World War I

Trench Warfare & Weapons"The Great War was without precedent ... never had so many nations

taken up arms at a single time. Never had the battlefield been so vast… never had the fighting been so gruesome...“ (PBS – The Great

War)

A New Kind of Warfare• Germans were 1st to dig trenches, but the Allies

soon followed• By the war’s end in 1918, each side dug over

12,000 miles of trenches

Types of Trenches: Allied Powers

• Front-line trenches• Support trenches• Reserve trenches• Communication trenches

No Man’s Land = Area between enemy trenches

Going “Over the Top”

Daily Life in the Trenches• 1 soldier for every 4” of trench• Daily losses of 7,000 men (killed, disabled,

wounded)

Daily Routine• Attacks took place just before dawn or at dawn• At sundown, soldiers left trench to conduct raids,

investigate the terrain, eavesdrop on enemy troops, etc.

Life in the Trenches• Rations of meat (canned beef), bread or biscuits,

pea soup w/lumps of horsemeat• “Iron Rations” – emergency supply used only

w/permission from officer• Contaminated

H20 = dysentery

Lunch in the trenches at Fort Oglethorpe

Life in the Trenches• Waterlogged trenches “duck-boards”• Infestations of rats, lice, frogs• Trench fever, trench foot

I've a Little Wet Home in a Trench I've a little wet home in a trenchWhere the rainstorms continually drench,There's a dead cow close byWith her feet in towards the skyAnd she gives off a terrible stench. Underneath, in the place of a floor,There's a mass of wet mud and some straw,But with shells dropping there,There's no place to compare,With my little wet home in the trench.

The Trenches: Symbol of the StalemateSoldiers dug in on the Western Front, used dark humor to

lighten the strain of living in a trench.

Folklore song which originated from life in the trenches. Sung to the tune of My Little Grey Home in the West.

War of Attrition• Wear down the enemy (through loss of troops or

supplies)• Not one decisive battle to end war

Trenches Today

Weapons of WWI• Bayonets, Pistols,

Grenades, Machine guns

German egg grenade

Weapons of WWI• Rifles• Tanks

FlamethrowersTrench Mortar

Poison Gas• French were 1st to use poisonous gas as

weapon (tear-gas grenades)• Germans used chemical irritant

(chlorine gas cylinders) – slow death by asphyxiation

• Mornings were best for poison gas attacks cold air, less wind

A French soldier & early gas mask

British soldiers -

victims of a poison gas

attack

Germans were first to use mustard gas in 1917 – more lethal, odorless

Poison Gas Deaths: 1914-1918

Country Non-Fatal Deaths Total

British Empire 180,597 8,109 188,706

France 182,000 8,000 190,000

United States 71,345 1,462 72,807

Italy 55,373 4,627 60,000

Russia 419,340 56,000 475,340

Germany 191,000 9,000 200,000

Austria-Hungary 97,000 3,000 100,000

Others 9,000 1,000 10.000

Total 1,205,655 91,198 1,296,853

 

British Gas Casualties: 1914-18Deaths Non-Fatal

Chlorine 1,976 164,457

Mustard Gas 4,086 16,526

 

U-Boats (submarines)

U-Boats (submarines)

The AirplaneThe Airplane

“Squadron Over the Brenta”

Max Edler von Poosch, 1917

“Squadron Over the Brenta”

Max Edler von Poosch, 1917

A German Taub

observation plane

A Henri Farmen observation planesimilar to that flown by Lt. ReadHe called his "Henri"

The ZeppelinThe Zeppelin