War Technology and the Flu Pandemic of World War I

John MorehouseMr. HuntFeb 8th 2011

War technologies of WWI World war one reaped the benefits of recent technological advances preceding the bloodshed.

Weapons were not the only objects the soldiers took advantage of- the radio and search light were good examples.

Communication was sped up and soldiers could talk to their commanders miles away from each other.

Many vehicles such as the submarine were invented this time and used during the war.

Aircraft in World War I The German bomber, the

Zeppelin was a very large advance in aviation technology. This was the first plane able to carry 2,200 pound bombs along with multiple resources for soldiers.

The only drawback was it was slow and thus easy to shoot down.

The France Hariot HD. 1 was a France reconnaissance plane and though despite being slower and heavier it was well armed and proved its worth in the war.

Weapons During World War 1 there was a lot of new weapons to be used. The bloodshed was unlike anyone had ever seen

before. A few of these weapons include:

The Machine gun- had the power of 100 rifles but took 3 men to operate and had to be on a flat surface.

The field gun shot mortars- took around 10 men to operate and was extremely deadly. These mortars would explode upon impact.

Tanks were utilized during this war- the first tank had a crew of 3 men and had a maximum speed of only 3 mph.

By the end of the war tanks could reach 4 mph

The Flu Pandemic of 1918

Flu Statistics It is estimated that between 20 and 40 million people were killed from the flu.

The 1918 flu killed more people in one year than the Bubonic plague killed in four years.

One quarter of the US was infected and one fifth of the world had it.

President Woodrow Wilson was infected during his treaty of Versailles negotiations.

In total, 3% of the World’s population was killed.

More statistics 10 x more Americans died of the flue than that of the war.

The people who were most likely to die were between the ages of 20 and 40

The average lifespan of an American was decreased by 10 years due to the flu

This, along with war patients caused a massive shortage in doctors.

Fighting the flu The government started to fund scientific research and now the Germ theory arose

Antiseptic surgery was arising at this time

Far more public health officers were hired at this time and along with scientists they developed theories on flu prevention and diagnostic ideas.

Bibliography

"The 1918 Influenza Pandemic." Virus. Accessed February 08, 2011. http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/.

"The Aerodrome." Accessed February 8, 2011.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aircraft/index.php. "File:British WWI Submarine HMS R3a.JPG." Wikimedia

Commons. Accessed February 08, 2011. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_WWI_Submarine_HMS_R3a.JPG.

"World War One - Weapons." History on the Net Main

Page. Accessed February 08, 2011. http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/weapons.htm.

THE END…