Trench Warfare and Technology SCO 2.2 (see text 3.3)

Trench Warfare  Not all military commanders believed the predictions that artillery and machine guns would change the nature of war  On the western front both sides dug in and developed an elaborate system of defensive trenches  Offensive charges or frontal attacks were ineffective in the face of the new technologies  The trenches eventually joined all the way from Switzerland to Belgium

Trench Warfare  A stalemate developed  Commanders on both sides believed that a massive frontal assault was the key to breaking the stalemate  The losses were enormous. Note: 801 of the Newfoundland Regiment went over the top on July 1 st the first day of the Battle of Somme, 67 answered role call the next morning. Over a 90% casualty rate in ½ hour.  Armies resorted to larger and larger artillery barrages to “soften” the enemy line  It became a “war of attrition”

New Technology Explain how the following changed the nature of warfare: 1.Internal combustion engine 2.Armoured vehicles 3.Airplanes 4.Tanks 5.Submarines 6.Gas / gas masks