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The 8 Most Important Inventions and Innovations of World War One

Peta Stamper

04 aug 2021.

World War One was a conflict unlike any experienced before it, as inventions and innovations changed the way warfare was conducted before the 20th century. Many of the new players that arose from World War One have since become familiar to us both in military and peacetime contexts, repurposed after armistice in 1918 .

Among this wealth of creations, these 8 give particular insight into how war affected different groups of people – women, soldiers, Germans at home and away – both during and after World War One.

1. Machine guns

Revolutionising warfare, the traditional horse-drawn and cavalry combat was no match for guns that could shoot multiple bullets at the pull of a trigger. First invented by Hiram Maxim in the United States in 1884, the Maxim gun (shortly known after as the Vickers gun) was adopted by the German Army in 1887.

At the start of World War One machine guns like the Vickers were hand cranked, yet by the war’s end they had evolved into fully automatic weapons capable of firing 450-600 rounds a minute. Specialised units and techniques such as ‘barrage fire’ were devised during the war to fight using machine guns.

With the availability of internal combustion engines, armoured plates and the issues of manoeuvrability posed by trench warfare, the British quickly sought a solution to providing troops with mobile protection and firepower. In 1915, the Allied forces began developing armoured ‘landships’, modelled on and disguised as water tanks. These machines could cross difficult terrain using their caterpillar tracks – in particular, trenches.

By the Battle of the Somme in 1916, land tanks were being used during combat. At the Battle of Flers-Courcelette the tanks demonstrated undeniable potential, despite also having been shown to be death traps for those operating them from inside.

It was the Mark IV, weighing 27-28 tons and crewed by 8 men, that changed the game. Boasting a 6 pound gun plus a Lewis machine gun, over 1,000 Mark IV tanks were made during the war, proving successful during the Battle of Cambrai . Having become integral to war strategy, in July 1918 the Tanks Corps was founded and had around 30,000 members by the war’s end.

3. Sanitary products

Cellucotton existed before war broke out in 1914, created by a small company in the US called Kimberly-Clark (K-C). The material, invented by the firm’s researcher Ernest Mahler while in Germany, was found to be five times more absorbent than normal cotton and was less expensive than cotton when mass produced – ideal for use as surgical dressings when the US entered World War One in 1917 .

Dressing traumatic injuries that needed the sturdy cellucotton, Red Cross nurses on the battlefields started using the absorbent dressings for their sanitary needs. With the end of war in 1918 came the end of the army and Red Cross’ demand for Cellucotton. K-C bought back the surplus from the army and from these leftovers were inspired by the nurses to devise a new sanitary napkin product.

Only 2 years later, the product was released onto the market as ‘Kotex’ (meaning ‘cotton texture’), innovated by the nurses and hand made by women workers in a shed in Wisconsin.

A Kotex newspaper advert 30 November, 1920

Image Credit: CC / cellucotton products company

With poisonous gas used as a silent, psychological weapon during World War One, Kimberly-Clark has also begun experimenting with flattened cellucotton to make gas mask filters.

Without success in the military department, from 1924 K-C decided to sell the flattened cloths as make-up and cold cream removers calling them ‘Kleenex’, inspired by the K and -ex of ‘Kotex’ – the sanitary pads. When women complained their husbands were using Kleenex to blow their noses, the product was rebranded as a more hygienic alternative to handkerchiefs.

Against a growing tide of xenophobia and worries about ‘spies’ on the home front, World War One saw tens of thousands of Germans living in Britain interned in camps as suspected ‘enemy aliens’. One such ‘alien’ was the German bodybuilder and boxer, Joseph Hubertus Pilates, who was interned on the Isle of Man in 1914.

A frail child, Pilates had taken up bodybuilding and performed in circuses all over Britain. Determined to keep us his strength, during his 3 years in the internment camp Pilates developed a slow and precise form of strengthening exercises he named ‘Contrology’.

Internees who had been left bed-ridden and in need of rehabilitation were given resistance training by Pilates, who continued his successful fitness techniques after the war when he opened his own studio in New York in 1925.

6. ‘Peace sausages’

During World War One the British Navy’s blockade – plus a war fought on two fronts – of Germany successfully cut off German supplies and trade, but also meant that food and everyday items became scarce for German civilians. By 1918, many Germans were on the brink of starvation. 

Seeing the widespread hunger, Mayor of Cologne Konrad Adenauer (later to become Germany’s first chancellor post-World War Two) began to research alternative food sources – especially meat, which was difficult if not impossible for most people to get hold of. Experimenting with a mixture of rice-flour, Romanian corn flour and barley, Adenauer devised a wheatless bread. Yet hopes of a viable food source were soon dashed when Romania entered the war and the cornflour supply stopped.

Konrad Adenauer, 1952

Image Credit: CC / Das Bundesarchiv

Once again searching for a meat substitute, Adenauer decided on making sausages from soy, calling the new foodstuff Friedenswurst meaning ‘peace sausage’. Unfortunately, he was denied the patent on the Friedenswurst because German regulations meant you could only call a sausage such if it contained meat. The British were evidently not so fussy, however, as in June 1918 King George V awarded the soy sausage a patent.

7. Wristwatches

Wristwatches were not new when war was declared in 1914. In fact, they had been worn by women for a century before the conflict began, famously by the fashionable Queen of Naples Caroline Bonaparte in 1812. Men who could afford a timepiece instead kept it on a chain in their pocket. 

However, warfare demanded both hands and easy time-keeping. Pilots needed two hands for flying, soldiers for hands-on fighting and their commanders a way of launching precisely timed advances, such as the ‘creeping barrage’ strategy.

Timing ultimately meant the difference between life and death, and soon wristwatches were in high demand. By 1916 it was believed by the Coventry watchmaker H. Williamson that 1 in 4 soldiers wore a ‘wristlet’ while “the other three mean to get one as soon as they can”. 

Even the luxury French watchmaker Louis Cartier was inspired by the machines of war to create the Cartier Tank Watch after seeing the new Renault tanks, the watch mirroring the tanks’ shape.

8. Daylight saving

A US poster showing Uncle Sam turning a clock to daylight saving time as a clock-headed figure throws his hat in the air, 1918.

Image Credit: CC / United Cigar Stores Company

Time was essential to the war effort, both for the military and civilians at home. The idea of ‘daylight saving’ was first suggested by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, who noted that summer sunshine was wasted in the mornings while everyone slept.

Yet faced with coal shortages, Germany implemented the scheme from April 1916 at 11pm, jumping forwards to midnight and therefore gaining an extra hour of daylight in the evenings. Weeks later, Britain followed suit. Although the scheme was abandoned after the war, daylight saving returned for good during the energy crises of the 1970s.

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The History of Advent

Military technology has always shaped and defined how wars were fought. The First World War, however, saw a breadth and scale of technological innovation of unprecedented impact. It was the first modern mechanized industrial war in which material resources and manufacturing capability were as consequential as the skill of the troops on the battlefield.

Heavy artillery, machine guns, tanks, motorized transport vehicles, high explosives, chemical weapons, airplanes, field radios and telephones, aerial reconnaissance cameras, and rapidly advancing medical technology and science were just a few of the areas that reshaped twentieth century warfare. The AEF artists documented the new military technology as thoroughly as every other aspect of the war.

After three years on the sidelines, the United States lagged far behind the latest technology and faced a monumental task equipping hundreds of thousands of new soldiers. U.S. industry was just beginning to gear up for this challenge when the AEF arrived in France. American troops frequently used European produced equipment, as is evident in much of the AEF artwork.

Harlequin Freighters by J. André Smith, Watercolor and charcoal, July 1918

Harlequin Freighters J. André Smith Watercolor and charcoal, July 1918

Two Six-Ton Tanks Climbing a Hill by Harry Everett Townsend, Watercolor and pastel on paper, 1918

Two Six-Ton Tanks Climbing a Hill Harry Everett Townsend Watercolor and pastel on paper, 1918

Left by the Hun, 152 mm Mortar by Harry Everett Townsend, Charcoal on card, 1918

Left by the Hun, 152 mm Mortar Harry Everett Townsend Charcoal on card, 1918

American Artillery and Machine Guns by George Matthews Harding, Charcoal and crayon on paper, July 24, 1918

American Artillery and Machine Guns George Matthews Harding Charcoal and crayon on paper, July 24, 1918

Gas Alert by Harry Everett Townsend, charcoal on paper, 1918

Gas Alert Harry Everett Townsend Charcoal on paper, 1918

Soldiers of the Telephone by Harry Everett Townsend, Charcoal on paper, 1918

Soldiers of the Telephone Harry Everett Townsend Charcoal on paper, 1918

The Flying Field, Issoudun by Ernest Clifford Peixotto, charcoal on board, August 1918

The Flying Field, Issoudun Ernest Clifford Peixotto Charcoal on board, August 1918

Forced Landing Near Neufchateau by Harry Everett Townsend | Charcoal on paper, 1918

Forced Landing Near Neufchateau Harry Everett Townsend Charcoal on paper, 1918

Lame Ducks, Issoudun by J. André Smith, pencil on paper, 1918

Lame Ducks, Issoudun J. André Smith Pencil on paper, 1918

Valley of the Marne at Mont St. Père by George Harding Matthews, charcoal, pastel, and sanguine on paper, July 26, 1918

Valley of the Marne at Mont St. Père George Harding Matthews Charcoal, pastel, and sanguine on paper, July 26, 1918

The Alert Nieuports by Harry Everett Townsend, charcoal on paper, 1918

The Alert Nieuports Harry Everett Townsend Charcoal on paper, 1918

94th Aero Squadron “Hat-in-the-Ring” Insignia

America’s first combat squadron was the 94th. Its famous “Hat-in-the Ring” insignia reflected the phrase used in April 1917 when the United States entered the war and was said to have now “thrown its hat in the ring.”

This example came from the aircraft of Harvey Weir Cook, who shot down 3 enemy aircraft and four observation balloons. The victories are represented with iron crosses inside the brim of the hat.

Gift of Donald Sieurin and D. Peter Sieurin

The AEF WWI war art collection currently is held by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Division of Armed Forces History, from which the artworks in this exhibition are on loan.

We rely on the generous support of donors, sponsors, members, and other benefactors to share the history and impact of aviation and spaceflight, educate the public, and inspire future generations.  With your help, we can continue to preserve and safeguard the world’s most comprehensive collection of artifacts representing the great achievements of flight and space exploration.

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Copyright notice

This article is from Tar Heel Junior Historian , published for the Tar Heel Junior Historian Association by the North Carolina Museum of History. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other uses directly to the museum editorial staff .

Is anything in this article factually incorrect? Please submit a comment.

Have a question or a suggestion about this entry contact ncpedia at https://www.ncpedia.org/contact, wwi: technology and the weapons of war.

by A. Torrey McLean Reprinted with permission from Tar Heel Junior Historian , Spring 1993. Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History

See also: WWI: Life on the Western Front

The popular image of World War I is soldiers in muddy trenches and dugouts, living miserably until the next attack. This is basically correct. Technological developments in engineering, metallurgy, chemistry, and optics had produced weapons deadlier than anything known before. The power of defensive weapons made winning the war on the western front all but impossible for either side.

When attacks were ordered, Allied soldiers went “over the top,” climbing out of their trenches and crossing no-man’s-land to reach enemy trenches. They had to cut through belts of barbed wire before they could use rifles, bayonets, pistols, and hand grenades to capture enemy positions. A victory usually meant they had seized only a few hundred yards of shell-torn earth at a terrible cost in lives. Wounded men often lay helpless in the open until they died. Those lucky enough to be rescued still faced horrible sanitary conditions before they could be taken to proper medical facilities. Between attacks,the snipers, artillery, and poison gas caused misery and death.

Airplanes , products of the new technology, were primarily made of canvas, wood, and wire. At first they were used only to observe enemy troops. As their effectiveness became apparent, both sides shot planes down with artillery from the ground and with rifles, pistols, and machine guns from other planes. In 1916, the Germans armed planes with machine guns that could fire forward without shooting off the fighters’ propellers. The Allies soon armed their airplanes the same way, and war in the air became a deadly business. These light, highly maneuverable fighter planes attacked each other in wild air battles called dogfights. Pilots who were shot down often remained trapped in their falling, burning planes, for they had no parachutes. Airmen at the front did not often live long. Germany also used its fleet of huge dirigibles, or zeppelins, and large bomber planes to drop bombs on British and French cities. Britain retaliated by bombing German cities.

Back on the ground, the tank proved to be the answer to stalemate in the trenches. This British invention used American-designed caterpillar tracks to move the armored vehicle equipped with machine guns and sometimes light cannon. Tanks worked effectively on firm, dry ground, in spite of their slow speed, mechanical problems, and vulnerability to artillery. Able to crush barbed wire and cross trenches, tanks moved forward through machine gun fire and often terrified German soldiers with their unstoppable approach.

Chemical warfare first appeared when the Germans used poison gas during a surprise attack in Flanders, Belgium, in 1915. At first, gas was just released from large cylinders and carried by the wind into nearby enemy lines. Later, phosgene and other gases were loaded into artillery shells and shot into enemy trenches. The Germans used this weapon the most, realizing that enemy soldiers wearing gas masks did not fight as well. All sides used gas frequently by 1918. Its use was a frightening development that caused its victims a great deal of suffering, if not death.

Both sides used a variety of big guns on the western front, ranging from huge naval guns mounted on railroad cars to short-range trench mortars. The result was a war in which soldiers near the front were seldom safe from artillery bombardment. The Germans used super–long-range artillery to shell Paris from almost eighty miles away. Artillery shell blasts created vast, cratered, moonlike landscapes where beautiful fields and woods had once stood.

At sea, submarines attacked ships far from port. In order to locate and sink German U-boats, British scientists developed underwater listening devices and underwater explosives called depth charges. Warships became faster and more powerful than ever before and used newly invented radios to communicate effectively. The British naval blockade of Germany, which was made possible by developments in naval technology, brought a total war to civilians. The blockade caused a famine that finally brought about the collapse of Germany and its allies in late 1918. Starvation and malnutrition continued to take the lives of German adults and children for years after the war.

The firing stopped on November 11, 1918, but modern war technology had changed the course of civilization. Millions had been killed, gassed, maimed, or starved. Famine and disease continued to rage through central Europe, taking countless lives. Because of rapid technological advances in every area, the nature of warfare had changed forever, affecting soldiers, airmen, sailors, and civilians alike.

A. Torrey McLean, a former United States Army officer who served in Vietnam, studied World War I for more than thirty years, personally interviewing a number of World War I veterans.

Additional resources:

"World War I in Photos."  The Atlantic.  http://www.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/wwi/introduction/ (accessed April 16, 2015).

Fitzgerald, Gerard J. 2008. "Chemical warfare and medical response during World War I." American Journal of Public Health. April 2008. 98(4): 611-625. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2376985/ . Corrected July 2008. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2424079/

North Carolinians and the Great War. Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries. https://docsouth.unc.edu/wwi/

Rumerman, Judy. "The U.S. Aircraft Industry Durin World War I." U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. #

"Wildcats never quit: North Carolina in WWI."  State Archives of North Carolina. N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. http://www.history.ncdcr.gov/SHRAB/ar/exhibits/wwi/default.htm (accessed September 25, 2013).

"World War I." North Carolina Digital History. Learn NC. http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newcentury/3.0

WWI: NC Digital Collections . NC Department of Cultural Resources.

WWI: Old North State and the 'Kaiser Bill.' Online exhibit , State Archives of NC.

Image credits:

"Gas Mask. WWI. Used in France." NC Museum of History. Accession no. H.1999.1.406. http://collections.ncdcr.gov .

"Browning Machine Gun. Model 1917." 1918. NC Museum of History. Accession No. H.1918.31.9. http://collections.ncdcr.gov .

1 May 1993 | McLean, A. Torrey

World War I Technology

World War I was one of the defining events of the 20th century. From 1914 to 1918 conflict raged in much of the world and involved most of Europe, the United States, and much of the Middle East. In terms of technological history, World War I is significant because it marked the debut of many new types of weapons and was the first major war to “benefit” from technological advances in radio, electrical power, and other technologies.

World War I grew out of a variety of factors that had been building up throughout Europe in the preceding decades. During the later 1800s many European countries experienced a rise in nationalism. Nationalism, combined with growing industrial capabilities, led to military buildups and an increasingly tense political situation throughout the continent. Nations were increasingly nervous about what their neighbors might be planning. In response to this tension, England, France, and Russia (Italy would join in 1915 after the war was underway) formed the “Triple Entente” and aligned against Germany and Austria-Hungary. This was one of numerous alliances that divided Europe and made world war virtually impossible to avoid if one nation took action against another.

The flashpoint of the war is generally regarded as the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, during a state visit to Sarajevo. Austria-Hungry turned its anger towards Serbia, who, they believed, encouraged and abetted the assassination. In retaliation, Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia. On 29 July, in defense of Serbia, Tsar Nicholas II mobilized Russia’s armed forces to pressure Austria-Hungary. Three days later, on 1 August, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany honored its alliance with Austria-Hungary, and declared war on Russia. That same day, France, following its alliance with Russia, mobilized. Two days later, on 3 August, Germany declared war on France. Great Britain, as an ally of France, declared war on Germany on 4 August. Less then a month and a half after the assassination of the Archduke and within a week of the first military mobilizations the peoples of Europe were engulfed in war.

From the onset, those involved in the war were aware that technology would make a critical impact on the outcome. In 1915 British Admiral Jacky Fisher wrote, “The war is going to be won by inventions.” New weapons, such as tanks, the zeppelin, poison gas, the airplane, the submarine, and the machine gun, increased casualties, and brought the war to civilian populations. The Germans shelled Paris with long-range (60 miles or 100 kilometers) guns; London was bombed from the air for the first time by zeppelins.

World War I was also the first major war that was able to draw upon electrical technologies that had been in development at the turn of the century. Radio , for example, became essential for communications. The most important advance in radio was the transmission of voice rather than code, something the electron tube, as oscillator and amplifier, made possible. Electricity also made a huge impact on the war. Battleships, for example, might have electric signaling lamps, an electric helm indicator, electric fire alarms, remote control—from the bridge—of bulkhead doors, electrically controlled whistles, and remote reading of water level in the boilers. Electric power turned guns and turrets and raised ammunition from the magazines up to the guns. Searchlights—both incandescent and carbon-arc—became vital for nighttime navigation, for long-range daytime signaling, and for illuminating enemy ships in night engagements.

Submarines also became potent weapons. Although they had been around for years, it was during WWI that they began fulfilling their potential as a major threat. Unrestricted submarine warfare, in which German submarines torpedoed ships without warning—even civilian ships belonging to non-combatant nations such as the United States—resulted in the sinking of the Lusitania on 7 May 1915, killing 1,195 people. Finding ways to outfit ships to detect submarines became a major goal for the allies. Researchers determined that allied ships and submarines could be outfitted with sensitive microphones that could detect engine noise from enemy submarines. These underwater microphones played an important part in combatting the submarine threat. The Allies also developed sonar , but it came too close to the end of the war to offer much help.

The war, especially the brutality of trench warfare, brought death and disease on a scale people had never before experienced. During the 10-month-long Battle of Verdun in 1916, for example, as many as 1,000,000 people were killed. As the war dragged on, casualties increased, and the war became unpopular with ordinary people. Revolution in 1917 led to the end of Russian participation in the war and precipitated the Bolshevik regime. Just over a year later, a worker’s revolution in Germany forced the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on 9 November 1918. With the militaristic Kaiser out of the way, Germany requested an armistice. Two days later, it took effect on the “Eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.” On 28 June 1919 German delegates signed the Treaty of Versailles and the war was officially over.

Although the war was over, its ramifications were far reaching. Technologically, great strides had been made in just about every area that might come into play during war. But the costs had been dear, and the end only temporary. Deaths from “The Great War” have been estimated at 10,000,000, and the end of the war itself, the Treaty of Versailles and its humiliating terms for Germany, laid the groundwork for World War II. The war was called “the war to end all wars,” and at the time that seemed possible. Unfortunately, it would prove untrue in less then a generation.

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The Atlantic

World war i in photos: technology.

Industrialization brought massive changes to warfare during the Great War. Newly-invented killing machines begat novel defense mechanisms, which, in turn spurred the development of even deadlier technologies. Nearly every aspect of what we would consider modern warfare debuted on World War I battlefields.

When Europe's armies first marched to war in 1914, some were still carrying lances on horseback. By the end of the war, rapid-fire guns, aerial bombardment, armored vehicle attacks, and chemical weapon deployments were commonplace. Any romantic notion of warfare was bluntly shoved aside by the advent of chlorine gas, massive explosive shells that could have been fired from more than 20 miles away, and machine guns that spat out bullets like firehoses. Each side did its best to build on existing technology, or invent new methods, hoping to gain any advantage over the enemy. Massive listening devices gave them ears in the sky, armored vehicles made them impervious to small arms fire, tanks could (most of the time) cruise right over barbed wire and trenches, telephones and heliographs let them speak across vast distances, and airplanes gave them new platforms to rain death on each other from above. New scientific work resulted in more lethal explosives, new tactics made old offensive methods obsolete, and mass-produced killing machines made soldiers both more powerful and more vulnerable. On this 100-year anniversary, I've gathered photographs of the Great War from dozens of collections, some digitized for the first time, to try to tell the story of the conflict, those caught up in it, and how much it affected the world. Today's entry is part 3 of a 10-part series on World War I , which will be posted every Sunday until June 29. Come back next week for Part 4.

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Technology and equipment developed during World War I

The war drove scientific and technological initiative on an unprecedented scale. Innovation on both sides created more destructive and effective weapons. Communications, medicine and transportation were also advanced. But not all inventions achieved their intended goals.

A significant technological advance in World War I was the adoption and modification of aeroplanes for military use.

Early aircraft flown by Australian Flying Corps crews were unsuited to operations in the Middle East. When Lieutenant George Merz was let down by a faulty plane on 30 Jul 1915, he became the first Australian airman to die in the war. His unarmed Caudron G.3 was prone to engine problems. In the desert between Nasiriyeh and Basra, Merz and his passenger were murdered while trying to fix the plane.

Only 3 years later, Australian airmen were piloting the deadliest machines of the war. The last Australian airmen to die in the war were:

• Captain Thomas Baker of Adelaide, South Australia
• Lieutenant Arthur 'Jack' Palliser of Ulverstone, Tasmania
• 2nd Lieutenant Parker Symons of Moonta, South Australia

Captain Baker was an accomplished combat pilot. As part of No. 4 Squadron, he had brought down five German planes over 7 days.

All three men were killed on 4 November 1918 while escorting a squadron of British bombers back to base after a raid over Leuze. Their manoeuvrable Sopwith Snipe planes were shot down by the ace German pilot, Rittmeister Karl Bolle.

Tactics in aerial warfare developed throughout the war and included:

• artillery spotting
• battery ranging
• sector reconnaissance
• spotting for fire-effect
• dogfighting

Germany’s Baron Manfred von Richthofen , 'the Red Baron', was a well-known fighter pilot at the time. With 80 combat victories, he was the highest scoring pilot of the war. Von Richthofen was killed in action over France on 21 April 1918. At his funeral the next day, the Australian Flying Corps No. 3 Squadron fired a 12-gun salute.

Anti-aircraft weapons

At the start of World War I, dedicated anti-aircraft weapons were rare because few aircraft were used and their military use had not been proven. At first, Allied units were slow to provide dedicated anti-aircraft batteries. Germany initially led the way with motorised and horse-drawn guns controlled by the German Army Air Service.

Both sides quickly realised the value of planes during combat. Aircraft were used to undertake:

• offensive roles, such as bombing and artillery spotting
• reconnaissance operations, such as photography and surveillance

Combatting these offensive aerial roles needed more effective weapons that could:

• provide high rates of fire with specialised munitions
• be elevated towards the sky to shoot down aircraft

Scientific research to develop specialised munitions included:

• timed fuses that would detonate shells in the air, dispersing shrapnel to destroy aircraft
• incendiary shells that would ignite and set fire to airships and balloons

Other ways to prevent attacks from aircraft and airships were devised to:

• disrupt their passage, such as searchlights and web-like barriers of tethered balloons
• funnel aircraft into anti-aircraft firing range

Optical systems to track and range aircraft were important. Such advances helped to direct more accurate fire at incoming planes.

Both sides mounted machine guns on tripods as anti-aircraft measures. Although machine guns had a high rate of fire, they lacked the range of heavier calibre artillery munitions. Infantry on both sides sometimes used their rifles to shoot at low flying planes.

In 1917, Germany released a high velocity 88mm artillery gun as an anti-aircraft weapon. It allowed anti-aircraft gunners to more accurately calculate their bearings to shoot down Allied planes.

The British also developed some specialised anti-aircraft guns in different calibres. The best known was a variation of the ' pom-pom' gun .

By the end of the war, adoption of anti-aircraft tactics and weapons meant that:

• Americans claimed 58 aircraft shot down from 1917 onwards
• British and Australian forces claimed 340 aircraft shot
• French forces claimed 500 aircraft shot down
• German forces claimed over 1500 aircraft shot down

Airships and balloons

Military use of balloons peaked during World War I.

Newly developed dirigibles were more manoeuvrable and tougher than traditional hot air balloons. They were a constant sight above both sides' trenches on the Western Front.

Observation balloons:

• were floated or tethered to a great height behind the front lines
• carried observers who could spot enemy troop movements and collect intelligence

Ground artillery took advantage of the observer's increased range of sight from up high.

Anti-balloon warfare

Balloons became a target for both sides during the war. They were heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns on the ground and patrolling fighter aircraft.

Allied flying squadrons shot down German balloons with specially developed ammunition. This was an important tactic to prevent intelligence collection before major offensives. Incendiary bullets ignited the flammable gases in the balloons, causing them to erupt into fireballs.

The Buckingham incendiary bullet was developed for Allied airmen to use against German balloons.

Being an observer in a balloon or dirigible was risky business. You could be shot down by the enemy. Observation crews used parachutes long before they were adopted by airmen.

If a balloon came under attack, its occupant's only chance of survival would be to bail out and deploy a parachute as they left the basket. Sometimes their escape was too late, or their parachute caught alight.

Tethered observation balloons were used at sea, including by the Royal Australian Navy. Balloons were tethered to vessels, such as HMAS Parramatta , to help spot, pursue and sink enemy submarines.

The saying, 'The balloon goes up', means that something exciting or risky is beginning. During the war, the ascent of the enemy's observation balloon was nearly always followed by a barrage of shells.

Armoured cars and other vehicles

Armoured cars were widely used in the Middle East and on the Western Front. These cars were particularly useful for reconnaissance.

Even taxis played a role in the war. A fleet of taxis carried reinforcements to the forward areas in the First Battle of the Marne in 1914.

Where they could be used, motorised ambulances fulfilled a vital role. They provided rapid transportation for the wounded to hospitals.

Gas and anti-gas measures

Gas canisters and shells.

Gas was an effective tactic for clearing enemy forward positions during the war. Gases used included:

• mustard gas

When gas was first used in combat on the Western Front, it was stored in cylinders. When the wind was favourable, it was released to drift over enemy lines.

The gas from cylinders had a fairly short range in windy conditions and could prove lethal to the side using it if the wind changed direction.

At the Battle of Loos, the chlorine gas used against the Germans blew back into the faces of the British and Canadian troops. War correspondent Charles Bean wrote:

as a matter of fact gas in cloud form, emitted from cylinders, was never used directly against an Australian division

From 1916, gas was delivered in shells, which could be shot over a greater distance.

Anti-gas measures became increasingly sophisticated as the war progressed. In 1915, the British Army issued its troops with primitive cotton face pads soaked in sodium bicarbonate. The bicarb soda in the 'Black Veil' worked against a normal concentration of chlorine for about 5 minutes. By 1918, it was common to use filter respirators with charcoal or chemicals to neutralise the gas.

Gas alarm gong

When a gas attack seemed imminent or was in progress, the troops on the front would bang on a gas alarm gong to warn others. The gongs were usually hand made from metal rods or shell casings.

Sometimes strombus horns were sounded too.

A foldable anti-gas fan was designed to supply the troops with fresh air after a gas attack. It was used to clear gaseous residue that collected in shell-holes and craters.

Communication

The nature of trench warfare drove a need for more rapid communication between headquarters and the front lines. Conventional methods of communication at the time included:

• animals , such as pigeons and dogs

Telephones were widely used in the trenches, but their lines could easily be cut due to artillery damage or enemy sabotage.

The portable Morse code machine used by British forces enabled:

• communication between headquarters and the front line
• developments in field radios for forward observers to communicate with artillery units

The portable Fullerphone included both Morse code and speech facilities.

Early aircraft could drop message canisters down to ground forces. As planes became more sophisticated, so did their methods of communication.

A throat microphone described as 'a cap with a throat microphone and earpiece' was developed for hands-free communication. Pilots could receive orders from ground staff and pass on intelligence they had collected in the air.

[xxx **insert image of throat microphone from UK Archive's record - cat ref: AIR 10/100 - Image available from UK Archives booklet at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/telecommunications-in-war/ **]

<caption>Flying cap equipped with telephone headset and throat microphone, 1918 handbook, UK Archives ref. AIR 10/100</caption>

Wireless was used to send messages between ships on convoy duty or during battle.

Other important communications methods included:

• heliographs (sunlight flashed in mirrors)
• signalling flags
• signalling lamps (eg Begbie oil lamp and Lucas daylight electric lamp)
• simple tools for transmitting Morse code (eg a whistle)

Signalling flags, lamps and whistles carried the risk of being seen or heard by the enemy.

Some technical developments enabled the collection of intelligence from intercepted telecommunications. Wireless signals from German Zeppelins were collected at 'Direction Finding Stations' in Great Britain. This provided both the location and anticipated targets of Zeppelin attacks.

As a final measure, the complete 'cut off' of communications was another way to stall and disrupt a German attack.

Inventions and innovation

Artillery techniques.

Artillery was the most devastating weapon during the war.

The Allies put a lot of effort into locating and destroying German artillery positions. One technique was artillery sound ranging . This process used the sound of individual artillery pieces to work out the position and coordinates of enemy batteries.

Another technique was acoustic location , a forerunner to radar. An unusual device with large horns could amplify distant the sounds of enemy aircraft. The sound was monitored through headphones. Similar developments were initiated in marine acoustics to locate enemy submarines.

Flash spotting was important too. Ground troops would observe for the flash of an artillery piece being fired as another method of locating enemy batteries.

Kettering unmanned torpedo

The Americans developed the first pilotless flying weapon ('drone') in 1918.

The Kettering Bug had pre-set pneumatic and electrical controls to stabilise and guide it toward a target. After a set period, the controls closed an electrical circuit to stop the engine. This released the wings and caused the machine to plunge to earth, where 180 pounds (82kg) of explosive would detonate on impact.

The war ended before it could be used in combat.

Periscope rifle

The trench periscope rifle was invented in May 1915 by Lance Corporal William Beech, 2nd Battalion AIF. The gun allowed a soldier to take accurate aim and fire from down inside the trench, without exposing himself to fire from enemy trenches or snipers.

Flamethrower

The Germans improved the flamethrower , a brutal infantry weapon. Its operator could send a jet of flame many metres towards enemy troops. Inside the device, a cylinder of oil was being pressurised by a propellant, such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen.

Hand grenades

The hand grenade (called 'bombs' at the time) became more advanced and lethal during the war.

Initially, the Germans had the most advanced grenades. By the end of the war, the British and French forces had developed more effective:

• fragmentation and concussion grenades
• 'smoke' grenades to conceal movement
• coloured smoke grenades for signalling
• gas grenades
• rifle launched grenades

Sometimes the troops themselves took the initiative to make grenades. The AIF’s ' jam tin' bomb was an empty tin or two packed with explosives, shrapnel and a fuse.

Medical advances

No one was prepared for the tremendous physical impact that modern artillery, gas and machine guns — and the stress of battle — would have on the men.

At first, armies had very basic arrangements in place for moving and treating wounded men. Usually, a man would be carried away from the battle by soldiers, or be placed on a stretcher or a horse or mule-drawn cart. Private Simpson and his donkey is one early Australian example of using donkeys to transport for the wounded.

Military medical facilities were also poorly equipped to treat:

• loss of blood
• open wounds

Before the age of antibiotics, medical officers were unable to kill harmful bacteria, such as gangrene-causing Clostridium perfringens . Many patients either died from the infection or underwent salvage amputations of gangrenous limbs.

Transport and treatment improvements

Three significant medical advances sprang from the experience of mass casualties in World War I:

• specialised anaesthetists

The methods of evacuating and treating wounded that evolved so quickly during World War I are the forerunners of the technologically advanced tools used in modern military medicine.

The Carrel-Dakin method to wash open wounds with a solution of sodium hypochlorite was a major breakthrough. It helped to prevent the spread of deadly bacteria.

Other major developments included:

• anaesthetic to reduce pain, such as nitrous oxide
• anti-coagulants to store blood in 'blood banks'

Medical treatment became more hygienic and less traumatic. Supplies of blood saved countless wounded men from bleeding to death.

Specialist anaesthetist posts were introduced to casualty clearing stations behind the lines by late 1917. This enabled specialist medical officers to help prevent shock during surgery by focusing on:

• blood transfusions
• pain relief
• resuscitation

The British Army trained 200 nurses in anaesthesia in late 1917. They were posted to the casualty clearing stations in 1918.

Post-war improvements

The terrible effects of modern weapons on the human body were addressed as the war went on.

Men who suffered tremendous disfigurements were helped with the development of:

• maxillofacial reconstructive surgery
• use of prostheses as facial masks and limb replacements

Common conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , were little understood at the time. The psychological impact of the war was called 'shell shock'. It was known that loud explosions, such as fireworks, could trigger a reaction in some returned service men and women.

Both Navy and merchant navy ships helped the Allies to win the war against Germany.

For the first 6 months of the war, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) fleet operated under one command. After that, its sailors and ships served with different squadrons around the world - as requested by the British Admiralty.

RAN ships and submarines worked with the Grand Fleet and other Allied navies to:

• search for enemy raiders over thousands of miles of ocean
• carry out anti-submarine warfare
• escort convoys of merchant ships carrying supplies and troops
• do long routine patrols, essential to the blockade of Germany and enemy ports
• experiment with the use of aircraft at sea
• sweep for mines in home waters

Australian ships could be found around the world during the war. From South Pacific outposts to the freezing North Atlantic Ocean, the waters off Africa, the Caribbean off Mexico’s west coast, navigating New Guinean rivers, patrolling the Mediterranean and in the waters surrounding Australia.

Ultimately, the British Grand Fleet, which included Australian ships, played a vital role in the defeat of Germany. Not by destroying the Imperial German Navy, but by preventing the German fleet from reaching open waters and making possible the Allied blockade of Germany.

The Allies’ ability to maintain a naval blockade of Germany crippled Germany’s imports and industry. It was a significant factor in the Allied victory.

Naval developments

More powerful battleships could carry the largest guns. The Dreadnought class of battleships gave both sides tremendous destructive capability.

• ammunition with greater firing range
• naval fire control systems in Dreadnought class battleships for added lethality
• steam turbines for a faster more agile battleship

Small torpedo boats were developed to attack and harass much larger naval and merchant navy vessels.

Merchant navy

Both sides used converted merchant vessels to attack or defend shipping.

German commerce raiders were converted civilian ships carrying disguised weapons. Their apparent vulnerability often lured enemy vessels towards them. Armed merchant cruisers were converted civilian ships equipped with guns.

The German raider, Möwe, sank 34 merchant ships. The German raider, Wolf, sank 12 ships and laid sea mines in the Indian and Pacific oceans and the Tasman Sea in 1917. The mines sank three ships in Australian and New Zealand waters.

The heaviest ships engaged in commerce raiding were German light cruisers. They attacked Allied shipping in the Atlantic, Caribbean, Pacific and Indian oceans. The SMS Emden sank Allied vessels before being sunk by HMAS Sydney

The British and French navies also used armed merchant vessels. The British 'Q' ships were used in anti-submarine warfare.

Submarines played a significant role during World War I.

The Allied and German navies used submarines against enemy warships from the outset of the war.

Australia’s submarines, AE1 and AE2, served the British Admiralty from the start of the war. AE1 tragically became the first Allied submarine los in the war. It disappeared with all 35 British and Australian crewmen on 14 September 1914.

Great feats of submariners' bravery were celebrated early in the war.

British Captain Norman Holbrook led the submarine B11 on a high-risk mission through the Dardanelles on 13 December 1914. After a tortuous passage through the narrow waterway, the crew sank the Turkish battleship, Mesudiye, and then escaped.

Australia’s AE2 also traversed the Dardanelles . The crew damaged an Ottoman gunboat before the submarine was attacked by a Turkish ship and scuttled on 30 April 1915. They were all taken prisoner.

Submarine warfare

Submarine warfare was almost polite at first. Submarine crews tried to obey the internationally agreed cruiser rules . For example, a German U-boat would surface and allow the crew to abandon a ship before it was sunk. But this operation was difficult and risky for submarines, and it was soon replaced with more aggressive tactics.

In 1915, the Germans declared unrestricted submarine warfare on Allied and neutral vessels. The policy aimed to isolate Britain and starve its people of resources.

The infamous sinking of the RMS Lusitania by Germany's U-20 was an example of this policy. An angry response from the United States made Germany stop the practice between September 1915 and February 1917.

In response to the Allied blockade of German sea ports, Germany escalated its submarine operations from 20 U-boats in 1914 to 140 by 1917 when the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare was resumed in full force.

Anti-submarine strategies

During the war, Allied forces initiated U-boat countermeasures, such as:

• warship escorts ordered for convoys of merchant ships
• heavily armed Q-ships disguised as merchant ships
• airborne reconnaissance to spot U-boats

The Royal Navy used heavily armed merchant ships called Q-ships to lure U-boats into making a surface attack. When the U-boat approached, the Q-ship would unleash its superior concealed guns. Deceitful tactics included staging an abandonment, with some crew visibly 'leaving' the ship in lifeboats.

The Allies also tried airborne reconnaissance to spot U-boats, with varying success. Spotters in airplanes or tethered balloons were used to this end.

Anti-submarine technology

The Allies developed other anti-submarine measures, including:

• depth charges
• detection equipment
• underwater barriers

Australian ships were at the forefront of early experiments to launch military planes at sea . The idea of operating aircraft from platforms on battle cruisers and light cruisers became reality.

On 1 June 1918, a Sopwith Camel scout (fighter) aircraft flown from the deck of HMAS Sydney intercepted two German reconnaissance aircraft. One was badly damaged and reportedly went into a tail spin.

Tanks and land vehicles

The tank was developed in response to the stalemate of trench warfare on the Western Front. German trenches seemed impenetrable to Allied infantry, with a combination of:

• barbed wire
• overlapping arcs of machine-gun fire and rifle fire from German infantry
• strong-points and concrete reinforced pillboxes on the Hindenburg Line
• rapid counter-attacks by fresh reinforcements

Attacking forces suffered horrendous casualties as soon as they left the protection of their own trenches. Even if an Allied assault met with early success, the costly gains were often held only fleetingly.

Tank design combined:

• all-terrain capability of the tank's caterpillar tracks
• armour to protect it from machine gun and rifle fire

In April 1917, the First Battle of Bullecourt left the Australian troops suspicious about the capability of tanks. But further developments made tanks a potent weapon for the Allies.

Tanks were used with success at:

• Battle of Arras in April and May 1917
• Battle of Hamel in July 1918
• Battle of Amiens in August 1918

Anti-tank tactics

Germany was the first to develop anti-tank warfare to combat the tanks being developed by Allies. On the battlefield, tanks were susceptible to:

• German artillery firing directly over their sights
• anti-tank ditches
• anti-tank 'traps'
• anti-tank rifles (Mauser 13mm)  
• fragmentation
• strong-point

Further reading

• Impact of aircraft in World War I
• Tanks and armoured vehicles
• Armoured cars at Aleppo
• Transport and supply during the First World War
• A fleet of taxis and the Battle of Marne
• The submarine war
• Anti-aircraft warfare
• Anti-submarine warfare
• Armoured vehicles
• Chemical warfare
• Communications
• Inventions and innovations
• Personal protective equipment
• Sound ranging techniques
• Technology and equipment
• World War I 1914-1918

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Weapons of World War I: Machine Guns, Mortars, and More

Humans proved themselves remarkably ingenuous and adaptable when it came to finding new ways to maim and kill during the First World War . The list below explores many of the weapons used to produce millions of casualties in four short years.

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All nations used more than one type of firearm during the First World War. The rifles most commonly used by the major combatants were, among the Allies, the Lee-Enfield .303 (Britain and Commonwealth), Lebel and Berthier 8mm (France), Mannlicher–Carcano M1891, 6.5mm (Italy), Mosin–Nagant M1891 7.62 (Russia), and Springfield 1903 .30–06 (USA). The Central Powers employed Steyr–Mannlicher M95 (Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria), Mauser M98G 7.92mm (Germany), and Mauser M1877 7.65mm (Turkey). The American Springfield used a bolt-action design that so closely copied Mauser’s M1989 that the US Government had to pay a licensing fee to Mauser, a practice that continued until America entered the war.

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WW1 Machine guns

Most machine guns of World War 1 were based on Hiram Maxim’s 1884 design. They had a sustained fire of 450–600 rounds per minute, allowing defenders to cut down attacking waves of enemy troops like a scythe cutting wheat. There was some speculation that the machine gun would completely replace the rifle. Contrary to popular belief, machine guns were not the most lethal weapon of the Great War. That dubious distinction goes to the artillery.

“Military science develops so rapidly in times of actual war that the weapons of today soon is (sic) discarded and something better taken up.” Attributed to a German agent in Rotterdam in 1915 news stories

WW1 Flamethrowers

Reports of infantry using some sort of flame-throwing device can be found as far back as ancient China. During America’s Civil War some Southern newspapers claimed Abraham Lincoln had observed a test of such a weapon. But the first recorded use of hand-held flamethrowers in combat was on February 26, 1915, when the Germans deployed the weapon at Malancourt, near Verdun. Tanks carried on a man’s back used nitrogen pressure to spray fuel oil, which was ignited as it left the muzzle of a small, hand-directed pipe. Over the course of the war, Germany utilized 3,000 Flammenwerfer troops; over 650 flamethrower attacks were made. The British and French both developed flame-throwing weapons but did not make such extensive use of them.

WW1 Mortars

Mortars of World War I were far advanced beyond their earlier counterparts. The British introduced the Stokes mortar design in 1915, which had no moving parts and could fire up to 22 three-inch shells per minute, with a range of 1,200 yards. The Germans developed a mortar ( minenwerfer , or “mine thrower”) that had a 10-inch barrel and fired shells loaded with metal balls.

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WW1 Artillery

The 20th century’s most significant leap in traditional weapons technology was the increased lethality of artillery due to improvements in gun design, range and ammunition ‚—a fact that was all too clear in the Great War, when artillery killed more people than any other weapon did. Some giant guns could hurl projectiles so far that crews had to take into account the rotation of the earth when plotting their fire. Among smaller field guns, the French 75mm cannon developed a reputation among their German opponents as the “Devil Gun.” French commanders claimed it won the war. French 75 mm field guns also saw action in the Second World War, during which some were modified by the Germans into anti-tank guns with limited success.

WW1 Poison gas

On April 22, 1915, German artillery fired cylinders containing chlorine gas in the Ypres area, the beginning of gas attacks in the First World War. Other nations raced to create their own battlefield gases, and both sides found ways to increase the severity and duration of the gases they fired on enemy troop concentrations. Chlorine gas attacked the eyes and respiratory system; mustard gas did the same but also caused blistering on any exposed skin. Comparatively few men died from gas. Most returned to active service after treatment, but the weapon incapacitated large numbers of troops temporarily and spread terror wherever it was used. The use of poison gas was outlawed by international law following the war, but it has been used in some later conflicts, such as the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88).

Ideas for “land battleships” go back at least as far as the Medieval Era; plans for one are included among the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. The long-sought weapon became reality during the First World War. “Tank” was the name the British used as they secretly developed the weapon, and it stuck, even though the French simultaneously developed the Renault FT light armored vehicle, which had a traversable turret, unlike the British designs. (Various reasons have been given for choosing the name “tank,” from shells that were shaped like water-carriers to the British concealing construction of their secret weapon under the guise of making irrigation tanks for sale to Russia.) The first British tank (“Little Willie”) weighed approximately 14 tons, had a top speed of three mph, and broke down frequently. Improved tanks were deployed during the war, but breakdowns remained a significant problem that led many commanders to believe the tank would never play a major role in warfare. The Germans developed an armored fighting vehicle only in response to the British and French deploying tanks. The only German design of the war, A7V, was an awe-inspiring but cumbersome beast that resembled a one-story building on treads.

Initially, tanks were doled out in small numbers to support infantry attacks. The Battle of Cambrai , November 20, 1917, is generally regarded as the first use of massed tank formations; the British deployed over 470 of them for that battle. However, the French had already successfully employed 76 tanks during the battle at Malmaison on October 23, 1917, one of the most impressive French victories of the Great War.

WW1 Aircraft

The air war of World War I continues to fascinate as much as it did at the time. This amazing new technology proved far more useful than most military and political leaders anticipated. Initially used only for reconnaissance, before long planes were armed with machine guns. Once Anthony Fokker developed a method to synchronize a machine gun’s fire with the rotation of the propeller, the airplane became a true weapon.

Early aircraft were flimsy, kite-like designs of lightweight wood, fabric and wires. The 80–120 horsepower engines used in 1914 produced top speeds of 100 mph or less; four years later speed had nearly doubled. Protection for pilots remained elusive, but most pilots disdained carrying parachutes regardless. Over the course of the war multi-engine bombers were developed, the largest being Germany’s “Giant,” the Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI , with a wingspan of 138 feet and four engines. It had a range of about 500 miles and a bomb-load capacity of 4,400 lbs., although in long-range operations, such as bombing London, Giants carried only about half that much.

WW1 Submarines

Britain, France, Russia and the United States of America had all developed submarine forces before Germany began development of its Unterzeeboats (Undersea boats, or U-boats) in 1906, but during World War I submarines came to be particularly associated with the Imperial German Navy, which used them to try to bridge the gap in naval strength it suffered compared to Britain’s Royal Navy. Longer-range U-boats were developed and torpedo quality improved during the war. Submarines could strike unseen from beneath the waves with torpedoes but also surfaced to use their deck gun. One tactic was for the low-riding subs to slip in among a convoy of ships while surfaced, attack and dive. An unsuccessful post-war effort was made to ban submarine warfare, as was done with poison gas.

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World War I

By: History.com Editors

Updated: May 10, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

World War I, also known as the Great War, started in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. During the four-year conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Canada, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). Thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers had won, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Tensions had been brewing throughout Europe—especially in the troubled Balkan region of southeast Europe—for years before World War I actually broke out.

A number of alliances involving European powers, the Ottoman Empire , Russia and other parties had existed for years, but political instability in the Balkans (particularly Bosnia, Serbia and Herzegovina) threatened to destroy these agreements.

The spark that ignited World War I was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand —heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire—was shot to death along with his wife, Sophie, by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Princip and other nationalists were struggling to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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The assassination of Franz Ferdinand set off a rapidly escalating chain of events: Austria-Hungary , like many countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the question of Serbian nationalism once and for all.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Because mighty Russia supported Serbia, Austria-Hungary waited to declare war until its leaders received assurance from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause. Austro-Hungarian leaders feared that a Russian intervention would involve Russia’s ally, France, and possibly Great Britain as well.

On July 5, Kaiser Wilhelm secretly pledged his support, giving Austria-Hungary a so-called carte blanche, or “blank check” assurance of Germany’s backing in the case of war. The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary then sent an ultimatum to Serbia, with such harsh terms as to make it almost impossible to accept.

World War I Begins

Convinced that Austria-Hungary was readying for war, the Serbian government ordered the Serbian army to mobilize and appealed to Russia for assistance. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers quickly collapsed.

Within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I had begun.

The Western Front

According to an aggressive military strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan (named for its mastermind, German Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen ), Germany began fighting World War I on two fronts, invading France through neutral Belgium in the west and confronting Russia in the east.

On August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the border into Belgium. In the first battle of World War I, the Germans assaulted the heavily fortified city of Liege , using the most powerful weapons in their arsenal—enormous siege cannons—to capture the city by August 15. The Germans left death and destruction in their wake as they advanced through Belgium toward France, shooting civilians and executing a Belgian priest they had accused of inciting civilian resistance. 

First Battle of the Marne

In the First Battle of the Marne , fought from September 6-9, 1914, French and British forces confronted the invading German army, which had by then penetrated deep into northeastern France, within 30 miles of Paris. The Allied troops checked the German advance and mounted a successful counterattack, driving the Germans back to the north of the Aisne River.

The defeat meant the end of German plans for a quick victory in France. Both sides dug into trenches , and the Western Front was the setting for a hellish war of attrition that would last more than three years.

Particularly long and costly battles in this campaign were fought at Verdun (February-December 1916) and the Battle of the Somme (July-November 1916). German and French troops suffered close to a million casualties in the Battle of Verdun alone.

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World War I Books and Art

The bloodshed on the battlefields of the Western Front, and the difficulties its soldiers had for years after the fighting had ended, inspired such works of art as “ All Quiet on the Western Front ” by Erich Maria Remarque and “ In Flanders Fields ” by Canadian doctor Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae . In the latter poem, McCrae writes from the perspective of the fallen soldiers:

Published in 1915, the poem inspired the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance.

Visual artists like Otto Dix of Germany and British painters Wyndham Lewis, Paul Nash and David Bomberg used their firsthand experience as soldiers in World War I to create their art, capturing the anguish of trench warfare and exploring the themes of technology, violence and landscapes decimated by war.

The Eastern Front

On the Eastern Front of World War I, Russian forces invaded the German-held regions of East Prussia and Poland but were stopped short by German and Austrian forces at the Battle of Tannenberg in late August 1914.

Despite that victory, Russia’s assault forced Germany to move two corps from the Western Front to the Eastern, contributing to the German loss in the Battle of the Marne.

Combined with the fierce Allied resistance in France, the ability of Russia’s huge war machine to mobilize relatively quickly in the east ensured a longer, more grueling conflict instead of the quick victory Germany had hoped to win under the Schlieffen Plan .

Russian Revolution

From 1914 to 1916, Russia’s army mounted several offensives on World War I’s Eastern Front but was unable to break through German lines.

Defeat on the battlefield, combined with economic instability and the scarcity of food and other essentials, led to mounting discontent among the bulk of Russia’s population, especially the poverty-stricken workers and peasants. This increased hostility was directed toward the imperial regime of Czar Nicholas II and his unpopular German-born wife, Alexandra.

Russia’s simmering instability exploded in the Russian Revolution of 1917, spearheaded by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks , which ended czarist rule and brought a halt to Russian participation in World War I.

Russia reached an armistice with the Central Powers in early December 1917, freeing German troops to face the remaining Allies on the Western Front.

America Enters World War I

At the outbreak of fighting in 1914, the United States remained on the sidelines of World War I, adopting the policy of neutrality favored by President Woodrow Wilson while continuing to engage in commerce and shipping with European countries on both sides of the conflict.

Neutrality, however, it was increasingly difficult to maintain in the face of Germany’s unchecked submarine aggression against neutral ships, including those carrying passengers. In 1915, Germany declared the waters surrounding the British Isles to be a war zone, and German U-boats sunk several commercial and passenger vessels, including some U.S. ships.

Widespread protest over the sinking by U-boat of the British ocean liner Lusitania —traveling from New York to Liverpool, England with hundreds of American passengers onboard—in May 1915 helped turn the tide of American public opinion against Germany. In February 1917, Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war.

Germany sunk four more U.S. merchant ships the following month, and on April 2 Woodrow Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany.

Gallipoli Campaign

With World War I having effectively settled into a stalemate in Europe, the Allies attempted to score a victory against the Ottoman Empire, which entered the conflict on the side of the Central Powers in late 1914.

After a failed attack on the Dardanelles (the strait linking the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea), Allied forces led by Britain launched a large-scale land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915. The invasion also proved a dismal failure, and in January 1916 Allied forces staged a full retreat from the shores of the peninsula after suffering 250,000 casualties.

Did you know? The young Winston Churchill, then first lord of the British Admiralty, resigned his command after the failed Gallipoli campaign in 1916, accepting a commission with an infantry battalion in France.

British-led forces also combated the Ottoman Turks in Egypt and Mesopotamia , while in northern Italy, Austrian and Italian troops faced off in a series of 12 battles along the Isonzo River, located at the border between the two nations.

Battle of the Isonzo

The First Battle of the Isonzo took place in the late spring of 1915, soon after Italy’s entrance into the war on the Allied side. In the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto (October 1917), German reinforcements helped Austria-Hungary win a decisive victory.

After Caporetto, Italy’s allies jumped in to offer increased assistance. British and French—and later, American—troops arrived in the region, and the Allies began to take back the Italian Front.

World War I at Sea

In the years before World War I, the superiority of Britain’s Royal Navy was unchallenged by any other nation’s fleet, but the Imperial German Navy had made substantial strides in closing the gap between the two naval powers. Germany’s strength on the high seas was also aided by its lethal fleet of U-boat submarines.

After the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, in which the British mounted a surprise attack on German ships in the North Sea, the German navy chose not to confront Britain’s mighty Royal Navy in a major battle for more than a year, preferring to rest the bulk of its naval strategy on its U-boats.

The biggest naval engagement of World War I, the Battle of Jutland (May 1916) left British naval superiority on the North Sea intact, and Germany would make no further attempts to break an Allied naval blockade for the remainder of the war.

World War I Planes

World War I was the first major conflict to harness the power of planes. Though not as impactful as the British Royal Navy or Germany’s U-boats, the use of planes in World War I presaged their later, pivotal role in military conflicts around the globe.

At the dawn of World War I, aviation was a relatively new field; the Wright brothers took their first sustained flight just eleven years before, in 1903. Aircraft were initially used primarily for reconnaissance missions. During the First Battle of the Marne, information passed from pilots allowed the allies to exploit weak spots in the German lines, helping the Allies to push Germany out of France.

The first machine guns were successfully mounted on planes in June of 1912 in the United States, but were imperfect; if timed incorrectly, a bullet could easily destroy the propeller of the plane it came from. The Morane-Saulnier L, a French plane, provided a solution: The propeller was armored with deflector wedges that prevented bullets from hitting it. The Morane-Saulnier Type L was used by the French, the British Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army), the British Royal Navy Air Service and the Imperial Russian Air Service. The British Bristol Type 22 was another popular model used for both reconnaissance work and as a fighter plane.

Dutch inventor Anthony Fokker improved upon the French deflector system in 1915. His “interrupter” synchronized the firing of the guns with the plane’s propeller to avoid collisions. Though his most popular plane during WWI was the single-seat Fokker Eindecker, Fokker created over 40 kinds of airplanes for the Germans.

The Allies debuted the Handley-Page HP O/400, the first two-engine bomber, in 1915. As aerial technology progressed, long-range heavy bombers like Germany’s Gotha G.V. (first introduced in 1917) were used to strike cities like London. Their speed and maneuverability proved to be far deadlier than Germany’s earlier Zeppelin raids.

By the war’s end, the Allies were producing five times more aircraft than the Germans. On April 1, 1918, the British created the Royal Air Force, or RAF, the first air force to be a separate military branch independent from the navy or army. 

Second Battle of the Marne

With Germany able to build up its strength on the Western Front after the armistice with Russia, Allied troops struggled to hold off another German offensive until promised reinforcements from the United States were able to arrive.

On July 15, 1918, German troops launched what would become the last German offensive of the war, attacking French forces (joined by 85,000 American troops as well as some of the British Expeditionary Force) in the Second Battle of the Marne . The Allies successfully pushed back the German offensive and launched their own counteroffensive just three days later.

After suffering massive casualties, Germany was forced to call off a planned offensive further north, in the Flanders region stretching between France and Belgium, which was envisioned as Germany’s best hope of victory.

The Second Battle of the Marne turned the tide of war decisively towards the Allies, who were able to regain much of France and Belgium in the months that followed.

The Harlem Hellfighters and Other All-Black Regiments

By the time World War I began, there were four all-Black regiments in the U.S. military: the 24th and 25th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry. All four regiments comprised of celebrated soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War and American-Indian Wars , and served in the American territories. But they were not deployed for overseas combat in World War I. 

Blacks serving alongside white soldiers on the front lines in Europe was inconceivable to the U.S. military. Instead, the first African American troops sent overseas served in segregated labor battalions, restricted to menial roles in the Army and Navy, and shutout of the Marines, entirely. Their duties mostly included unloading ships, transporting materials from train depots, bases and ports, digging trenches, cooking and maintenance, removing barbed wire and inoperable equipment, and burying soldiers.

Facing criticism from the Black community and civil rights organizations for its quotas and treatment of African American soldiers in the war effort, the military formed two Black combat units in 1917, the 92nd and 93rd Divisions . Trained separately and inadequately in the United States, the divisions fared differently in the war. The 92nd faced criticism for their performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign in September 1918. The 93rd Division, however, had more success. 

With dwindling armies, France asked America for reinforcements, and General John Pershing , commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, sent regiments in the 93 Division to over, since France had experience fighting alongside Black soldiers from their Senegalese French Colonial army. The 93 Division’s 369 regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters , fought so gallantly, with a total of 191 days on the front lines, longer than any AEF regiment, that France awarded them the Croix de Guerre for their heroism. More than 350,000 African American soldiers would serve in World War I in various capacities.

Toward Armistice

By the fall of 1918, the Central Powers were unraveling on all fronts.

Despite the Turkish victory at Gallipoli, later defeats by invading forces and an Arab revolt that destroyed the Ottoman economy and devastated its land, and the Turks signed a treaty with the Allies in late October 1918.

Austria-Hungary, dissolving from within due to growing nationalist movements among its diverse population, reached an armistice on November 4. Facing dwindling resources on the battlefield, discontent on the homefront and the surrender of its allies, Germany was finally forced to seek an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending World War I.

Treaty of Versailles

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Allied leaders stated their desire to build a post-war world that would safeguard itself against future conflicts of such a devastating scale.

Some hopeful participants had even begun calling World War I “the War to End All Wars.” But the Treaty of Versailles , signed on June 28, 1919, would not achieve that lofty goal.

Saddled with war guilt, heavy reparations and denied entrance into the League of Nations , Germany felt tricked into signing the treaty, having believed any peace would be a “peace without victory,” as put forward by President Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points speech of January 1918.

As the years passed, hatred of the Versailles treaty and its authors settled into a smoldering resentment in Germany that would, two decades later, be counted among the causes of World War II .

World War I Casualties

World War I took the lives of more than 9 million soldiers; 21 million more were wounded. Civilian casualties numbered close to 10 million. The two nations most affected were Germany and France, each of which sent some 80 percent of their male populations between the ages of 15 and 49 into battle.

The political disruption surrounding World War I also contributed to the fall of four venerable imperial dynasties: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Turkey.

Legacy of World War I

World War I brought about massive social upheaval, as millions of women entered the workforce to replace men who went to war and those who never came back. The first global war also helped to spread one of the world’s deadliest global pandemics, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people.

World War I has also been referred to as “the first modern war.” Many of the technologies now associated with military conflict—machine guns, tanks , aerial combat and radio communications—were introduced on a massive scale during World War I.

The severe effects that chemical weapons such as mustard gas and phosgene had on soldiers and civilians during World War I galvanized public and military attitudes against their continued use. The Geneva Convention agreements, signed in 1925, restricted the use of chemical and biological agents in warfare and remain in effect today.

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Primary Sources & Teaching Activities for World War I

You can find primary sources and online teaching activities for World War I on our DocsTeach World War I page .

Find primary sources for topics such as:

• New weapons like airplanes , trench warfare , machine guns , submarines , and tanks
• Women in WWI
• WWI Posters
• The Homefront
• Espionage, sedition, and spying
• Armistice, the Treaty of Versailles, and the end of the war
• The Harlem Hellfighters
• The 1918 Flu Pandemic

See WWI draft cards for personalities like Babe Ruth, Al Capone, Charles Hamilton Houston, and Ty Cobb. Students can use Babe Ruth’s Draft Card to identify differences between WWI America and today in the activity WWI America: Babe Ruth’s Draft Card .

Check out World War I posters to discuss propaganda techniques, food conservation, liberty loans, victory gardens, and recruiting with your students. You can also access poster-based teaching activities .

Students can practice “Decoding an Intercepted Message” in the activity The Zimmermann Telegram to learn about this important document and turning point in the war. They analyze the telegram and make an assessment about whether the United States should have entered WWI based on the telegram’s information and implications.

Other teaching activities on the DocsTeach World War I page include:

• Americans on the Homefront Helped Win World War I
• New Technology in World War I
• Comparing WWI Food Conservation Posters
• Artists Document World War I
• WWI Propaganda and Art
• Baseball on the World War I Homefront
• Baseball: A Morale Booster During Wartime?

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World War I Changed America and Transformed Its Role in International Relations

So why don't we pay more attention to it.

—Library of Congress

The entry of the United States into World War I changed the course of the war, and the war, in turn, changed America. Yet World War I receives short shrift in the American consciousness. 

Recruiting poster for the U.S. Army by Herbert Paus.

Detail of a recruiting poster for YWCA by Ernest Hamlin Baker.

The American Expeditionary Forces arrived in Europe in 1917 and helped turn the tide in favor of Britain and France, leading to an Allied victory over Germany and Austria in November 1918. By the time of the armistice, more than four million Americans had served in the armed forces and 116,708 had lost their lives. The war shaped the writings of Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos. It helped forge the military careers of Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and George C. Marshall. On the home front, millions of women went to work, replacing the men who had shipped off to war, while others knitted socks and made bandages. For African-American soldiers, the war opened up a world not bound by America’s formal and informal racial codes. 

And we are still grappling with one of the major legacies of World War I: the debate over America’s role in the world. For three years, the United States walked the tightrope of neutrality as President Woodrow Wilson opted to keep the country out of the bloodbath consuming Europe. Even as Germany’s campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic put American sailors and ships in jeopardy, the United States remained aloof. But after the Zimmermann telegram revealed Germany’s plans to recruit Mexico to attack the United States if it did not remain neutral, Americans were ready to fight. 

In April 1917, President Wilson stood before Congress and said, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” With those words, he asked for a declaration of war, which Congress gave with gusto. For the first time in its history, the United States joined a coalition to fight a war not on its own soil or of its own making, setting a precedent that would be invoked repeatedly over the next century. 

“For most Americans, going to war in 1917 was about removing the German threat to the U.S. homeland,” says Michael S. Neiberg, professor of history at the U.S. Army War College. “But after the war, Wilson developed a much more expansive vision to redeem the sin of war through the founding of a new world order, which created controversy and bitterness in the United States.”

The burden of sending men off to die weighed on Wilson’s conscience. It was one reason why he proposed the creation of the League of Nations, an international body based on collective security. But joining the League required the United States to sacrifice a measure of sovereignty. When judged against the butcher’s bill of this war, Wilson thought it was a small price to pay. Others, like Wilson’s longtime nemesis Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, believed that the United States should be free to pursue its own interests and not be beholden to an international body. America hadn’t fought a war only to relinquish its newfound stature as a military power. 

As soldiers returned home and the victory parades faded, the fight over the League of Nations turned bitter. The sense of accomplishment quickly evaporated. “Then came the Depression (a direct result of the war) and another global crisis,” says Neiberg. “All of that made memory of World War I a difficult thing for Americans to engage with after about 1930.” 

Even as the world has changed, the positions staked out by Wilson and Lodge have not evolved much over the past one hundred years. When new storm clouds gathered in Europe during the 1930s, Lodge’s argument was repurposed by isolationists as “America First,” a phrase that has come back into vogue as yet another example of the war’s enduring influence. “The war touched everything around the globe. Our entire world was shaped by it, even if we do not always make the connections,” Neiberg says. 

Historian and writer A. Scott Berg emphatically agrees. “I think World War I is the most underrecognized significant event of the last several centuries. The stories from this global drama—and its larger-than-life characters—are truly the stuff of Greek tragedy and are of Biblical  proportion; and modern America’s very identity was forged during this war.”

A biographer of Wilson and Charles Lindbergh, Berg has now cast his eye as an editor across the rich corpus of contemporaneous writing to produce  World War I and America , a nearly one-thousand-page book of letters, speeches, diary entries, newspaper reports, and personal accounts. This new volume from Library of America starts with the  New York Times  story of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in July 1914 and concludes with an excerpt from John Dos Passos’s novel  1919 . In between, the voices of soldiers, politicians, nurses, diplomats, journalists, suffragettes, and intellectuals ask questions that are still with us. 

“What is America’s role in the world? Are our claims to moral leadership abroad undercut by racial injustice at home? What do we owe those who serve in our wars?” asks Max Rudin, Library of America’s publisher. With 2017 marking the one-hundredth anniversary of America's entry into the war, the moment seemed ripe to revisit a conflict whose ghosts still haunt the nation. “It offered an opportunity to raise awareness about a generation of American writers that cries out to be better known,” says Rudin. 

The volume shows off familiar names in surprising places. Nellie Bly and Edith Wharton report from the front lines. Henry Morgenthau Sr., the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, files increasingly terrifying reports on the Armenian genocide. As Teddy Roosevelt leads the fight for American intervention, Jane Addams and Emma Goldman question the aims of the war. Writing from Italy, Ernest Hemingway complains to his family about being wounded. While Wilson and Lodge fight over American sovereignty, Ezra Pound expresses his disillusionment and grief in verse. 

We also meet Floyd Gibbons, a  Chicago Tribune  crime reporter. Before the war he covered plenty of shootings, but “I could never learn from the victims what the precise feeling was as the piece of lead struck.” He found out in June 1918 at Belleau Wood when a German bullet found him—“the lighted end of a cigarette touched me in the fleshy part of my upper left arm.” A second bullet also found his shoulder, spawning a large burning sensation. “And then the third one struck me. . . . It sounded to me like some one had dropped a glass bottle into a porcelain bathtub. A barrel of whitewash tipped over and it seemed that everything in the world turned white.” The third bullet had found his left eye. 

Stepping into an operating theater with Mary Borden, the Chicago heiress who established hospitals in France and Belgium, the smell of blood and death almost leaps off the page. “We send our men up the broken road between bushes of barbed wire and they come back to us, one by one, two by two in ambulances, lying on stretchers. They lie on their backs on the stretchers and are pulled out of the ambulances as loaves of bread are pulled out of the oven.” As a wounded soldier is laid out, “we conspire against his right to die. We experiment with his bones, his muscles, his sinews, his blood. We dig into the yawning mouths of his wounds. Helpless openings, they let us into the secret places of his body.”

When the American Expeditionary Forces shipped off to Europe, so too did approximately 16,500 women. They worked as clerks, telephone operators, and nurses; they also ran canteens that served meals to soldiers and offered a respite from battle. “These women often had complex motivations, such as a desire for adventure or professional advancement, and often witnessed more carnage than male soldiers, creating unacknowledged problems with PTSD when they returned home,” says Jennifer Keene, professor of history at Chapman University.

Of course, most women experienced the war stateside, where they tended victory gardens and worked to produce healthy meals from meager rations. They volunteered for the Red Cross and participated in Liberty Loan drives. As Willa Cather learned when she decamped from New York to Red Cloud, Nebraska, in the summer of 1918, the war could be consuming. “In New York the war was one of many subjects people talked about; but in Omaha, Lincoln, in my own town, and the other towns along the Republican Valley, and over in the north of Kansas, there was nothing but the war.” 

In the Library of America volume, W. E. B. Du Bois, who, in the wake of Booker T. Washington’s death, assumed the mantle of spokesman for the black community, provides another take. From the beginning, Du Bois saw the war as grounded in the colonial rivalries and aspirations of the European belligerents. 

Chad Williams, associate professor of African and Afro-American Studies at Brandeis University, says Du Bois was ahead of his time. “His writings also vividly illuminated the tensions between the professed democratic aims of the Allies—and the United States in particular—and the harsh realities of white supremacy, domestically and globally, for black people. Du Bois hoped that by supporting the American war effort and encouraging African-American patriotism, this tension could be reconciled. He was ultimately—and tragically—wrong.” 

Along with Du Bois’s commentary, there are reports on the race riots in East St. Louis and Houston in 1917. Such incidents prompted James Weldon Johnson to cast aside sentimentality and answer the question, “Why should a Negro fight?”

“America is the American Negro’s country,” he wrote. “He has been here three hundred years; that is, about two hundred years longer than most of the white people.” 

The U.S. Army shunted African-American soldiers into segregated units and issued them shovels more often than rifles. Some, however, fought alongside the French as equals, prompting questions about their treatment by their own country. African-American soldiers came home as citizens of the world with questions about their place in American society. “Understanding how the war impacted black people and the importance of this legacy is endlessly fascinating and, given our current times, extremely relevant,” says Williams.

To accompany its World War I volume, Library of America has launched a nationwide program, featuring scholars, to foster discussion about the war and its legacy. One hundred twenty organizations, from libraries to historical societies, are hosting events that involve veterans, their families, and their communities.

“There are veterans of recent conflicts in every community in America for whom the experiences and issues raised by World War I are very immediate,” says Rudin. “We all have something to learn from that.”

“Every war is distinct, and yet every war has almost eerie commonalities with wars past,” says Phil Klay, author of  Redeployment , a collection of short stories about his service in Iraq that won the National Book Award. “I don’t think veterans have a unique authority in these discussions, but our personal experiences do inevitably infuse our reading. In my case, I find myself relentlessly drawn to pull lessons for the future from these readings, as the moral stakes of war have a visceral feel for me.” 

For community programs, Library of America developed a slimmer version of its volume, World War I and America, while adding introductory essays and discussion questions. Keene, Neiberg, and Williams, along with Edward Lengel, served as editors. “There is truly not one part of the nation that was untouched by the war,” says Williams. “This project has the potential to remind people of its far-reaching significance and perhaps uncover new stories about the American experience in the war that we have not yet heard.”

Berg echoes the sentiment. “I hope audiences will appreciate the presence of World War I in our lives today—whether it is our economy, race relations, women’s rights, xenophobia, free speech, or the foundation of American foreign policy for the last one hundred years: They all have their roots in World War I.”

Meredith Hindley is a senior writer for Humanities .

Funding information

Library of America received $500,000  from NEH for nationwide library programs, a traveling exhibition, a website, and a publication of an anthology exploring how World War I reshaped American lives. For more information about the project, visit ww1america.org

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World War One Technology and Weapons Project

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World War 1 Technology

How do you think this technology change the war experience for combatants?

They have to worry about aerial attacks from war planes, and potential bombings.

It made powerful cannons portable, and long range.

More damage on naval battles,

Flamethrower

It caused a lot more destruction because they fire spreads and can become uncontrollable. 

Machine Gun

Less reload time, and higher fire rate. Made the people adapt by making trenches.

It made people wear masks, also made your lungs fill with fluids and made you feel like you are drowning.

It made attacks more of a suprise and unexpected. Torpedoes were a threat to battle ships.

Weapons in Space : Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative

Aaron Bateman is Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs at George Washington University and a member of the Space Policy Institute. He has published widely on intelligence, transatlantic relations, and the military use of space during the Cold War and beyond. Prior to academia, he served as a US Air Force intelligence officer.

A new and provocative take on the formerly classified history of accelerating superpower military competition in space in the late Cold War and beyond.

In March 1983, President Ronald Reagan shocked the world when he established the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively known as “Star Wars,” a space-based missile defense program that aimed to protect the US from nuclear attack. In Weapons in Space , Aaron Bateman draws from recently declassified American, European, and Soviet documents to give an insightful account of SDI, situating it within a new phase in the militarization of space after the superpower détente fell apart in the 1970s. In doing so, Bateman reveals the largely secret role of military space technologies in late–Cold War US defense strategy and foreign relations.

In contrast to existing narratives, Weapons in Space shows how tension over the role of military space technologies in American statecraft was a central source of SDI's controversy, even more so than questions of technical feasibility. By detailing the participation of Western European countries in SDI research and development, Bateman reframes space militarization in the 1970s and 1980s as an international phenomenon. He further reveals that even though SDI did not come to fruition, it obstructed diplomatic efforts to create new arms control limits in space. Consequently, Weapons in Space carries the legacy of SDI into the post–Cold War era and shows how this controversial program continues to shape the global discourse about instability in space—and the growing anxieties about a twenty-first-century space arms race.

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Weapons in Space : Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative By: Aaron Bateman https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15169.001.0001 ISBN (electronic): 9780262377386 Publisher: The MIT Press Published: 2024

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• [ Front Matter ] Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15169.003.0001 Open the PDF Link PDF for [ Front Matter ] in another window
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• The “Other Night Sky” Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15169.003.0004 Open the PDF Link PDF for The “Other Night Sky” in another window
• 1: The Rise and Fall of Détente on Earth and in Space Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15169.003.0005 Open the PDF Link PDF for 1: The Rise and Fall of Détente on Earth and in Space in another window
• 2: Campaign for the High Ground Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15169.003.0006 Open the PDF Link PDF for 2: Campaign for the High Ground in another window
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• SDI Reconsidered Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15169.003.0011 Open the PDF Link PDF for SDI Reconsidered in another window
• A Sense of Déjà Vu Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15169.003.0012 Open the PDF Link PDF for A Sense of Déjà Vu in another window
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Here’s the defense tech at the center of US aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan

This is what the priorities in the $95 billion spending package tell us about four military technologies and the way they’re reshaping how war is fought.

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MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex , messy world of technology to help you understand what's coming next.  You can read more from the series here.

After weeks of drawn-out congressional debate over how much the United States should spend on conflicts abroad, President Joe Biden signed a $95.3 billion aid package into law on Wednesday.

The bill will send a significant quantity of supplies to Ukraine and Israel, while also supporting Taiwan with submarine technology to aid its defenses against China. It’s also sparked renewed calls for stronger crackdowns on Iranian-produced drones. 

Though much of the money will go toward replenishing fairly standard munitions and supplies, the spending bill provides a window into US strategies around four key defense technologies that continue to reshape how today’s major conflicts are being fought.

For a closer look at the military technology at the center of the aid package, I spoke with Andrew Metrick, a fellow with the defense program at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank.

Ukraine and the role of long-range missiles

Ukraine has long sought the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), a long-range ballistic missile made by Lockheed Martin. First debuted in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq in 1990, it’s 13 feet high, two feet wide, and over 3,600 pounds. It can use GPS to accurately hit targets 190 miles away. 

Last year, President Biden was apprehensive about sending such missiles to Ukraine, as US stockpiles of the weapons were relatively low. In October, the administration changed tack. The US sent shipments of ATACMS, a move celebrated by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, but they came with restrictions: the missiles were older models with a shorter range, and Ukraine was instructed not to fire them into Russian territory, only Ukrainian territory. 

This week, just hours before the new aid package was signed, multiple news outlets reported that the US had secretly sent more powerful long-range ATACMS to Ukraine several weeks before. They were used on Tuesday, April 23, to target a Russian airfield in Crimea and Russian troops in Berdiansk, 50 miles southwest of Mariupol.

The long range of the weapons has proved essential for Ukraine, says Metrick. “It allows the Ukrainians to strike Russian targets at ranges for which they have very few other options,” he says. That means being able to hit locations like supply depots, command centers, and airfields behind Russia’s front lines in Ukraine. This capacity has grown more important as Ukraine’s troop numbers have waned, Metrick says.

Replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome

On April 13, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israeli soil. In the attack, which Iran says was retaliation for Israel’s airstrike on its embassy in Syria, hundreds of missiles were lobbed into Israeli airspace. Many of them were neutralized by the web of cutting-edge missile launchers dispersed throughout Israel that can automatically detonate incoming strikes before they hit land. 

One of those systems is Israel’s Iron Dome, in which radar systems detect projectiles and then signal units to launch defensive missiles that detonate the target high in the sky before it strikes populated areas. Israel’s other system, called David’s Sling, works a similar way but can identify rockets coming from a greater distance, upwards of 180 miles. 

Both systems are hugely costly to research and build, and the new US aid package allocates $15 billion to replenish their missile stockpile. The missiles can cost anywhere from $100,000 to $10 million each, and a system like Iron Dome might fire them daily during intense periods of conflict. 

The aid comes as funding for Israel has grown more contentious amid the dire conditions faced by displaced Palestinians in Gaza. While the spending bill worked its way through Congress, increasing numbers of Democrats sought to put conditions on the military aid to Israel, particularly after an Israeli air strike on April 1 killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen, an international food charity. The funding package does provide $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for the conflict, but the efforts to impose conditions for Israeli military aid failed. 

Taiwan and underwater defenses against China

A rising concern for the US defense community—and a subject of “wargaming” simulations that Metrick has carried out—is an amphibious invasion of Taiwan from China. The rising risk of that scenario has driven the US to build and deploy larger numbers of advanced submarines, Metrick says. A bigger fleet of these submarines would be more likely to keep attacks from China at bay, thereby protecting Taiwan.

The trouble is that the US shipbuilding effort, experts say, is too slow. It’s been hampered by budget cuts and labor shortages, but the new aid bill aims to jump-start it. It will provide $3.3 billion to do so, specifically for the production of Columbia-class submarines, which carry nuclear weapons, and Virginia-class submarines, which carry conventional weapons. 

Though these funds aim to support Taiwan by building up the US supply of submarines, the package also includes more direct support, like $2 billion to help it purchase weapons and defense equipment from the US. 

The US’s Iranian drone problem 

Shahed drones are used almost daily on the Russia-Ukraine battlefield, and Iran launched more than 100 against Israel earlier this month. Produced by Iran and resembling model planes, the drones are fast, cheap, and lightweight, capable of being launched from the back of a pickup truck. They’re used frequently for potent one-way attacks, where they detonate upon reaching their target. US experts say the technology is tipping the scales toward Russian and Iranian military groups and their allies. 

The trouble of combating them is partly one of cost. Shooting down the drones, which can be bought for as little as $40,000, can cost millions in ammunition.

“Shooting down Shaheds with an expensive missile is not, in the long term, a winning proposition,” Metrick says. “That’s what the Iranians, I think, are banking on. They can wear people down.”

This week’s aid package renewed White House calls for stronger sanctions aimed at curbing production of the drones. The United Nations previously passed rules restricting any drone-related material from entering or leaving Iran, but those expired in October. The US now wants them reinstated. 

Even if that happens, it’s unlikely the rules would do much to contain the Shahed’s dominance. The components of the drones are not all that complex or hard to obtain to begin with, but experts also say that Iran has built a sprawling global supply chain to acquire the materials needed to manufacture them and has worked with Russia to build factories. 

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U.S. Military Puts Ambitious Amphibious MC-130J Project on Hold Amid Fiscal Pressures

Posted: May 10, 2024 | Last updated: May 10, 2024

Amid tight budgets and shifting priorities, a groundbreaking project that sought to transform the MC-130J Commando II into an amphibious aircraft capable of water landings has been put on hold.

The initiative, a focus of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), has faced a pause despite substantial progress in feasibility studies and technology evaluations, demonstrating the challenges of innovating military capabilities in an era of fiscal restraint.

The pause was announced at the SOF Week Conference in Tampa, where Col. T. Justin Bronder, SOCOM's program executive officer for fixed-wing programs, outlined the extensive research and testing that had gone into the project.

The technical deep dive encompassed hydrostatic and wind tunnel testing, creating a data-driven model to understand the operational requirements of equipping the MC-130J for water landings.

However, budget projections and cost-effectiveness considerations have led officials to reconsider the timing for implementing this amphibious capability.

"But looking at kind of the budget projections and some of the actual cost effectiveness of that particular kind of integration effort," officials are now "kind of hitting a pause," Col. Bronder explained.

Despite the setback, he emphasized that the capability remains within reach, "it certainly is a capability we could field if called upon."

This initiative has been closely watched for years, with the concept's first graphical renders unveiled in 2021, showing the aircraft fitted with massive pontoons for water-based operations.

The ambition was to offer SOCOM and the Joint Force unparalleled flexibility in mobility and tactical options, especially in the Pacific where traditional runways are less accessible, and to counter potential adversaries like China. The AFSOC's Public Affairs reflected on this as an "important initiative," yet one that must overcome fiscal challenges to reach operational capability.

While the amphibious C-130 project remains in limbo, SOCOM is not standing still. It is working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the High-Speed Vertical Takeoff and Landing (HSVTOL) initiative, aiming to field a platform that can achieve speeds over 400 knots.

As Col. Bronder stated, "We’re kind of pathfinding around a SOF [special operations forces] use case, because we think it’s very relevant to where the Air Force needs to go with congested logistics." The collaboration with DARPA looks forward to a prototype flight test later this decade, indicating a proactive approach to future aviation capabilities.

It is noteworthy that the amphibious C-130 is not a novel idea; previous explorations into such a platform have occurred. But, as geopolitical and fiscal landscapes change, the balance between pursuing cutting-edge military innovation and managing limited resources continues to be a delicate dance for the Department of Defense.

While SOCOM's amphibious aircraft may not be soaring over water just yet, the pursuit of such pioneering technology reflects an ongoing commitment to maintaining the U.S. military's tactical edge in a complex and unpredictable global stage.

As military tech and politics enthusiasts keenly await developments, the narrative of this project serves as a case study in the interplay between ambition, practicality, and fiscal reality in the realm of defense innovations.

The future of the amphibious MC-130J, as with many defense projects, may hinge on shifting priorities and the ever-present demand for budgetary justification. The story of the MC-130J amphibious project may be paused, but it is far from over.

Relevant articles: - SOCOM tables amphibious MC , Breaking Defense - USSOCOM’s AFSOC Updates on the MC , Naval News - NRO should concentrate on bigger, badder 'tripwire' ISR birds, new report urges , Breaking Defense - C-130 Floatplane Program Put ‘On Pause’ By Special Operations Command , The War Zone

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Several people detained as protesters block parking garage at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators wave flags outside the Stata Center at MIT, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Police detain three a pro-Palestinian demonstrators who attempted to block traffic to the garage of the Stata Center at MIT, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Police detain a pro-Palestinian demonstrator who attempted to block traffic from the garage of the Stata Center at MIT, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

A student walks past a Pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. MIT has suspended 23 students for participating in the encampment, and police detained at least three during a demonstration at the nearby Stata center, where demonstrators blocked traffic over claims the university was conducting research which would be used for Israeli military drones. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators face of with a line of police outside the Stata Center at MIT, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. Police detained at least three members of a group of close to 100 demonstrators who held signs criticizing MIT for research they claim was being conducted for Israeli military drones. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

A field of Israeli flags stand on the lawn beside a Pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. MIT has suspended 23 students for participating in the encampment, and police detained at least three during a demonstration at the nearby Stata center, where demonstrators blocked traffic over claims the university was conducting research which would be used for Israeli military drones. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Demonstrators gather by the entrance to a Pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. MIT has suspended 23 students for participating in the encampment, and police detained at least three during a demonstration at the nearby Stata center, where demonstrators blocked traffic over claims the university was conducting research which would be used for Israeli military drones. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

A man walks below flags at a Pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. MIT has suspended 23 students for participating in the encampment, and police detained at least three during a demonstration at the nearby Stata center, where demonstrators blocked traffic over claims the university was conducting research which would be used for Israeli military drones. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Police detained several people Thursday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after demonstrators blocked a parking garage in their ongoing protest movement connected to the Israel-Hamas war .

Tensions have ratcheted up in standoffs with protesters on campuses across the United States and increasingly in Europe . Some colleges cracked down immediately, while others have tolerated the demonstrations. Some have begun to lose patience and call in the police over concerns about disruptions to campus life and safety.

In Boston, the U.S. city most identified with higher education, students have set up encampments on at least five campuses, including MIT, Northeastern University and Harvard University.

A field of Israeli flags stand on the lawn beside a Pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

At MIT, protesters have been asking administrators to end all research contracts with Israel’s Ministry of Defense, which they estimate total $11 million since 2015. On Thursday, the school issued an alert just before 2 p.m. saying protesters were blocking the entrance to a campus parking garage and spilling onto a nearby street.

About two hours later, authorities split protesters up and pushed them away from the garage. At least three people were detained. Protesters walked away continuing to chant “free Palestine.” The crowd dispersed, and the garage was reopened by 5 p.m., the school said.

MIT officials said later Thursday that fewer than 10 people were arrested by MIT police during the incident and the Stata Garage and Vassar Street are now open. Cambridge Police were also on hand to help clear the garage entrance, officials said.

Hannah Didehbani, an MIT student and one of the leaders of the protest, said the decision to block the garage was part of a larger effort to bring attention to what she described as MIT’s complicity with the Israeli military. Didehbani said she has been issued a suspension and an eviction notice by the school but said MIT cannot suspend the larger student movement.

“They’d much rather do those things than cut ties to a state that is currently enacting a genocide,” she said.

The pro-Palestinian protest movement began nearly three weeks ago at Columbia University in New York City. It has since swept college campuses nationwide, with more than 2,500 people arrested.