Overview of World War one:
World war one started following the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand. Due to alliances, and strong military powers across the world that came together into one great war. This war was a combination of several new battle techniques. These included chemical warfare, and trench warfare. These proved to be ineffective on an offensive standpoint, however on a defensive standpoint they were effective but costly. Along with this, due to the new forms of battle, new technologies had to be invested to counter or work with them. This lead to the war causing a large increase in casualties on both the defensive and offensive sides. Keep reading, and we will address how these advancements in technology and warfare inevitably led to changes of battle tactics world wide.
How did Chemical WARFARE change?
Chemical warfare was widely used throughout the years of WWI. It was a very effective way of killing, however was very dangerous in the means of permanent damage. In the war, multiple forms of chemical war were use, with the most popular ones being tear gas and mustard gas. Mustard gas, when inhaled, would cause the victim to go blind, get blistered skin, bleed from the nose, get shortness of breath, and get fever, diarrhea and nausea. Tear gas on the other hand would cause the victim to cry, have trouble breathing, get chest pain, and impairs eye sight, as well as sometimes causing vomiting and diarrhea.
With the effects of chemical gasses being so serious, at the end of the Great War (WW1), internationally, countries agreed that they had to put an end to chemical warfare in any situation. It was declared as illegal warfare, and not to be used under any circumstances. The entire world came together to agree on this, making no war ever be allowed to include chemical warfare again.
How did trench warfare change?
Trench Warfare was used during World War One mainly between the Germans and the French. This war was brutal and caused tons of casualties, injuries, and trauma for soldiers. The living conditions were past awful and just the conditions alone made it so disturbing that it has not been used since the Great War (WW1). The battle within the trenches was slow, and rarely got either side to advance into enemy territory. This method of war almost solely caused negative impacts on soldiers and the war, with the only positive effect being advancements in technology (Read next section to learn more).
In this video, ignore the end of it. The beginning (to about 1:54 is purely educational) then it takes a turn for some comedy, although a lot of the information is true. (For example, soldiers did use urine as a makeshift gasmask sometimes).
In this video, ignore the end of it. The beginning (to about 1:54 is purely educational) then it takes a turn for some comedy, although a lot of the information is true. (For example, soldiers did use urine as a makeshift gasmask sometimes).
In the end, after the long and hard fighting in the trenches. It was unofficially agreed upon that Trench Warfare is not a good option for battle. This is due to the terrible effects on the soldiers in the war, and the technology that made it very ineffective such as planes and tanks and the machine gun. Although technically, trench warfare was not banned, and could still be used, it is not since the effects on soldiers are traumatizing and the battles almost always lead to casualties with no advancements into the enemy lines.
HOw Did Advancements in technology change warfare?
Due to the almost stalemate that the trenches caused, many new technologies had to be created for either side to gain an edge during battle. For example, new machine guns were created to mow down the enemies reinforcements, and prevent them in advancing through no man's land. Also many changes to ammunition was beneficial as well. Such as the tracer bullet was created, which made fighting through the night much easier because the shooter would be able to see where his bullets were going and what they were hitting. One of the more commonly know technological advancements was the tank. The tank allowed soldiers to pass through open areas while being protected by the heavily reinforced design. The tank evolved through WWI, to a form that could pass over trenches and into no man's land, which proved very effective. Lastly, the first military planes were being introduced during the Great War, as pilots would attach machine guns to their aircrafts.
The technology advancements clearly have changed warfare. All these technologies that were highlighted above made it virtually impossible to continue with the trench warfare tactic of battle. A main change was in WWII many battles took place in the air. All countries began to expand on their aircrafts and air force, which resulted in many more bombings. This completely changed war strategies and caused for many civilian casualties.