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The First Machine Gun
Hiram Maxim invented the first automatic machine gun. The machine gun is able to fire up to 600 rounds per minute and could take the place of around 80 rifles. Machine guns can hold many rounds of ammunition. The barrel had a water-cooled barrel which was at times limited. A bad thing about the Machine gun is that the gun itself weighed around 160 pounds and still required a stand and ammunition. This means that it needs 3 or 4 men to operate. -
Zeppelins
The first zeppelins were first made in 1900 by Germany to be passenger ships but once the war started in 1914 they started using them to drop bombs on Britain. At the time Britain had no way of defending themselves from these huge ships, they could only try to get out of the way of the bombs being dropped. -
Pre WW1 Weapons
Before the first World War began the top of the line rifles that were used were duplicating, bolt action rifles. There’s also carbines that were mainly used by the cavalry units. At this point, there weren't any handheld fully automatic machine guns. -
World War 1 Begins
At the beginning of World War 1, the British issued a Lee-Enfield bolt action rifle. It was fed by a magazine that could hold 10 bullets and could be fired at a rate of 15 shots per minute. A trained soldier would operate this rifle which made it an effective weapon in trenches. The Germans, however, were issued a Mauser Gewehr 98, this also had a bolt style action but was not magazine-fed and with a longer barred. This gun did not fit well in the trenches. -
British Decline Machine Gun Offer
Once the war started, Hiram Maxim first offered his machine gun design to the British but they said they didn't see how this weapon would help them. Once the war started, the Germans came up with their own machine gun design, almost exactly like Maxim's, started assembling it for their own use in the war. After seeing how effective the German's machine gun was the British later developed a machine gun of their own called the Vickers machine gun. -
The Unseen
In WW1 the Germans gained a huge lead by creating U-boats, a type of submarine. Up until this time submarines had not been used and this new technology impeded the British's powerful navy because they had no way of defending themselves from the U-boats or no good way of detecting them. -
The First Gas Attack
In the spring of 1915 Fritz Haber, a German scientist was pushing to place 5,730 gas cylinders within a 4-mile area near the Allied trenches. Once the wind changed to the right direction blowing toward the enemy trenches the were able to free the gas as a weapon for the first time in history. Before this day in 1915 many people didn't trust that using the gas as a weapon would work however on the first try more than 1,100 enemy soldiers were killed marking the start of chemical warfare. -
Barbed Wire
Barbed wire was first originally invented in America to aid ranchers with their cattle became a very helpful tool in the first world war. Both sides used the wire to slow down attackers because the barbs would snatch on clothing and equipment and slow attackers down to make them easier to shoot. -
Artillery
Artillery used in world war 1 caused the death of many soldiers on both sides. Artillery cannons such as the British Howitzer Mark 1 could shoot two 290lb shells a minute and hit targets that were miles away. The Germans though had a much bigger cannon called the Paris Gun. It had a 118-foot long barrel and could hit targets up to 74 miles away. -
The First Tanks
Tanks weren't made until the first world war, as well under way in 1916. The first tank was built by the British and was first stationed on the Somme battlefield. These tanks greatly assisted the British but they also had many problems that needed improvement. -
World War 1 Ends
