Machine Guns

This new style of gun was unlike anything the soldiers had seen before. They could fire up the 600 rounds per minute (the equivalent of 250 soldiers with rifles) and were deemed "weapons of mass destruction".


Artillery

Artillery were the new and improved form of cannons. They could fire their shells farther than any other weapon. They fired explosive shells that devastated thousands of soldiers in the war. The British had been using cannons before the war and during the beginning of the war firing more than 170 million shells, but while this was happening german scientists were developing the biggest artillery ever known. They called it "Big Bertha" and it was unlike any other cannon. It could fire shells at paris from 120 kilometers away. Artillery was very effective in the war as it killed thousands of men but also blew out the ground making hiding much more difficult.


Poison Gas

Poison gas was highly toxic and very effective against enemy infantry. The Germans developed three main kinds of poison grenades. They used chlorine gas in the battle of Ypres in 1915 killing thousands of soldiers. The others were phosgene and mustard gases. These burned the lungs of their victims upon inhaling them leaving them to die an agonizing death. Gas masks became standard issue for soldiers and everyone in germany. Some of these gas masks were innefective though and many people died. 


Tanks

Tanks were a very effective war machine nicknamed "The chariots of god". In the beginning of the war they were very simple and innefective, but by the end they were devastating killing machines that could turn the tides of a battle. At first they were just giant blocks of metal that could carry 1 to 2 people and were used to drive through barbed wire and other barricades. By 1918 tanks could carry up to 8 people while firing 208 shells and up to 13,000 bullets. Although tanks were very powerful they were also very unreliable. The British sent 525 tanks to the battle of Amiens and after 4 days only 25 were left working. All in all tanks were very destructive and probably helped change the outcome of the war.


Airplanes

Airplanes were still a very new technology when the war started, but they were still used a lot during the concourse of the war. At first the pilots just drove and shot pistols from the pilot seat. This method was very innefective and the countries started mounting machine guns to the front of the planes. With the machine guns in place dogfights started to become more common the most faumous dogfighter was Manfred von Richthofen or "The Red Baron" from Germany. He had 80 recorded victories in dogfights. Militarys then began developing bomber planes which could realease bombs from their holds. Bombs were not that effective in the war, but there was still 9,000 casualties resulting from bombs. Airplanes were very important to the war and strategies would have changed a lot without them. 


Submarines

Submarines were still very very new when World War 1 began. They were used mostly for transporting cargo in the beginning of the war. Pre-War subs generally had self-propeled torpedoes to fire at enemy ships. During the war most subs were equipped with deck guns usually 3 or 4 inch caliber. The Germans also created special kinds of subs bearing mine tubes through their hulls. Some of these ships carries 48 mines in addition to their torpedoes and deck guns.