Technology during World War I

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radiotelegraphic communications, encouraged all Intelligence Services to implement adequate techniques and layouts to extract the greatest amount of intel from the enemies’ communication systems, by relying on some inherent weaknesses of those media namely the relative ease of interception. Even the earliest episodes of the war showed, often surprisingly, what type of impact the eavesdropping and interpretation of the enemy’s transmissions could have on military operations. As such, this period witnessed significant developments in the intelligence category today commonly known as COMINT or ‘Communication Intelligence’. Exploitation of intercepted Russian radio signals contributed to the German victory at Tannenberg in August 1914. Even when messages could not be decoded, radio

1923: 122: 779: 387: 552: 787: 1792: 654: 1124: 411: 1464: 399: 1265: 764: 884: 895: 1058: 167: 943: 25: 1175: 1849:" (Grenade, Hand No. 5) was introduced in 1915 and would serve in its basic form in the British Army until the 1970s. Its improved fusing system relied on the soldier removing a pin and while holding down a lever on the side of the grenade. When the grenade was thrown the safety lever would automatically release, igniting the grenade's internal fuse which would burn down until the grenade detonated. The French would use the 1088:. Though not able to assault entrenched positions, they provided mobile fire support to infantry, and performed scouting, reconnaissance, and other roles similar to cavalry. After trench warfare took hold of major battle-lines, opportunities for such vehicles greatly diminished, though they continued to see use in the more open campaigns in Russia and the Middle East. 1018:, so that if there was an enemy air attack the crew could parachute to safety. At the time, parachutes were too heavy to be used by pilots of aircraft (with their marginal power output), and smaller versions were not developed until the end of the war; they were also opposed by the British leadership, who feared they might promote cowardice. 1782:

to clear enemy trenches. Pump actions can be fired rapidly, simply by working the slide when the trigger is held down, and when fighting within a trench, the shorter shotgun could be rapidly turned and fired in the opposite direction along the trench axis. The shotguns prompted a diplomatic protest

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became a major effort during the war. Once enemy positions were undermined, huge amounts of explosives would be planted and detonated to prepare for an overland charge. Sensitive listening devices that could detect the sounds of digging were crucial for defense against these underground incursions.

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was known beforehand by the Allies simply because of the vast marshaling yards on the Belgian border that had no other purpose than to deliver the mobilized German army to its start point. The German mobilization plan was little more than a vast detailed railway timetable. Men and material could get

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is shown by the English reports that a whole flotilla of German submarines had attacked the cruisers and that this flotilla had approached under cover of the flag of Holland. These reports were absolutely untrue. U-9 was the only submarine on deck, and she flew the flag she still flies – the German

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entered the war with the idea that each gun should be accompanied by hundreds of shells, and armouries ought to have about a thousand on hand for resupply. This proved utterly inadequate when it became commonplace for a gun to sit in one place and fire a hundred shells or more per day for weeks or

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were tried. Thus, the reconnaissance value of blimps and balloons contributed to the development of air-to-air combat between all types of aircraft, and to the trench stalemate, because it was impossible to move large numbers of troops undetected. The Germans conducted air raids on England during

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in 1914, when typical French and British guns were only 75 mm (3 in) and 105 mm (4 in). The British had a 6-inch (152 mm) howitzer, but it was so heavy it had to be hauled to the field in pieces and assembled. The Germans also fielded Austrian 305 mm (12 in) and

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were rapidly developed. Also, both Britain and France found new tactics and training were required to make effective use of their tanks, such as larger coordinated formations of tanks and close support with infantry. Once tanks could be organized in the hundreds, as in the opening assault of the

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Chemical weapons were easily attained, and cheap. Gas was especially effective against troops in trenches and bunkers that protected them from other weapons. Most chemical weapons attacked an individual's respiratory system. The concept of choking easily caused fear in soldiers and the resulting

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Although the tanks' initial appearance on the battlefield in 1916 terrified some German troops, such engagements provided more opportunities for development than battle successes. Early tanks were unreliable, breaking down often. Germans learned they were vulnerable to direct hits from field

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pushed forward 60 kilometers, gaining in a couple weeks what France and Britain had spent years to achieve. Although initially successful tactically, these offensives stalled after outrunning their horse-drawn supply, artillery, and reserves, leaving German forces weakened and exhausted.

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The new long-range artillery developed just before the war now had to fire at positions it could not see. Typical tactics were to pound the enemy front lines and then stop to let infantry move forward, hoping that the enemy line was broken, though it rarely was. The lifting and then the

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came as a surprise, and only in the final year of the war did the major armies make effective steps in revolutionizing matters of command and control and tactics to adapt to the modern battlefield and start to harness the myriad new technologies to effective military purposes. Tactical

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The impressive spread of telecommunications in the armed forces during the WWI - which extended commanders' command and control radius over forces and ships located far-away - also led to the Intelligence branch assuming an ever greater importance. The growth of military telephone and

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from Germany, claiming the shotguns caused excessive injury, and that any U.S. combatants found in possession of them would be subject to execution. The U.S. rejected the claims, and threatened reprisals in kind if any of its troops were executed for possession of a shotgun.

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protected by one or more armed navy vessels was adopted later in the war. There was initially a great deal of debate about this approach, out of fear that it would provide German U-boats with a wealth of convenient targets. Thanks to the development of active and passive

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Recognised for their value as observation platforms, balloons were important targets for enemy aircraft. To defend them against air attack, they were heavily protected by anti-aircraft guns and patrolled by friendly aircraft; to attack them, unusual weapons such as

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were not very satisfactory. Runners, flashing lights, and mirrors were often used instead; dogs were also used, but were only used occasionally as troops tended to adopt them as pets and men would volunteer to go as runners in the dog's place. There were also

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were developed, and these greatly reduced the effectiveness of gas as a weapon. Although it sometimes resulted in brief tactical advantages and probably caused over 1,000,000 casualties, gas seemed to have had no significant effect on the course of the war.

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chambered in .303 British. The Lewis gun was the first true light machine gun that could in theory be operated by one man, though in practice the bulky ammo pans required an entire section of men to keep the gun operating. The Lewis Gun was also used for

1049:. Damage was again minor but they forced the British air forces to maintain squadrons of fighters in England to defend against air attack, depriving the British Expeditionary Force of planes, equipment, and personnel badly needed on the Western front. 615:, used to hide attacking soldiers, and Allied troops were ordered to the front trenches to repel the expected attack. The gas had a devastating effect, killing many defenders or, when the wind direction changed and blew the gas back, many attackers. 731:

were developed to keep artillery fire landing directly in front of the infantry "as it advanced." Communications being impossible, the danger was that the barrage would move too fast — losing the protection — or too slowly — holding up the advance.

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Having the largest surface fleet, the United Kingdom sought to press its advantage. British ships blockaded German ports, hunted down German and Austro-Hungarian ships wherever they might be on the high seas, and supported actions against

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counteroffensive near the end of the war, British forces went to field with 532 tanks; after several days, only a few were still in commission, with those that suffered mechanical difficulties outnumbering those disabled by enemy fire.

1952:. In the latter, one soldier carried the fuel tank while another aimed the nozzle. Both the large and smaller versions of the flame-thrower were of limited use because their short range left the operator(s) exposed to small arms fire. 1146:." The Australian and Canadian divisions that spearheaded the attack managed to advance 13 kilometers on the first day alone. These battles marked the end of trench warfare on the Western Front and a return to mobile warfare. 639:

terror affected them psychologically. Because there was such a great fear of chemical weapons it was not uncommon that a soldier would panic and misinterpret symptoms of the common cold as being affected by a poisonous gas.

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While early air spotters were unarmed, they soon began firing at each other with handheld weapons. An arms race commenced, quickly leading to increasingly agile planes equipped with machine guns. A key innovation was the

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were a new development but moored contact mines were the most numerous. They resembled those of the late 19th century, improved so they less often exploded while being laid. The Allies produced enough mines to build the

1708:. Besides its use by the French, the first American units to arrive in France used it in 1917 and 1918. Hastily mass-manufactured under desperate wartime pressures, the weapon developed a reputation for unreliability. 590:

At the beginning of the war, Germany had the most advanced chemical industry in the world, accounting for more than 80% of the world's dye and chemical production. Although the use of poison gas had been banned by the

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There were also countermeasures to these artillery tactics: by aiming a counter barrage directly behind an enemy's creeping barrage, one could target the infantry that was following the creeping barrage. Microphones

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got little attention from the British Army before the war began but, during the war, Germany showed great interest in this weapon. The resulting casualties for the Allies caused Britain to search for a new defense.

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1915 and 1916 with airships, hoping to damage British morale and cause aircraft to be diverted from the front lines, and indeed the resulting panic led to the diversion of several squadrons of fighters from France.

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In the end, the war ended through a combination of attrition (of men and material), advances on the battlefield, arrival of American troops in large numbers, and a breakdown of morale and production on the

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In the last year of the war, despite rapidly increasing production (especially by France) and improving designs, tank technology struggled to make more than a modest impact on the war's overall progress.

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to provide their forces with a constant supply of gunpowder despite the British naval blockade. Artillery was responsible for the largest number of casualties and consumed vast quantities of explosives.

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had been suggested as early as the 1890s, authorities showed little more than a passing interest in them until the trench stalemate of World War I caused reconsideration. In early 1915, the British

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was built up from a small force to the world's most modern and second most powerful. However, even this high-technology navy entered the war with a mix of newer ships and obsolete older ones.

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to the front at an unprecedented rate by rail, but trains were vulnerable at the front itself. Thus, armies could only advance at the pace that they could build or rebuild a railway, e.g.

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The years leading up to the war saw the use of improved metallurgical and mechanical techniques to produce larger ships with larger guns and, in reaction, more armour. The launching of

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Throughout the remainder of the war, new tank designs often revealed flaws in battle, to be addressed in later designs, but reliability remained the primary weakness of tanks. In the

1045:, and used these airships to make occasional bombing raids on military targets, London and other British cities, without great effect. Later in the war, Germany introduced long range 2273: 1519:, and dipping hydrophones (the latter two both abandoned in 1918). To extend their operations, the Germans proposed supply submarines (1916). Most of these would be forgotten in the 1903:, was rapidly developed and widely imitated. Mechanical bomb throwers of lesser range were used in a similar fashion to fire upon the enemy from a safe distance within the trench. 1624: 4716: 4731: 4915: 1436:. The German surface fleet was largely kept in the North Sea. This situation pushed Germany, in particular, to direct its resources to a new form of naval power: submarines. 290: 626:

and other gasses were used. Britain and France soon followed suit with their own gas weapons. The first defenses against gas were makeshift, mainly rags soaked in water or

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was a less successful attempt at restoring mobility. Several kinds of bullet-proof body armor were tested in use, but they more impaired movement than protected the body.

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At the beginning of the war, artillery was often sited in the front line to fire over open sights at enemy infantry. During the war, the following improvements were made:

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employed them to deprive the British Isles of vital supplies. The deaths of British merchant sailors and the seeming invulnerability of U-boats led to the development of

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both for discharging firearms and for observation. Often a steel plate was used with a "key hole", which had a rotating piece to cover the loophole when not in use.

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The countries involved in the war applied the full force of industrial mass-production to the manufacture of weapons and ammunition, especially artillery shells.

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Much of the combat involved trench warfare, in which hundreds often died for each metre gained. Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred during World War

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battle of the Western Front on 30 July 1915. The German Army had two main types of flame throwers during the Great War: a small single person version called the

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The United Kingdom relied heavily on imports to feed its population and supply its war industry, and the German Navy hoped to blockade and starve Britain using

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with guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging, notably, aircraft and the often overlooked

275:, a small, hardened blockhouse that could be used to deliver machine gun fire. Pillboxes could be placed across a battlefield with interlocking fields of fire. 4920: 3427: 1940:) on the Western Front attempting to flush out French or British soldiers from their trenches. Introduced in 1915, it was used with greatest effect during the 1306:(refined in the 1870s), and heavy firepower, provided by the same machine guns which had recently become so dominant in warfare, or even light artillery guns. 484:

was developed, specifically designed to explode on contact with barbed wire, or the ground before the shell buried itself in mud, and equally effective as an

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and other French leaders had proposed following suit, but the French army marched to war in their traditional red trousers, and only began receiving the new "

5108: 4835: 4527: 3485: 587:) were both outlawed by the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, and both proved to be of limited effectiveness, though they captured the public imagination. 1700:

but had made none for use. At the start of hostilities, France quickly turned an existing prototype (the "CS" for Chauchat and Sutter) into the lightweight

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proved to be effective weapons in the trenches. When the war started, grenades were few and poor. Hand grenades were used and improved throughout the war.

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In the early days of the war, generals tried to direct tactics from headquarters many miles from the front, with messages being carried back and forth by

521:, factories were hastily converted from other purposes to make more ammunition. Railways to the front were expanded or built, leaving the question of the 5123: 4878: 1677:

weapon, capable of long-term sustained use provided it was supplied to adequate amounts of ammunition and cooling water, and its French counterpart, the

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as it was the first to include a synchronized machine gun. Towards the end of the conflict, aircraft carriers were used for the first time, with HMS

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were used to direct artillery positioned out of direct line of sight from the targets, and sophisticated communications and fire plans were developed

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which was impractically heavy at 48.5 pounds (22 kg) counting the water for cooling and one belt of ammunition holding 100 rounds. In 1918 the

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World War I weapons included types standardised and improved over the preceding period, together with some newly developed types using innovative

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were deployed in hundreds of thousands, or far greater numbers than in previous wars. Submarines proved surprisingly effective for this purpose.

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In France, several competing arms industry organizations each proposed radically different designs. Smaller tanks became favored, leading to the

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Germany was far ahead of the Allies in using heavy indirect fire. The German Army employed 150 mm (6 in) and 210 mm (8 in)

42: 3592: 1876:, nicknamed "potato masher" for its shape, whose variants remained in use for decades; it used a timed fuse system similar to the Mills bomb. 237:) went hand-in-hand with armoured cars, the first submachine guns, and automatic rifles that a single individual soldier could carry and use. 3654: 1693:

but could not move easily through a battlefield, and therefore forced soldiers to face enemy machine guns without machine guns of their own.

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After the war, the defeated Germans would seek to combine their infantry-based mobile warfare of 1918 with vehicles, eventually leading to

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were the main answer, and their high death rate seriously weakened the Central Powers late in the war. In many places the newly invented

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Artillery also underwent a revolution. In 1914, cannons were positioned in the front line and fired directly at their targets. By 1917,

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Factors such as weather, air temperature, and barrel wear could for the first time be accurately measured and taken into account for

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as yet lacked pneumatic tires, versatile suspension, and other improvements that in later decades would allow them to perform well.

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The First Industrial Revolution transformed warfare between the end of the Crimean War (1856) and the start of World War I (1914)

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The wind being unreliable, another way had to be found to transmit the gas. It began being delivered in artillery shells. Later,

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onwards. However, these uses made a lesser impact on the war than more mundane roles in intelligence, sea patrol and especially

5237: 5227: 5095: 1229: 75: 571:. Relatively few war casualties were caused by gas, as effective countermeasures to gas attacks were quickly created, such as 5009: 4943: 4780: 4659: 4332: 3351: 3207: 3064: 3004: 2985: 2958: 2913: 2883: 2755: 2439: 2158: 2124: 1961: 1065: 728: 1922: 928: 803:. Motorized transport was only extensively used in the last two years of World War I. After the rail head, troops moved the 5184: 4604: 3389: 294:

A rusty sniper shield in a WWI trench used during the Battle of Vimy Ridge at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park 2019

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Raudzens, George (October 1990). "War-Winning Weapons: The Measurement of Technological Determinism in Military History".

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played a crucial role in this by working in munitions factories. This complete mobilization of a nation's resources, or "

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The advantage was in long-range gunnery, and naval battles took place at far greater distances than before. The 1916

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The widespread use of chemical warfare was a distinguishing feature of the conflict. Gases used included chlorine,

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in 1915; this was the use of a three- or four-sided curtain of shell-fire to prevent the movement of enemy infantry

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of 1861–1865, and continued through many smaller conflicts in which soldiers and strategists tested new weapons.

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artillery and heavy mortars, their trenches were widened and other obstacles devised to halt them, and special

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started with primitive aircraft, primitively used. Technological progress was swift, leading to ground attack,

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turned to this industry for what it hoped would be a decisive weapon to break the deadlock of trench warfare.

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420 mm (17 in) guns and, even at the beginning of the war, had inventories of various calibres of

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creating ineffective battles with huge numbers of casualties on both sides. On land, the quick descent into

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was a significant step in communication during World War I. The stations utilized at that time were

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Observing the enemy in trench warfare was difficult, prompting the invention of technology such as the

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The principal armies entered the war under cloth caps or leather helmets. They hastened to develop new

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The British proved especially adept at these tactics, thanks to the skill of their tunnel-digging "

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construction, leaving many ships obsolete before they were completed. German ambitions brought an

5210: 5202: 5144: 4904: 4599: 4362: 4189: 4184: 4116: 3975: 3960: 3955: 3935: 3816: 3693: 3153: 3131: 2080: 1841:, packed round with scrap metal or stones. To ignite, at the top of the tin there was a Bickford 1800: 1610:, the convoy system reduced British losses to U-boats to a small fraction of their former level. 1349: 1139: 1132: 1108: 910: 878: 720: 446: 394:

gave quick, accurate fire in a small, agile unit, but the Western Front often needed longer range

319: 230: 35: 4156: 3175: 2938: 4977: 4701: 4636: 4492: 4219: 4146: 4096: 4081: 4063: 4036: 3950: 3917: 3582: 3543: 3523: 3334: 3227: 1579:, which cost Germany public sympathy in neutral countries and was a factor contributing to the 1564: 1448: 1398: 1383:, the tank would evolve into a fearsome weapon critical to restoring mobility to land warfare. 1379:

had been launched and would grow increasingly sophisticated in the years following the war. By

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Even without achieving the decisive results hoped for during World War I, tank technology and

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Mobile radio station in German South West Africa, using a hydrogen balloon to lift the antenna

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Myth of the Great War: How the Germans Won the Battles and How the Americans Saved the Allies

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A type of raincoat for British officers, introduced long before the war, gained fame as the

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The earlier years of the First World War could be characterized as a clash of 20th-century

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of August 1918, the Triple Entente forces began a counterattack that would be called the "

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This struggle between German submarines and British countermeasures became known as the "

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How much they feared our submarines and how wide was the agitation caused by good little

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Germany utilized many captured enemy tanks, and made a few of their own late in the war.

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the next year. By 1914, their military utility was obvious. They were initially used for

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Historical film documents on technology during World War I at www.europeanfilmgateway.eu

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For a time, in 1914–1915, some hoped that the war could be won through an attrition of

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Seeing the potential of such a weapon, the British Army adopted the American-designed

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Aircraft versus Submarine: the Evolution of the Anti-submarine Aircraft, 1912 to 1980

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with a friction-ignited time fuse. In 1915 Germany developed the much more effective

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connecting the detonator, which was lit by either the user, or a second person. The "

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rifles, capable of firing ten or more rounds per minute. German soldiers carried the

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proposed the future use of massive tank formations in great offensives combined with

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was formed to work out a practical tank design. The outcome was large tanks with a

1116: 1081: 1046: 984: 980: 914: 850: 744:. Muzzle flashes of guns could also be spotted and used to target enemy artillery. 697: 662: 584: 576: 474: 440: 221: 1616:

and other Allied types were fewer, being unnecessary for the blockade of Germany.

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were first used militarily by the Italians in Libya on 23 October 1911 during the

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Hand grenades were not the only attempt at projectile explosives for infantry. A

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Postwar pulp novels on future "gas wars" included Reginald Glossop's 1932 novel

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demonstrated the excellence of German ships and crews, but also showed that the

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was brought into the trenches to attack the enemy from a greater distance. The

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for mobility over the shell-torn battlefield, the four-stroke gasoline powered

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Mosier, John (2001). "Germany and the Development of Combined Arms Tactics".

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in 1917, Germany was able to move many troops to the Western Front. With new

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were created, principally by the Germans and British, though the former used

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lines laid were quickly broken. Either one was subject to eavesdropping, and

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History of the World War: An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War

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to exploit enemy weak points and penetrate into rear areas, they launched a

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hoped to "bleed France white" through repeated attacks on this French city.

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hand grenade was developed in Australia for use by ANZAC troops called the

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Between late 1914 and early 1918, the Western Front hardly moved. When the

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as well. Perhaps the most famous fighter plane during World War 1 was the

406:, developed during the war because an earlier model had insufficient range 4764: 4669: 4367: 3795: 3216: 3020: 2901: 1996:(reprint ed.). New York: Penguin Publishing Group (published 2021). 1842: 1771: 1636: 1568: 1318: 992: 925: 899: 715: 619: 564: 506: 350: 229:

reorganizations (such as shifting the focus of command from the 100+ man

190: 156: 2555: 1594:," attack vessels disguised as civilian ships, were one early strategy. 1041:

struck Warsaw, Paris, London and other cities. Germany led the world in

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and French industrialists both started dedicated development of tanks.

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Basic tank design combined several existing technologies. It included

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The British entered the war with the long-handled impact detonating "

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shape, to allow crossing of an 8-foot-wide (2.4 m) trench: the

1080:

armed with machine guns were organized into combat units, along with

1015: 824: 198: 3039: 1990:(19 October 2006). "The Consequences of the Industrial Revolution". 1174: 1004: 942: 740:) were used to triangulate the position of enemy guns and engage in 24: 4819: 3180: