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)
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