By, Jared Weninger

The main weapon used by British soldiers in the trenches was the bolt-action rifle. 15 rounds could be fired in a minute and a person 1,400 metres away could be killed.

Machine guns needed 4-6 men to work them and had to be on a flat surface. They had the fire-power of 100 guns.

Large field guns had a long range and could deliver devastating blows to the enemy but needed up to 12 men to work them. They fired shells which exploded on impact.

The German army were the first to use chlorine gas at the battle of Ypres in 1915. Chlorine gas causes a burning sensation in the throat and chest pains. Death is painful - you suffocate! The problem with chlorine gas is that the weather must be right. If the wind is in the wrong direction it could end up killing your own troops rather than the enemy.

Mustard gas was the most deadly weapon used. It was fired into the trenches in shells. It is colourless and takes 12 hours to take effect. Effects include: blistering skin, vomiting, sore eyes, internal and external bleeding. Death can take up to 5 weeks.

The Zeppelin, also known as blimp, was an airship that was used during the early part of the war in bombing raids by the Germans. They carried machine guns and bombs. However, they were abandoned because they were easy to shoot out of the sky.

Tanks were used for the first time in the First World War at the Battle of the Somme. They were developed to cope with the conditions on the Western Front. The first tank was called 'Little Willie' and needed a crew of 3. Its maximum speed was 3mph and it could not cross trenches.

The more modern tank was not developed until just before the end of the war. It could carry 10 men, had a revolving turret and could reach 4mph.

Planes were also used for the first time. At first they were used to deliver bombs and for spying work but became fighter aircraft armed with machine guns, bombs and some times cannons. Fights between two planes in the sky became known as 'dogfights'

Torpedoes were used by submarines. The Germans used torpedoes to blow up ships carrying supplies from America to Britain.

The Germans torpedoed the passenger liner Lusitania on May 1st 1915 which sank with a loss of 1,195 lives. Americans were outraged and joined the war in 1917 on the side of the allies.

Many methods were used to try and destroy planes from the ground. Some people used rifles, but they didn't work very well. Antiaircraft artillery was the main weapon against planes. These heavy guns set atop a Pierce-Arrow five-ton armored lorry chassis. They could fire four rounds a minute at a range of 3,000 yards. Most of the time they were placed in groups to increase their effectiveness. By June 1916 Britain had 271 guns, and by 1918 they had 349.

In the First World War nearly all infantrymen carried bolt action rifles. James Parish Lee, an immigrant to the United States is credited for developing this type of rifle. Cartridges were placed on top of a spring in a metal box called the bolt. As the bolt was opened, the spring forced the cartridges up against a stop; the bolt pushed the top cartridge into the chamber as it closed. After firing, the opening of the bolt extracted the empty cartridge case, and the return stroke loaded a fresh round.

Germany began experimenting with flame-throwers in 1900. These powerful weapons used pressurized air, carbon dioxide, or nitrogen to push oil through the nozzle. The oil was ignited by a small charge and became a jet of flame. These machines were mainly used to clear enemy soldiers from their front line trenches. They first had a range of 25 meters, but were later increased to 40 meters. This made them hard to use anywhere besides no man's land. Other problems that flame-throwers had were that they were too hard to move around, and had only enough oil to burn 40 seconds at a time. Britain also experimented with flame-throwers, and they also found them to be ineffective.

At the beginning of the war, wireless telegraphy was used to communicate at a distance of about 2,000 miles. The Royal Flying Corps created a way to use wireless telegraphy to help artillery hit specific targets. Observers would carry a wireless set and a map. They identified the enemy's position and sent messages to the artillery commander. They also used wireless telegraphy for defense. They were able to detect planes or bombers coming towards from twenty miles away. This was especially helpful in stopping bombers before they could unload bombs on a city.

First suggested by Admiral John Fisher, the battlecruiser was designed to have the speed of a cruiser and the power of a battleship. The theory went that if a battlecruiser could not sink the battle ship it was attacking then it would have the speed to escape. In 1908 the Royal Navy completed construction on the Invincible , Indormitable and the Inflexible their first three battlecruisers. The Big Cats (Lion , Queen Mary and the Princess Royal) were completed in 1912. The Queen Mary with her 13.5" guns was the largest in the Royal Navy. Germany followed Britain's example and started to produce its own battlecruisers. Most impressive was the Hood. Started in 1916 and completed in August 1918 she was Britain's most notorious and feared battlecruiser. She toted eight 15" guns on four turrets , twelve 5.5" guns , four 4" antiaircraft guns and six 21" torpedo tubes (two underwater and four surface). Her max. speed was an impressive 31 knots (or roughly 36mph) and a crew of 1,341 men.

Admiral John Fisher pushed the development of the Dreadnought. This ship was the most heavily armed ship in history and was built at Portsmouth Dockyard between October 1905 and December 1906. It had ten 12-inch guns that were placed higher than usual to fire more accurately and farther. It also had twenty-four 3-inch guns and five underwater torpedo tubes. At the water line, armor was twenty-eight centimeters thick. It was the first major ship driven by steam turbines and could reach a speed of twenty-one knots with this new revolutionary propulsion system. Over 800 men manned this 526-foot long ship.The Dreadnought's design was so remarkable and revolutionary that all ships with a similar design were called Dreadnoughts. By 1914 the British had nineteen (13 under construction) Dreadnoughts, Germany had thirteen (7 under construction), the United States had eight, France had eight, Japan had four, Austria-Hungary had two, and Italy had one. The Queen Elizabeth was the first Super-Dreadnought produced in 1915 by Britain. It had eight 15-inch guns capable of firing a 1,920-pound projectile 35,000 yards (or 16 miles). Four other Super-Dreadnoughts, the Warspite, Barham, Valiant, and Malaya, were created. After surviving World War I they were heavily modified, and later served in World War II.

John P. Holland created the first submarine for the Royal Navy in 1902. After 1905 Germany began to develop submarines with real fighting abilities. In 1913 Germany created the first Unterseeboot, or U-boat. By World War I Germany had 10 U-boats and 30 submarines. Britain had 55 subs, and France had 77. These underwater ships posed a very serious treat even thought they were fragile and could only dive for a few hours. Submarines had five to six torpedo tubes, 16 cm guns, and mine laying capability. They could dive up to 70 meters and could go up to 18 knots. Underwater they cold only go up to 8.5 knots and had a crew of about 20 to 40. On the 8th of August 1914 a German U-Boat attacked the British ship Monarch. The attack however was unsuccessful. By the end of the war Britain had lost 54 submarines, but still had 137 in service and 78 under construction. Germany had around 134 U-boats that had sunk 192 boats and killed over 4,000 people.

Developed at the end of the 19th century torpedo boats were fast, light, and were armed with torpedoes. Torpedoes were strategically important to ocean warfare, since even a non-direct hit could prove fatal in slowing a ship down to snail speed. The British Navy created strategies to deal with attacking swarms of these small ships. They added many medium cannon and machine guns to battleships and cruisers. Fast destroyers were created to protect large ships from torpedo boats.

Designed for long-range trade protection and operations with battle fleets, about 20 cruisers were named for towns or cities. These cruisers were called Town cruisers. The first five town cruisers had two 6" and ten 4" guns. Later secondary armament was replaced with more guns. Town cruisers had a top speed of 28 knots (or 32mph) by 1914. Only two town cruisers were lost during World War I. The Falmouth and Nottingham were both sunk by torpedoes in 1916.

Many methods were used to try and avoid submarines. At first, ships tried to zigzag and avoid being hit, but this wasn't very effective. Later, light steel nets were hung around ships beneath the water line to deflect torpedoes. This method was also ineffective. Sometimes a ship might try to ram a submarine as it surfaced. Nineteen subs were destroyed this way. Submarines were also shot at, at times, but were hard to hit before they dived. The British also used their own subs to hunt down U-boats. Perhaps the most effective way to destroy subs was the use of depth charges. At first they weren't very effective, but were later improved. Placing many mines at many depths on busy sea routes proved to be very effective. Mines were also used to blockade submarine bases

During World War I miners often dug tunnels, and placed mines in them. The main objective of these mines was to destroy part of an enemy trench, and then attack during the confusion. Soldiers eventually developed strategies for discovering enemy tunnels. One method was to put one end of a stick in the ground, and the other end on your teeth to feel vibrations. Another method was to sink a water-filled oil drum into the floor of the trench, and lower your ear into the water to listen to noise being made by people tunneling. It took a long time to dig a tunnel. Sometimes it took a year. Occasionally miners would dig into their enemy's tunnels; starting an underground fight.

Soldiers on the front line also had to worry about enemy snipers. Snipers were trained marksmen carrying rifles with telescopic sights. They would find a tree in no man's land, climb it, and wait. They wore camouflage clothing, and when an enemy soldier walked by, the sniper would shoot him in the head.

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