Its use was a frightening development that caused its victims a great deal of suffering, if not death. The Germans used this weapon the most, realizing that enemy soldiers wearing gas masks did not fight as well. Later, phosgene and other gases were loaded into artillery shells and shot into enemy trenches. At first, gas was just released from large cylinders and carried by the wind into nearby enemy lines. Searchlights-both incandescent and carbon-arc-became vital for nighttime navigation, for long-range daytime signaling, and for illuminating enemy ships in night engagements.Ĭhemical warfare first appeared when the Germans used poison gas during a surprise attack in Flanders, Belgium, in 1915. Battleships, for example, might have electric signaling lamps, an electric helm indicator, electric fire alarms, remote control-from the bridge-of bulkhead doors, electrically controlled whistles, and remote reading of water level in the boilers.Įlectric power turned guns and turrets and raised ammunition from the magazines up to the guns. The most important advance in radio was the transmission of voice rather than code, something the electron tube, as oscillator and amplifier, made possible.Įlectricity also made a huge impact on the war. Radio, for example, became essential for communications. World War I was also the first major war that was able to draw upon electrical technologies that had been in development at the turn of the century. Adding armor to trains dates back to the American Civil War, used as a way to safely move weapons and personnel through hostile territory. The Germans shelled Paris with long-range (60 miles or 100 kilometers) guns London was bombed from the air for the first time by zeppelins.Īn Austrian armored train in Galicia, ca, 1915. New weapons, such as tanks, the zeppelin, poison gas, the airplane, the submarine, and the machine gun, increased casualties, and brought the war to civilian populations. In 1915 British Admiral Jacky Fisher wrote, “The war is going to be won by inventions.” In terms of technological history, World War I is significant because it marked the debut of many new types of weapons and was the first major war to “benefit” from technological advances in radio, electrical power, and other technologies.įrom the onset, those involved in the war were aware that technology would make a critical impact on the outcome. From 1914 to 1918 conflict raged in much of the world and involved most of Europe, the United States, and much of the Middle East. World War I was one of the defining events of the 20th century. Development of passive acoustic location accelerated during World War I, later surpassed by the development of radar in the 1940s. The large horns amplified distant sounds, monitored through headphones worn by a crew member, who could direct the platform to move and pinpoint distant enemy aircraft. American troops using a newly-developed acoustic locator, mounted on a wheeled platform.
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