1. Introduction Activity
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
Albert Einstein
What does this quote imply about the regularity of war? What does this quote imply about the progression of weapons through the ages? Why, ultimately, do you think that WW IV would be fought with sticks and stones?

2. Bolt-Action Rifle
Bolt-action rifles could fire up to 15 rounds per minute.
Rifles could hit targets up to 1,400 meters away.

3. Machine Gun A machine gun would need 4-6 men to operate it.
A machine gun could fire up to 400 rounds per minute.

5. Artillery Artillery refers to large-caliber, mounted field guns.
The caliber of a gun refers to the diameter of the barrel.

6. Artillery Shells
Artillery could fire shells distances of up to approx. 12,000 yards.
Artillery shells could weigh up to 900 lbs.
It could take up to 12 men to handle an artillery gun and load the shells.

8. Poisonous Gases
Gases could cause choking, blistering, vomiting, internal and external bleeding, blinding, a burning of lung tissue, and ultimately, death.
Gases were lobbed into enemy trenches, killing or disabling troops.

9. Poisonous Gases
Gases were often colorless and odorless, and it could take up to 12 hours for the gas to take effect.
It could take up to 5 weeks to die from gas poisoning.
Gas masks were eventually created to counter the effects of gas attacks.

10. Zeppelins
Otherwise known as blimps, zeppelins were airships filled with hydrogen to keep them afloat.
Zeppelins weighed up to 12 tons.

11. Zeppelins Zeppelins could travel at speeds of up to 136 mph.
Machine guns were usually mounted on the airships, and they each carried over 4,000 lbs. of bombs.

12. Tanks
Tanks were armored vehicles that traveled on tracks, allowing it to cross many kinds of land.
Tanks protected advancing troops across “no-man’s” land.

13. Tanks
Early tanks needed a crew of about 3 men to operate the navigation and guns.
The first tanks could travel up to 3 MPH.
By the end of the war, tank crews had grown to 10 men, and tanks achieved speeds of up to 4 MPH.

14. Planes
Planes were one- or two-seat propeller planes equipped with a machine gun.
Planes where first used as observation tools during battles.
Eventually bombs and cannons where added to the planes.
Pilots engaged in “dogfights” in the air in order to protect their men on the ground.

15. U-Boats
Underwater ships that capable of launching torpedoes, or guided underwater bombs.
Submarines ranged in length from about 200 feet to more than 550 feet. Their rounded hulls were about 30 feet in diameter. More than 150 crew members can live and work in a large submarine.

16. Trench Warfare

17. Trenches were elongated pits dug 6-8 ft
Trenches were elongated pits dug 6-8 ft. into the earth, and stretching out over hundreds of miles.
Trenches were only wide enough to allow two men to pass side-by-side.

21. Trench Warfare
Duck Boards would line the bottom of the trench, to serve both as a place for the men to stand on the avoid enemy fire, and also to raise men above the mud, rats, blood, and bodily wastes that filled the bottom of the trench.
Parapets served as a rest for a gun, and the Parados protected the men from exploding shrapnel from behind the line.

22. Trench Warfare - Diagram

23. Barbed-wire was lined up in front of a trench to protect the men from attack.

24. Trench Warfare
Dugouts in the side of the trenches provided shelter for the men to live in, and protection from incoming artillery fire.

25. The entrance to a “dugout”

26. Trench Warfare – Dugout

27. Trench Warfare
Three interlocking trench lines would be used: a front line for attack and defense, a middle line of defense, and a rear line of reserves. An encampment of tents and hospitals would be located behind the third line. Men spent anywhere from one day to two weeks on the lines before given a day of rest.

29. The distance between opposing trenches was called “no-man’s land”
The distance between opposing trenches was called “no-man’s land”. This distance could be as short as 30 meters, or as wide as 1 mile.

31. Trench Warfare
On command, soldiers from a trench would charge across “no-man’s” land and attempt to overrun the opponents trench.
Once one of the sides overran an opposing trench, the defeated would either be captured, or they would retreat to another set of trenches miles away to renew the battle over a new “no-man’s” land.

32. A periscope would have been used to see the enemy, without putting a soldier in the direct line of fire.

33. Retrieving a dead soldier from “no-man’s land”