World War 1 Technology

Posion Gas

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Was used to incapacitate or kill enemies

At some point gas was not useful since
armies created gas masks

Caused temporary blindness

The gas didn't kill instantly

It gave the soldiers a slow and
painful death

3 types of gases

Mustard Gas

Chlorine

Tear gas

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It was just sprayed

Hard to control

Troops had to wear masks

The masks were often ineffective

Relied on weather

If it was windy or raining, it wouldn't work

Gas would sometimes be blown
back at the army, killing their own troops

Submarines

Picture (Coastal Sub)

Picture (Coastal Sub)

Had a crew of 14

Attacked allied shipping

Used deck guns rather than torpedoes

The submarines were very dark and cramped

Sailors went days without seeing the sun

It was also very smelly

The submarines ran using two types of energy source

Above water, they used diesel

Under water, they used an electric engine

Communications

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To allow swift communications

Key for command and control

Used for artillery spotting

Need for codes and chiphers

Messages were being intercepted

Able to give false information

To create more confusion for the enemies

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Telephones were most reliable

More portable range

More range

Machine Guns

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Rapid fires

Shoots 400-800 rounds/min

Uses .30 call bullets.

Impacts a lot

Most Influential weapon in the war

Typically crewed by several

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Heavy machine guns

It could continue firing a small area up to several hours

A crew of 5 or more people fed the gun with ammunition

Disadvantages

It had limited mobility

Heavy logistic footprint

The amount of ammunition were measured in tons

Light machine guns

They had the ability to suppress and dominate terrain

Had direct and plunging fire

Created mass casualties in concentrated enemy units

Disadvantages

Limited volume of fire

More limited reliability

Dependence on foot troops for logistics

Tanks

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Tracked and armoured vehicle

Armed with machine guns or cannons

Used to assault trenches

Destroy barbed wire obstacles

Machine gun nests

Effective depending on use

Had mechanical break downs

Lack of speed

Tanks weighted 28 tons

Length was 32,8 feet

8 crew members in total

4 soldiers controlled the tank

4 soldiers were gunners

The environment inside the tank was not good

Soldiers had to steer the tank in a very noisy area

It was very hot and dusty

Filled with gas fumes

Airplanes

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Travels 100/mph

Were made with biplane and triplane configurations.

There were 70 different types of airplanes

The germans created a plane to have machine guns to synch with the airplane's propeller

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Single pilot fighter to several men in a bomber

The cockpits were small

The pilots couldn't wear parachutes