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The Impact Of Advanced Technology During World War I

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During World War I there were a lot of advancements in technology and weaponry that affected the war. The impact of advanced technology it had on World War I was it made the more difficult and dangerous for the soldiers that did most of the fighting. The new technologies that were created during World War I led to trench warfare and also the lack of new skills led to many massive casualties because of the advanced of technology. New technology in the form of machine guns that were rapid-fire artillery that gave a big advantage to any country fighting during World War I. Another technology that made the war even worse for soldiers was mustard gas. This poisonous gas effected both sides of armies because they felt that using mustard gas …show more content…

The Maxim machine gun was created by Hiram Maxim and was made in 1884. The first country that used the machine gun was Britain. Although rapid-firing weapons, such the calibre Gatling gun that was invented in 1862, existed many years before Maxim’s invention of the machine gun, but they needed some form of manual intervention that was the machine gun. Maxim’s machine gun wasn’t really in high command for the use for the machine gun he showed Britain in 1885. Even some of the officers of Britain regarded the weapon as an improper form of warfare. Later, the German army quickly produced a version of Maxim’s invention of the machine gun in much large qualities at a Spandau arsenal. By the time World War I broke out in 1914 the Germans had 12,000 at their disposal, this number later increased to 100,000. In the designing of the Maxim machine gun, Maxim mainly used a simple concept. The gas that was produced by the powder that exploded in each machine gun cartridge made recoil that operated the machine gun’s mechanism and no external power was needed. And Maxim’s initial design was that water and belt fed allowed the rate of fire to be up to 600 per minute, and the actual machine was heavy, but weighed at …show more content…

Mustard gas caused severe burning of the eye and skin. Mustard gas was absorbed in the body through inhaling it, or by coming into contact with the skin or eyes. Mustard gas was even more dangerous because it is generally colorless so when it was used the armies’ enemies didn’t know it was really there or not. The danger of the use of mustard gas would go both ways because it there were any winds the mustard gas would go right back to the army that used it. Exposure to mustard gas didn’t really cause death and most of its victims could recover from their symptoms of the mustard gas within several weeks. Unfortunately, many remained permanently disfigured as a huge result of the chemical burns or their even permanently blind. Mustard gas was mainly used in trench warfare and the use of mustard gas was a living hell for those on the front line. Many armies tried using gas masks and putting on heavy clothing, but they were useless because mustard gas can be absorbed through the skin and many soldiers believed that dying by mustard gas was a terrible way to die. Mustard gas was used effectively in World War I by the German army that was against the British near Ypres, Belgium, in 1917 and later against the French Second Army. The Allies didn’t use mustard gas until November 1917 at Cambrai, France, after the army captured a large amount of German mustard gas

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