Weapons Used In Ww1 Essay

Many weapons were developed for the sole cause of winning world war one. Empires had to push forward military technology to gain the upper hand in war. Many of these weapons were seen as cruel and unnecessary as they put soldiers through pain and agony before finally killing them. Although these weapons were notorious for how they were used, not many people know how important they were to drive the war forward. Although weapons were necessary to win the war, so were countermeasures. As new killing machines were invented, so was protection. Some examples of countermeasures are gas masks and anti-aircraft guns which are self-explanatory.
Although there were countless developments across all the countries involved in the war, they all mass produced and used a similar weapon, which was the rifle. The rifle was the number one cause of casualties in the war. The rifle was a soldier’s best friend and caused deadlocks across various war theatres. These deadlocks were broken by different inventions, one of them was poison gas. Gas was later used on a mass scale loaded into artillery shells launched mainly by Germany. After the first big encounter of gas in the battle of Ypres, the Allies then used planes to watch where the Central powers set up gas

cylinders. The use of airplanes was minimal throughout most of the war and was only used for reconnaissance to spot supply lines and where enemy troops were gathering.
The industrial era played a large part in the development of these weapons, from easy mass production to improvements of effectiveness on guns. The rifle would not have been as effective as it was without rifling. The term rifling refers to grooves in the barrel of a weapon making the projectile spin when fired, therefore increasing range and accuracy. This technique was successfully developed and implemented in all rifle designs. The tank was inspired by an old farming tractor which used caterpillar tracks instead of wheels. This allowed for it to cross difficult terrain. The tanks were mounted with thick steel armour and light weaponry and named due to its resemblance to a water tank.
Although it is obvious that all weapons used were capable of leaving permanent damage on soldiers, one particular weapon was feared by all, poison gas. The gases ranged from tear gas, which was easily treated by leaving the affected area for thirty minutes and only caused mild irritation to the eyes and sneezing fits to phosgene and diphosgene which caused 85% of all gas-related casualties in the war. Chlorine gas was the cruellest because it caused the victim’s lungs to fill with liquid, eventually drowning them.
These poisonous gases required countermeasures, which brought about the gas mask. Gas masks only protected against certain chemicals and were clogged by the ones that they did not protect against. This required the soldiers to take them off, which made them susceptible to a secondary gas attack. Due to rifles causing widespread deadlocks, artillery was a weapon widely used to break them. Artillery meant that soldiers were not safe from the skies. Artillery caused fear in both sides, even from their allies due to their degree of inaccuracy.
The rifle undoubtedly impacted World War One the most. It not only caused a significant number of casualties, but pushed the advance for military technology. The rifle caused many different kinds of weapons to be developed to evolve warfare from the trenches. The rifle will always be seen as a symbol of World War One. Although the rifle may be seen as valiant, gas will always have the opposite opinion. This cruel and uncivilised weapon was dreaded by every soldier on the battlefield. Most did not recognise gas to be a viable weapon until it was used in Ypres. ‘Gas was a true terror weapon – one that caused fear out of proportion to its effectiveness (pg. 163 ’50 Weapons that changed warfare’). The public’s opinion on poison gas/chemical weapons to this day has still not changed, which is ‘It should never be used’.
Many of the weapons used in WW1 divide opinions on whether they are ethically correct or not.

Both opinions can be argued, but the undeniable fact is that they played a massive role in the development of war. New technologies were seen as solutions and an upper hand in battle. This does not change the fact that they caused mass amounts of grief and despair among the families of soldiers. Most countries involved in the war suffered substantial casualties both civilian and military. These weapons served as crucial templates for new technology and have helped develop many different kinds of protection, from body armour to modern day gas mask. WW1 weapons are an undeniable factor of the development of modern day

technology.