13 million.