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birth
Born on 5 January 1861 in Lee County -
flame throwers
Although the Byzantines and Chinese used weapons that hurled flaming material in the medieval period, the first design for a modern flamethrower was submitted to the German Army by Richard Fiedler in 1901, and the devices were tested by the Germans with an experimental detachment in 1911. Their true potential was only realized during trench warfare, however. After a massed assault on enemy lines, it wasn’t uncommon for enemy soldiers to hole up in bunkers and dugouts hollowed into the side of th -
INTERRUPTER GEAR
Airplanes had been around for just a decade when WWI started, and while they had obvious potential for combat applications as an aerial platform for bombs and machine guns, it wasn’t quite clear how the latter would work, since the propeller blades got in the way. In the first attempt, the U.S. Army basically tied the gun to the plane (pointing towards the ground) with a leather strap, and it was operated by a gunner who sat beside the pilot. This was not ideal for aerial combat and inconvenient -
AIRCRAFT CARRIERS
The first time an airplane was launched from a moving ship was in May 1912, when commander Charles Rumney Samson piloted a Short S.27 pontoon biplane from a ramp on the deck of the HMS Hibernia in Weymouth Bay. However, the Hibernia wasn’t a true aircraft carrier, since planes couldn’t land on its deck; they had to set down on the water and then be retrieved, slowing the whole process considerably. -
invention of the tank
war of movemen expected by most European generals settled down into an unexpected, and seemingly unwinnable, war of trenches.A solution presented itself, however, in the form of the automobile, which took the world by storm after 1900. Powered by a small internal combustion engine burning diesel or gas, a heavily-armored vehicle could advance even in the face of overwhelming small arms fire. Add some serious guns and replace the wheels with armored treads to handle rough terrain, and the tank wa -
MOBILE X-RAY MACHINES
With millions of soldiers suffering grievous, life-threatening injuries, there was obviously a huge need during the Great War for the new wonder weapon of medical diagnostics, the X-ray—but these required very large machines that were both too bulky and too delicate to move. Enter Marie Curie, who set to work creating mobile X-ray stations for the French military immediately after the outbreak of war; by October 1914, she had installed X-ray machines in several cars and small trucks which toured -
tracer bullet
While the Great War involved a lot of futile activity, fighting at night was especially unproductive because there was no way to see where you were shooting. Night combat was made somewhat easier by the British invention of tracer bullets—rounds which emitted small amounts of flammable material that left a phosphorescent trail -
steel helmets
Steel helmets, not seen on Europe’s battlefields since the knights of the Middle Ages, were re-introduced as standard issue for all combatant armies on the Western Front in 1915 to offer some protection against bullets and shell splinters. -
poisen gas
Poison gas was used by both sides with devastating results (well, sometimes) during the Great War. The Germans pioneered the large-scale use of chemical weapons with a gas attack on Russian positions on January 31, 1915, during the Battle of Bolimov, but low temperatures froze the poison (xylyl bromide) in the shells. The first successful use of chemical weapons occurred on April 22, 1915, near Ypres, when the Germans sprayed chlorine gas from large cylinders towards trenches held by French colo -
sailing in command
From 1912 until June 1917, when General Bullard sailed for France in command of the Second Brigade of the First Division, he commanded successively the moblized Fourth Brigade of the Second Division -
PILOTLESS DRONES
The first pilotless drone was developed for the U.S. Navy in 1916 and 1917 by two inventors, Elmer Sperry and Peter Hewitt, who originally designed it as an unmanned aerial bomb—essentially a prototype cruise missile. Measuring just 18.5 feet across, with a 12-horsepower motor, the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Aircraft weighed 175 pounds and was stabilized and directed (“piloted” is too generous) with gyroscopes and a barometer to determine altitude. -
BARBED WIRE
Barbed wire, invented in the US in the 1860s to pen cattle, was one of the foremost features of trench warfare, defending the front lines of both sides in great brambled ‘‘hedges’’. German wire, as part of an overall defensive strategy, was more formidable, being stronger, with longer, thicker barbs. On the Somme, shelling intended to cut the wire only made it more tangled, hampering the Allied offensive of July 1916. ‘‘Wiring parties’’ would go into no-man’s-land at night to cut enemy wire or l -
u.s. entery into first world war
given command of the 1st Infantry Division (known as the "Big
Red One") from December 1917. By the close of the +war Bullard rose to command the U.S. Second Army. As commander of 1st Division Bullard led his forces in what was the U.S. army's first major offensive of the war at Cantigny in April 1918. -
rank advancement
Colonel Bullard was advanced to the rank of Brigadier General in the permanent establishment on June 16, 1917 -
declaration of war against Germany.
appointed to the temporary rank of Major General -
war declared
declaration of war against Germany. -
training phase
During the early training phase of the American Expeditionary Forces in France (August to December 1917) Bullard's wide experience and recognized talent were utilized to establish and command various Infantry Officers Schools -
robert lee bullards reputation
while commanding III Corps Bullard played a role in the Aisne-Marne and Meuse-Argonne offensives (earning a reputation as 'Counter-attack Bullard' in the wake of the Second Battle of the Marne). -
showing admirable diplomacy
demonstrated admirable diplomatic skills in his dealings with his French counterparts (assisted by his fluency in the language). -
permanent rank
permanent rank of Major General on October 12, 1918. Four days later he was advanced to Lieutenant General. -
SANITARY NAPKINS
Women traditionally improvised all kinds of disposable or washable undergarments to deal with their monthly period, all the way back to softened papyrus in ancient Egypt. But the modern sanitary napkin as we know it was made possible by the introduction of new cellulose bandage material during the First World War; it wasn’t long before French nurses figured out that clean, absorbent cellulose bandages were far superior to any predecessors. British and American nurses picked up on the habit, and -
retirement
He retired in 1925 and thereafter served as president of the National Security League (a body dedicated to U.S. war preparedness). -
death
robert lee bullard died on september 11,1974. In New York City.