HISTORY
March 2, 2009
The inside stories of the so called “Great War”
Flashback:
Today’s flashback to the World War 1 where many disastrous and deadly weapons where used against troops of both parties.
A GREAT WAR.....?
The stories of pain and weapons in the not-so-great war in which the whole world was involved and is remembered up to this day.
Everyone has heard of stories and tales from the great war, World War 1. One of the most famous wars has as many stories of it as the soldiers have fought in it. Most recently, a diary of the famous general, General Dean was found. This new discovery has confirmed the tragedies and cruelties that happened in the war. The diary included about the use of tanks, planes, submarines, machine guns and even poisonous gases. The diary mentions about how the troops had to fight against all odds and the terrible end his troops met. The diary explains how the troop had two tanks with them blasting through the terrain to reach the enemy base but soon a poisonous gas overcame then and many of them had to retreat or die in the cloud. Other pages explain about the firepower of their new tank, the Mark 1 Tank which could go at 5.9km/ h and had a great firepower. These aren’t the only diary entries about the disastrous effects of the different kinds of weapons used in the World War 1. There has been many discoveries of tank shells and zeppelin bomb shells in the battleground to show the great battles that were fought in the war. It is thought to be that the alliances and weapons were the major cause that made the war a bigger and more catastrophic war with more casualties. (For more information on weapons go to page 2)
A Mark 1 Tank First used by the British in 1916, a machine that combined “firepower, protection and mobility”
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Weapons of Mass Destruction
and suffocate with a delayed effect after 48 hours had passed. Tanks The British were the first to create these moving beasts that wouldn’t be affected and charge straight into the impenetrable trenches that prevented further attack. These behemoths could move at 5.9km/h and shoot like the machine guns. These models were upgraded and forced the Germans to retreat from many fronts. Planes Planes were used much for spying and attacking. These planes would get the amount of the troops and report back to the main troops. Zeppelins would slowly fly above the enemies and drop bombs on the enemies devastating the land under them. Submarines The submarines were mainly used by the Germans who attacked the undersides of the Britain’s ships and devastated a total of 2,439 Allied ships including battleships and supply ships cutting off many provisions.
WEAPONS..
Machine guns The machine gun was used widely in the close range combats were soldiers would be shot down incessantly by these weapons of mass destruction. These would be sorted into different categories: light which had easier management but less firepower while the heavy machine gun which had stronger firepower but it had to be mounted on wheeled carts. Poisonous Gases These gases were first created by the Germans but affected both armies. Germans would need to wait until the gas cloud disappeared and the enemies had to do so too. Gas masks were created and became less lethal towards the soldiers. Many gases were made categorized into lethal and irritant gases. Irritant gases wouldn’t cause death but suffering while lethal gases would slowly kill the victim. Some lethal gases include the Mustard Gas which caused external and internal bleeding as well as harming the bronchial tubes. The victims would have great pain and would only die after four or five weeks of suffering. Another lethal gas was Phosgene which caused the soldier to choke
The deadly weapons of war
A few pictures of the weapons in the war. Submarines(top) used in naval combat against ships without protection in the hull. Machine guns(middle) used in close combat against infantry. Planes (Bottom) used in spying the enemies or attacking the enemies from above.
Learn from history since it repeats
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