World War 1 Weapons (Ww1)

Weapons of WW1

When World War one broke out the need for newer and more efficient firepower was required to outdo their opponent in the race of technological weaponry. New exciting, but absolutely devastating weaponry was tested on the battlefield and proved extremely fatal for the receiving end.

When WW1 sparked, weapon production companies were pushed to start to quickly produce the old weapons previously used in service instead of designing new one as these funds would be put into researching new tactics and arsenal. The Machine gun was invented in 1884, by Sir Hiram Maxim, cleverly designed so that the recoil from the previous bullet fired readied the mechanism again and so on so on. Artillery, meaning Large Calibre Gun, was a big part

of trench warfare as it had the ability to destroy enemy trenches and key targets from far, far away. The Germans Studied in Airships, giant blimps, they had devastating effects on the ground as they could carry up to 4,400 Lbs of bombs, they lead the assault on bases many times but were later abandoned as they were such easy targets for artillery. Tanks were also a big part of pushing past enemy trenches as ordinary bullets could not penetrate the armour of the beasts, some significant ones were the Mark 1-5, armed with 2, 67 mm Naval Guns which were placed on both sides of the tank, very effective. One the biggest and most deadliest of weapons was the invention of mustard gas or mostly known as poison gas, was extremely effective at flushing enemies out and away of trenches covered in it, extremely lethal as you would feel burning pains in the chest before passing away some days later. Another first in WW1 was fighter planes, they were originally produced to deliver bombs, but were later equipped with machine guns and sometimes even cannons. Pilots were known for fighting enemy aircraft in the air, also known as dogfights, so they could not complete their objective.
The machine gun was in is a rapid firing gun that can fire hundreds of rounds per minute, compared to the 15 rounds per minute that a skilled rifleman could fire. Britain needed a weapon that could fire bullets fast and accurately and the maxim machine could do this, water cooled and only requiring a minimum of three men to handle and up to a maximum of six. So effective that in 1983, 50 British soldier held off against 5000 Matabele Warriors with just four Maxim Machine guns. Aeroplanes were only invented 11 years before the start of World War 1 so effective designs were only included in the later years off the war, they were extremely agile and light with only a single engine on the front of the plane, since they had no weaponry equipped on the plane, except bombs, stories rumoured that pilots would just exchange smiles and waves at each other but this didn’t last long as grenades and other object would be thrown, soon hand held pistols were used but were proving to inaccurate to successfully hit the enemy aircraft same with rifles. But one day on October 5, 1914, French pilot Luios Quenault fire at a German aircraft with a machine gun for the first time and air combat was born and soon designs of aircrafts with machine guns mounted on them was in action. Later they had the technology to have a mechanism to let the machine gun mounted behind the propellers to shoot in between them with precision.
Diagram of Fokker's "Stangensteuerung" synchronisation mechanism.

Pulling the green handle drops the red cam follower onto the propeller shaft cam wheel. Twice during each rotation of the propeller the cam lifts the follower which depresses the blue rod against the spring, connecting the yellow trigger plate to the purple firing button allowing a round to be fired.

During the war, cavalry was the main offensive weapons, but new weapons was in design, the tank, a heavy armoured fighting vehicle carrying guns and moving on a continuous articulated metal track. The first tank ever built was called the little Willie it consisted of a Foster-Daimler Knight sleeve valve petrol 105 hp (78 kW), and a Vickers 2-pounder gun and multiple machine guns. This prototype proved faulty but effective as it was able to push through enemy lines, but since it was not very long and speed wise of only 2 mph, it was only able to cross trenches shorter than 1.5

metres.
When sounds of sirens rung throughout the air and the rumble of metal and rock, men would tremble to be anywhere but where they were, as gas and tanks usually meant the end for them. If gas masks would be put on fast enough, years of pain would follow. Getting into cover before an approaching tank would fire and destroy all in its path, but all these dangers prompt the troops to come up with way and strategies to outsmart and out manoeuvre them. Whether it coupling grenades together to create one devastating bomb against tank or bring a machine gun into the air to save the troops below.
The public was in as much danger as the troops were because the Germans were easily able to fly over to Britain to bomb and assault, London was riddled with bombs every month and gas bombs were one the most feared of them all gas mask were handed to every single citizen.

It was not the initial bomb that goes off that they were scared of, it was the fumes and years of pain before finally passing away from a painful death that everyone was terrified of, even gas masks with mickey mouse’s face on it was passed out to the children.

The overall view of these new weapons of the war were astounding and high tech for that time, wars changed from infantry, cavalry and canons to tanks artillery, and air warfare. WW1 changed the way fights are played out now, all these futures were refreshed and polished in World War 2 like one man machine guns, mighty armoured beasts like the tigers and even the Germans produced the first ever jet, but one of the most devastating of all is the nuclear bomb. All these weapons started in World War One. Tactics changed but they will always similar ways to the way these men played out World War

1.