Weapons of World War IWhen World War I erupted in August of 1914, it would bring to the world death and destruction on a scale never before experienced in war. While Generals and tacticians on both sides were still using

military strategies dating back to the Napoleonic Wars, advances in the modern weapons used to make war were making those tactics obsolete. The introduction of effective, functional machine guns,

accurate and easy to use carbine style rifles, deadly, accurate artillery, armored tanks, and grenades would introduce death and devastation

to the battlefield on a scale the world had never seen before.

Artillery Machine GunsTanks

The Machine GunMachine-guns were positioned all along the Western Front. The machine guns in use in 1914 required a crew of three to six men and were positioned on a flat trajectory tripod. For added protection, German machine-guns were often housed inside concrete blockhouses

Both sides also used smaller machine gun posts. Germans built them in large numbers all along the line at Ypres and Messines. Machine-gunners were deeply hated by the infantry and they were more likely to be killed when captured than other soldiers.

Allied Machine Guns

Drawing of a Vickers machine-gun in 1915.

Vickers machine gun(British/French)

Lewis machine gun(British)

The Lewis machine gun was smaller and lighter than the Vickers, but less deadly

Allied Machine Guns Continued

Pulemyot Maxima machine gun

(Russia)

Hotchkiss machine gun(French)

Browning machine gun(USA)

Browning Automatic Rifle(USA - 1918)

Machine guns of the Central Powers

Maschinengewehr(Germany)

Bergmann(Germany)

Schwarzlose Gune(Austria/Hungary)

German Machine Gun Trench

The Effects of the Machine Gun

Artillery of World War IThe word artillery was used to describe large-calibre mounted firearms. The calibre is the diameter of its

barrel bore. In the 19th century artillery was divided into light and heavy, depending on the weight of solid shot

fired. Light guns, deployed at battalion level, were usually 4-6 pounders, whereas heavy guns

were 8-12 pounders.

Allied Artillery

Howitzer(Britain)

Mark I Howitzer(Britain)

75mm Cannon(France)

Allied Artillery Continued

75mm Howitzer(United States)

60mm Howitzer(Great Britain)

76.2 mm “Lender’s Gun”(Russia)

Central Powers Artillery

420 mm siege howitzer“Big Bertha” or “Dicke Bertha”

(Germany)

Skoda 30.5(Austria/Hungary)

Mountain Howitzer(Austria/Hungary)

210 mm Howitzers(Germany)

The Impact of ArtilleryOf all the modern weapons utilized on the

battlefields of World War One, none, not even the machine gun, had the devastating effect (both

emotionally and psychologically) of modern artillery. During World War One, artillery was responsible

for 70% of all combat deaths, far outdistancing any other weapon of the era. Psychologically, nothing

was more devastating than an artillery barrage. The non-stop bombardments could last for hours without

end, and introduced the battlefield to the psychological horrors of “Shell Shock,” a condition

unheard of until the First World War.

The Effects of Modern Artillery

The Tanks of WWIThe idea of an armored tracked vehicle that would provide

protection from machine gun fire was first discussed by army officers in 1914. Two of the officers, Colonel Ernest Swinton and

Colonel Maurice Hankey, both became convinced that it was possible to develop a fighting vehicle that could play an

important role in the war.

On the outbreak of the First World War, Colonel Swinton was sent to the Western to write reports on the war. After observing early

battles where machine-gunners were able to kill thousands of infantryman advancing towards enemy trenches, Swinton wrote that

a "petrol tractors on the caterpillar principle and armoured with hardened steel plates" would be able to counteract

the machine-gunner.

The Tank in World War OneWhile the tank would never prove to be a decisive weapon during World War One (it wouldn’t see

widespread use until the last stages of the war), the tank would be used with devastating effects during

World War II. World War One Tanks were prone to breaking down, and had a top speed of around 5 mph, making them slow and difficult to maneuver. Both the tank and the airplane, relatively new and ineffective

weapons in World War One, would become two of the most important combat innovations in World War II.

British Mark I tank during

World War I

Allied Tanks

Little Willie(Britain)

Mark I (Mother)(Britain)

Mark V(Britain)

Char Schneider(France)

More Allied Tanks

The Carro Fiat Tipo(Italy)

The Whippet Tank(Britain)

A British Mark I Tank Being Used by Canadian troops

Central Powers Tanks

Leichter Kampfwagen II(Germany)

Schwerer Kampfwagen A7V(Germany)

Naval Warfare

-Naval combat in WWI was mainly characterized by the efforts of the Allies, with their larger fleets and surrounding position, to blockade the Central Powers by sea, and the efforts of the Central Powers to break that blockade or to establish an effective blockade of the United Kingdom and France with submarines and raiders.

Naval Weapons

Dreadnought class

- Dreadnought class ships were possessed by many nations. Their guns were as big as 16”.

- Subs had limited range, but were effective hunters and sank many merchant ships

- Radar and aircraft carriers weren’t around yet

- Torpedoes and mines were effective weapons

- Sonar was in its infancy

- Q-ships were an attack vessel disguised as a merchant ship. They lured subs to the surface then attacked them with guns.

Flamethrowers- The earliest flamethrowers date back to the Byzantines in the 5th century B.C. This “Greek fire” was hand pumped to set ships aflame

-Germans introduced modern flamethrowers during WWI

- They terrified Allied forces at first, but the Allies later built their own versions

- A flamethrower projects a stream of flammable liquid, rather than flame, from 50-80 meters and is useful against bunker and trenches

- Operating flamethrowers was risky. They were bulky with 2-3 cylinders. Snipers targeted them, and if caught, they faced execution.

Poison Gases- The Germans worked hard to perfect chemical warfare. At first they opened cylinders and let the wind do the work. This had disadvantages! Later, gas would be launched in artillery shells

-Chlorine gas was in a yellow-green cloud that attacked the respiratory system and brought choking

-Phosgene gas often caused death within 48 hours

-Mustard gas was almost odorless and caused severe burns. It could also stay in the soil for weeks!

-Early protection included urine-soaked cloth to ward off chlorine. Gas masks came later.

-After the war, the horrors of gas warfare led to 16 major nations banning it in the Geneva Protocol