What kind of impact did the new type of weapons in WW1 have on warfare?

Answer 1

World War I saw a lot of "new" types of weapon.

The most prolific was probably the automatic machine gun. While there were "machine guns" previously, they were manually operated, such as the Gatling Gun which operated by means of a hand crank. The new machine guns were operated automatically and could fire at a much higher rate. The first such machine gun was the Maxim, which was copied (and improved on) by all sides fighting in World War I - the British Vickers, for example, was a design based on the Maxim.

Prior to World War I, wars were often fought by infantry lining up and facing other infantry on the field of battle - it was considered the "proper" thing to do. In World War I, units trained in this method faced trench warfare, and high casualties resulted from whole units going "over the top" and advancing on the enemy - and straight into enemy machine gun fire.

Aside from the machine gun, two other new types of "mechanical" weaponry were the tank and the airplane.

Tanks were originally designed during the war to break the stalemate of trench warfare. The idea was that they should be able to cross the difficult terrain between the trenches, crush barbed wire and other obstacles, and be safe from machine gun fire.

Tanks didn't have such a great impact on World War I because they often experienced mechanical failure, were very slow, and the first tanks had difficulty navigating over wide trenches, often getting stuck. World War II was the first real war during which tanks were used effectively.

Aircraft had a larger impact on World War I warfare because they could be used in different roles - they could be used to observe and scout positions on the battlefield, attack ground troops, and engage enemy planes in the sky.

Lastly, World War One is mostly associated with the use of chemical warfare agents such as mustard and chlorine gas.

The first such chemical agent used was tear gas - however, tear gas was neither disabling nor fatal, and it's effects did not produce a big impact in battle, and other agents were used - xylyl bromide tear gas, chlorine gas, mustard gas, and phosgene.

You can read a good article about the use of poison gas and its impacts on World War I warfare at Wikipedia here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_gas_in_World_War_I

Answer 2

poison gas was definitely major. The Germans would use chlorine gas and others to cause many deaths and casualties, and in response, the US would come up with even more lethal gases. DON'T FORGET: trench warfare is an extreme technological advancement. WWI was the FIRST WAR to ever have trench warfare.

Answer 3

WW 1 introduced the Tank, airplane,and poison gas just to name a few. That's a pretty big impact I think.

Answer 4

tanks ironically where tested during WW1. Mustard gas and chemical warfare were another weapon system developed. Machine guns...germans actually had effective machine guns, so they were copied and re-engineered to make american machine guns.

Answer 5

Planes, tanks, poison gas and better artillery made killing in mass numbers easier than in any other war up to that time. That's why they called it "the war to end all wars" for a time... Until the advent of WW2, which the fellow after me references.

Answer 6

The introduction of the Machine Gun was one of the largest

Answer 7

weird... i use to live in san mateo... hehe this is friggen hilarious... anyway.. the new weapons in the first world war... do you know what they are because it's pretty easy to figure the answer out...

the obvious would... give the fighters a superior advantage over their enemies...

Answer 8

More people could be killed faster and from a greater distance.

Answer 9

Try Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Answer 10

do you by any chance go to san mateo high school? because we are doing the same history thing. if you do reply me at [e-mail]