WORLD AT WAR: 1914- 1919
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WORLD AT WAR: 1914-1919
•The period btw 1916-1917 is known as the GREAT SLAUGHTER
•Many new developments influenced outcome of war.
TRENCH WARFARE•Trenches dug in 1914 had become elaborate defense system by 1916.
•stretch 400 miles.
IN THE TRENCHES Trenches were protected by barbed wire up to 5 ft high & 30 yards wide.
Also covered by manned machine guns, concrete gun nests, gun batteries & heavy artillery further back.
THE TRENCHES•Area between
trenches known as “NO MAN’S LAND”
•Trench warfare confused military leaders used to mobility & maneuvering.
TACTICS•General’s plan : Batter lines w/
artillery, soldiers climb from trenches w/ bayonets & run across “no man’s land” through unprotected fields while enemy side fires machine guns.
LIFE IN THE TRENCHES•Many men died
on 1st day in trenches due to sniper’s bullets.
•1/3 of Allied casualties on the Western Front were in the trenches.
THAT STINKS!
•Rotting carcasses lay around in their thousands.
•Overflowing latrines would Add to this the smell of cordite, the odor of poison gas, rotting sandbags, stagnant mud, cigarette smoke & men who had not had bathed in weeks
PROBLEMS•Rats infested trenches & ate
human remains, often growing to the size of a cat.
•Lice & nits were problems as well.
•TRENCH FOOT, an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet & unsanitary trench conditions could turn gangrenous & result in amputation.
NEW WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
• New weapons of war were developed. Many were used for the first time with devastating effects.
BAYONETS Soldiers were
told to direct bayonet at vulnerable parts of the body: the throat, heart and the groin.
POISON GAS!
* First used by the French.
* The German army was the first to use it on a large scale.
POISON GAS•The gas was
delivered in artillery shells.
The user had to be wary of wind conditions.
TYPES OF GAS•MUSTARD GAS-
an odorless gas, caused serious blisters internally and externally, brought on several hours after exposure.
• Phosgene- caused the victim to violently cough and choke.
• By the end of the war, gas was rarely used.
TANKS •Frederick Simms designed what he termed a 'motor-war car‘ in 1899. It had an engine by Daimler, a bullet-proof casing & armed with two revolving machine guns.
MORE TANKSThe tank was
made secretly. The Brits saw no value in it until Churchill saw a demo of its use. Its name, given because the shape of the shell was 'tank‘.
TANKS ROLL THROUGH
•The tank must: have a speed of 4 mph, be able to climb a 5 foot high obstacle, span a 5 foot trench, & be immune to the effects of small-arms fire & have a crew of 10 men
MACHINE GUNS
• The 1914 machine gun, set on a flat tripod, would require a gun crew of 4 to 6 operators. They could fire 400-600 small-caliber rounds per minute from a metal strip.
FLAMETHROWERS• The idea of a flame
thrower is to spread fire by launching burning fuel. They took the form of tubes filled with burning solids (such as coal or sulphur), & by blowing into one end of the tube the solid material inside would be propelled towards the enemy.
WAR IN THE AIR• When Archduke Ferdinand was shot on the 28th of June 1914, it was just over a decade since the Wright brothers first twelve second flight at Kittyhawk.
AIRPLANES• When war started, the number of
aircraft on was very small. France had less than 140 aircraft. By the end of the war France had 4,500 aircraft. This is an impressive increase, but does not give a true indication of the amt of planes involved. During the war France made no less than 68,000 planes. 52,000 of them were lost in battle, a loss rate of 77%.
USES•Planes were
used for observation & attacking targets on the ground. Pilots used handguns against one another & later mounted machine guns
EDDIE RICKENBACKER• A former race car
driver, Eddie collected a set of 26 'kills', making him America's most successful fighter pilot of the war. He earned the U.S. Medal of Honor in 1930.
THE RED BARON• Baron von
Richthofen took his first solo flight after only 24 hours of training. He scored 80 confirmed kills & was shot down in April 1918.
ZEPPELINS They did not need a
runway & could be used for observation. The disadvantages of Zeppelins were their great size and cost, their limited maneuverability, and the risks associated with their hydrogen gas. They could easily been blown up.
SUBMARINES• Germany used
unrestricted sub warfare against all ships, eventually sinking the Lusitania and bringing the US into the war.
US PROPAGANDA
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