New Technology of WWIContent Objective: Students will discover the new technology of WWI which led to a different way to fight

Industrialization and mass production made it possible to develop new weapons and technology

New technology raised the death toll

Submarines

WWI was the first time submarines were used as a serious weapon of war.

Germans used submarines (which they called U-boats) to block trade. They were equipped with guns and torpedoes.

Airplanes

WWI was the first major conflict in which airplanes were used in combat.

Fighter pilots fought each other above the clouds.

Trench Warfare

Soldiers on both sides dug trenches and the troops would huddle at the bottom of the trenches

The area between the trenches was known as “No-Man’s Land

WWI Technology

Poison Gas

Poison Gas was first used by the French against the Germans

Within seconds of breathing in the vapors, the gas attacked the victim’s respiratory system, causing the victim to choke.

Mustard gas was introduced later in the war and was it did not have a smell. After being exposed to the gas for several hours, the victim would develop blisters inside and outside the body.

Protection against Gas Attacks

Gas masks had not been invented by the beginning of the war.

Soldiers were told that holding a cloth covered in urine would help the effects of chlorine gas in an emergency.

Masks were available by 1918

Poison gases used in wartime were banned in 1925

Machine Guns

Machine guns could fire 600 bullets a minute.

Airplanes were soon stocked with machine guns

Tanks

The tank was a British invention. It was able to cross trenches, clear paths through no man’s land, and smash through barbed wire.

The first tanks were unreliable and broke down often.