1. 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.

2. 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”

3. 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

4. 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!!

5. 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?

6. 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

7. 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

8. Tanks

9. Tanks

10. 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

11. Airplanes – New Technology That Did Not Always Work

12. Dog Fights
Machine guns were mounted on the planes. Enemy planes would fight each other in the air. (3 mins)

13. Machine Guns

14. Machine Guns
Could fire 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
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

15. Heavy Artillery
- This is a “Seige Gun” -

16. 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)

17. “Big Bertha”

19. Bayonet

20. Bayonet Common in WW1 Knife attached to a rifle
Only useful for fighting close contact
No longer used
ysAY
(Band of Brothers – Bayonet charge – 3 mins.)

21. Chemical Warfare/ Poison Gas

22. 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 The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, their eyes burned and they began to vomit. It caused internal and external bleeding
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 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

24. Gassed and Blind

26. Gas Masks
For people, horses, mules and dogs

28. Zeppelin

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

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

31. German U-Boats Germans used submarines
Could sneak up and attack with torpedoes
Even attacked passenger (non-military) ships
2.30 mins

32. 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
3 minutes

33. Why was WWI so devastating?
The Great War
Why was WWI so devastating?