World War I – Changes in Warfare

Chapter 29

2

Changing Warfare

• Changes in technologies, tactics, and weaponry

• Communication achieved through telephone, Morse Code, radios, and carrier pigeons

Carrier pigeons placed in a gas protection box

3

Scorched Earth• Tactic implemented by

the Russians, borrowed by the Germans

• Retreating armies would burn buildings, ravage crops, cut down trees, and force inhabitants to flee

• Goal was to leave nothing of value behind that opposing forces could use Ruins of a French town after German troops

retreated through it, 1918

4

Espionage• Spies tried to obtain

information in various ways• Risks• Edith Cavell• Mata Hari

British nurse and heroine Edith Cavell

German spy Mata Hari

5

Airplanes

• First used for intelligence gathering; later armed

• Bomber planes• “Aces”

Baron Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen (the Red Baron)

German bombing raid on British camp, 1915

6

Submarines• Britain initially had more

submarines than Germany• German submarine strategy• Backlash

German U-boat and a sinking English steamer

German sailors load a torpedo on a U-boat

7

Sinking of the Lusitania• May 7, 1915: Passenger

ship sunk by German submarine

• More than 1000 civilian deaths, including 128 Americans

• Germany claimed the ship was carrying munitions

• Incident put the U.S. one step closer to entering the war Torpedoing of the Lusitania

8

Machine Guns

• Maintained and perpetuated trench warfare

• Designers and manufactures continued to modify original machine gun - the Maxim

British troops with machine guns

9

Howitzers

• Heavy artillery• Became more

mobile• Especially useful

in bombarding enemy strongholds from long distancesHowitzer left by retreating German army in France

10

Chemical Weapons

• Archaic and modern weaponry and strategies meet

• Poison gas• Attacked nervous system

– painful death– long-lasting mental

disturbancesA German dispatch rider wearing a

gas mask, 1917

11

Flamethrowers

• Terrifying German weapon first used at Verdun, 1916

• Effects• Counter tactics

French troops using flamethrowers

12

Tanks

• British innovation• Unsuccessful at first• Cambrae, 1917: First successful tank offensive• Increasingly important weapon in modern warfare

British tank in action

French tanks, Americans support French troops

13

Telephone and Radio

• Difficulties in keeping lines of communication open

• Telephone’s shortcomings

• Radio’s shortcomings

German soldiers set up a radio on the Western Front

14

The Media

• 1916: First war films

• Newspapers provided the majority of the public with war news

Behind the scenes of a film in Austria, 1918

15

Trench Warfare• Forces dug in to

begin trench warfare along 475-mile front

• Plagued with disease, lice, water, and mud

• German trenches were the most sophisticated

British trench soldiers in France wait to attack

The British government wanted to encourage men to enlist for war.

They said the war would be safe, hardly any fighting, a good lark and over by Christmas.

They used advertising posters to encourage this idea!

A picture of soldiers going ‘Over the Top’

The reality of ‘going over the top’ was very different!

How the uniform and equipment changed after just three weeks in the

trenches…

No smiling and relaxed faces…

No clean uniforms…

Their equipment is scattered everywhere…

Boredom and sleep are obvious…

The soldiers had very little decent food, and what food they had was often attacked by rats.These rats were the size of small rabbits and badgers because they had fed on the decomposing bodies of dead soldiers.Lice were also a common nuisance and disease was rampant.

Posters always showed men ready and willing to fight.

They never showed the boredom of the trenches or actual fighting taking place.

Why do you think the government showed no fighting?