New Technology of WWI
Content Objective: Students will discover the new
technology of WWI which led to a different way to
fight
 Industrialization and mass production made
it possible to develop new weapons and
technology
 New technology raised the death toll
Submarines
 WWI was the first time
submarines were used
as a serious weapon of
war.
 Germans used
submarines (which they
called U-boats) to block
trade. They were
equipped with guns and
torpedoes.
Airplanes
 WWI was the first
major conflict in
which airplanes
were used in
combat.
 Fighter pilots
fought each other
above the clouds.
Trench Warfare
 Soldiers on both sides
dug trenches and the
troops would huddle
at the bottom of the
trenches
 The area between the
trenches was known
as “No-Man’s Land
 WWI Technology
Poison Gas
 Poison Gas was first used by the French against
the Germans
 Within seconds of breathing in the vapors, the
gas attacked the victim’s respiratory system,
causing the victim to choke.
 Mustard gas was introduced later in the war and
was it did not have a smell. After being exposed
to the gas for several hours, the victim would
develop blisters inside and outside the body.
Protection against Gas
Attacks
 Gas masks had not been invented by the beginning
of the war.
 Soldiers were told that holding a cloth covered in
urine would help the effects of chlorine gas in an
emergency.
 Masks were available by 1918
 Poison gases used in wartime were banned in 1925
Machine Guns
 Machine guns
could fire 600
bullets a minute.
 Airplanes were
soon stocked with
machine guns
Tanks
 The tank was a British
invention. It was able to
cross trenches, clear
paths through no man’s
land, and smash
through barbed wire.
 The first tanks were
unreliable and broke
down often.