Mechanized Warfare: World War I Destruction and Disillusionment 3.1.1 Know and understand that mechanized/industrialized warfare led to an increased level of destruction.

Key Question Did Industrialized and Mechanical warfare lead to an increase in destruction in World War One? “Soldiers rode in on horses and they left in airplanes”

Mechanized Warfare (Key Terms) Mechanized warfare - use of new armored and motorized vehicles and weapons. Total war – War on land, air, and sea - Every person in society was involved in the war effort in some way

Video – Horse Warfare Video: https://vimeo.com/111523595 (first 5 minutes) WWI Cavalry New technology (machine guns, artillery, trenches = cavalry attacks almost impossible Were an important support for soldiers – gave them hope End of horse warfare led to new ways of mobilization = tanks New technology brought new weapons that were very effective at killing ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY = MORE CASUALTIES!!

Weapons of WWI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-LxzD6Luj4 What are some of the weapons that were discussed in the video? What was their impact?

Destructive Technology “A war of firsts”– This was the first time new and advanced technology was brought into warfare. Tanks Airplanes Machine Guns Heavy Artillery Bayonet Poison Gas Zeppelins Battleships U-Boats

Tanks First Introduction by British : Battle of the Somme: 1916 Could move across No-Mans Land more safely – over barbed wire and across trenches No man's land: the ground between 2 opposing trenches But ... Slow and hard to steer. Overtime, they became very effective. Tanks of the Great War. 10 minutes

Tanks

Tanks

WWI Airplanes Spy planes: collect intelligence about the enemy - At first -Their purpose at first was reconisence - freedom of movement - could take areal photos - But it was dangerous!!!!! This changed after they figured out that you could drop handheld bombs And then they shot at people from the sky and eventually pistols were replaced by machine guns

Airplanes – New Technology That Did Not Always Work

Dog Fights Machine guns were mounted on the planes. Enemy planes would fight each other in the air. (3 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OILxxfj-iCU

Machine Guns

Machine Guns Could fire 450-600 rounds per minute For the 1st time, they did not need a person to manually load the guns. (2mins) Red Baron: German Fighter Pilot, Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, credited with over 80 victories Billy Bishop credited with over 70 victories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe8zcCQe3Tw There Were rapid firing guns prior to the first world war but they required someone standing next to them and hand cranking the ammunition into the firing round. American invented the Maxim – didn’t require manual intervention (hand cranking) Mainly used for defense (in the trenches to prevent enemies from storming) Required 4-6 soldiers to operate Sat on a tripod

Heavy Artillery - This is a “Seige Gun” -

Artillery Heavy Artillery was destructive and could fire long range (up to 10 miles) Artillery (4 mins.) Some shells could weigh more than 2000 pounds, although most were smaller. Smaller guns were more accurate. Big Bertha: a heavy, long range howitzer (German) (howitzer – short barrel cannon, fires high trajectories) Flattened anything in their path Big Bertha (the Germans) – was targeted for fear more than actual damage (hard to target accurately) Could fire shells that were 10 miles in distance (crazy far)

“Big Bertha”

Bayonet

Bayonet Common in WW1 Knife attached to a rifle Only useful for fighting close contact No longer used https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuCDjyC ysAY (Band of Brothers – Bayonet charge – 3 mins.)

Chemical Warfare/ Poison Gas

Chemical Weapons/Poison Gas Purpose: to get soldiers out of the trenches Two types: Chlorine and Mustard Chlorine Gas: Burned and destroyed lung tissue/ suffocation, Blinding, rashes and burning on skin Mustard Gas: Introduced in 1917. The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, their eyes burned and they began to vomit. It caused internal and external bleeding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22w1UVGv71M 3 mins. Gas is heavier than air so it settles in trenches Chlorine Gas: greenish cloud and strong odour. Formed hydrochloric acid in the lungs and killed by burning and destroying lung tissue. Mustard Gas: Introduced in 1917. The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, their eyes became very sore and burned and they began to vomit. It caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane. This was extremely painful. Fatally injured victims sometimes took four or five weeks to die of mustard gas exposure

Gassed and Blind

Gas Masks For people, horses, mules and dogs

Zeppelin

Zeppelin Made by Germans (cow intestines and skin) Used to drop bombs and for surveillance Not very effective – could only use at night / slow

Battleships: Fighting at Sea Long range guns Attack other ships and land targets from a safe distance

German U-Boats Germans used submarines Could sneak up and attack with torpedoes Even attacked passenger (non-military) ships https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhnfByPaupE 2.30 mins

Lusitania May 7, 1915 A British passenger ship leaving NY, heading to Britain Torpedoed by German U-boat about 11 miles from the coast of Ireland Germany’s justification – war munitions were on board, and they gave warning Nearly 1200 deaths, 761 survivors An iconic symbol of American military recruitment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp7UfEL2kQI 3 minutes

Why was WWI so devastating? The Great War 1914 - 1918 Why was WWI so devastating?