1 Investigate Find out what the most destructive and deadly weapon used in the First World War was. Is it still used today? Look for information about the submarines and airships used in the First World War. Write descriptions of both. DEBATE. Did the Industrial Revolution influence the development of new weapons? Explain your answer. What is your opinion of the weapons industry? Give reasons for your answer. E X P L O R E Modern, deadly weapons Nearly 70 million soldiers were mobilised in the war and numerous weapons were used . Many of these weapons were new, so they had never been used in combat before. Technical and industrial advances in the last third of the 19th centur y made it possible to produce modern and deadly weaponr y. (5) 5. Battle of the Somme, 1916. The soldiers fire a Vickers machine gun. They are wearing gas masks for protection. 6. British tank in 1917 Machine guns and tanks Machine guns were weapons that could fire hundreds of bullets a minute. They were heavy and had to be mounted on a tripod in order to control them. (5) Tanks were armoured vehicles that were invented by the British . They were first used at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Tanks were designed to crush barbed wire and to break through the front lines. However, they were dif ficult to steer and slow, which made them quite inef fective as weapons. (6) Use of the first chemical weapons For the first time, armies used various gases that burnt the skin or suffocated the victims. Gas masks were developed to protect against these attacks. (5) Submarines Submarines armed with torpedoes were also used for the first time. They had poor range and had to surface frequently. This made them an easy target. In 1915, a German submarine sank a British luxur y cruise ship. Nearly 1,200 people died . This attack turned US public opinion . The US public were now in favour of the USA abandoning neutrality and entering the war. Bombing the enemy from airships and aeroplanes The skies were another scene of combat. Germany used airships to bomb the UK. Airships could carry large amounts of ammunition, but were unstable and easy to shoot down. At the beginning of the war, aeroplanes were light and were mainly used for reconnaissance. As the conf lict progressed, aeroplanes were equipped with machine guns and bombs and carried out numerous aerial bombing raids. (7) 7. Aeroplane in 1918 29
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy