Why Is The Tank Important In Ww1

What was the significance of the tank in World War 1?

World War One, known at the time as the Great War, brought about the development of various technological advances to both the Triple Alliance and their allies, and the Central Powers and their allies. Spanning four years, and with over eighteen million deaths, it was the worst war that had been seen to date. However, with the war brought new military tactics and technologies such as reconnaissance and the creeping barrage. Some people may argue that the tank was highly significant throughout the war, however, a more convincing argument is that the tank was significant to some extent, but its importance has been exaggerated. It was not as significant as other newer technologies and/or tactics.

Although use of the tank had some benefits, many of the tanks used by the British were ineffective due to the fact that they regularly didn’t make it to the battlefield, instead either breaking down or, due to the substantial rain, got stuck in the mud. However, many versions of the original tank, Little Willy, were developed – before the development of the Mark IV and Mark V. Furthermore, very few of the tanks were used successfully by either side, especially at the beginning of their development. Although, towards the end of the war, Britain was using various tanks and built 2,818 tanks from 1916-1918 . In comparison, Germany only built a total of 20 tanks, all within the final year of the war, proving that they didn’t think that the tank was a significant military technique and therefore did not feel the need to use their resources on a military force that they viewed as incompetent and wasteful. Moreover, tanks were more effective at destroying machine gun nests, as they were generally hard to control and maintain. At the beginning of the tanks’ introduction, one of the biggest problems were trying to get the tanks to the trenches. One main disadvantage that they had was a small petrol tanks, restricting its ability to travel very far, only 38 km. Therefore, once they had been built, the tanks would be loaded onto a train and then upon arrival would have to travel into a suitable position to be able to attack. Also, they would only be able to travel at night as during the day they could be seen from the air. Other problems that those inside the tank included the heat, it could only travel a couple kilometres per hour, and the carbon monoxide levels inside the tank could cause brain damage or even kill a crew within a day of driving. “The British Mark V… was the first that could be controlled by one man, but carbon monoxide fumes could poison its crew.” Not only that, but they