Governments advance Essay

As man advances in his everyday life, the governments advance in warfare technology too1. New sophisticated weaponry changed warfare tactics and warfare became a vastly advanced art. The crude techniques were quickly replaced with refined ones. The increase in damage and death commensurate with the increase in technology leading to very high death counts, and leaving a myriad maimed for life. The technological inventions were self- defeating to man. Man staged war with himself. The very inventions he made became a thorn in his own flesh! WW1 saw the advent of tanks and gas as some of the new technologies. For instance the British mark 1 tank was first used in September 19162. The tanks had their limitations such as getting stuck in the mud and toppling over. They were mechanically unreliable. The tanks were not the war winning weapons as the generals hoped they would be3. The German on the other hand were the first to use chlorine gas at Ypress in 1915. The chlorine gas is a lung irritant. Symptom such as bright red lips and blue face denote gas poisoning. Chlorine gas poisoning killed its victims a slow death of suffocation. It caused long diseases such as emphysema. The civilians suffered from this too. In 1915 the Germans added phosgene, which was more suffocating. The effects of phosgene caused bleeding that corrupted the lungs. Mustard gas, which was also used, burnt the entire layer of skin from the face and body. This was dangerous as its effects were not noticed, burnt the skin and ripped out the lining of the lungs. Gas had a rippling effect like atomic bomb had in world war2. Their uniqueness was in the fact that they were air-borne, had the risk of causing mass destruction and there effects agonizing. We can have an overview of what the weapons looked like and the technologies they espoused. â€Å"New weapons revolutionized combat in war1†4. It gave the war an altogether new model. For instance, trench warfare. The factories of industrial Europe were held culprit for this new war technologies that were destructive and ruinous. We can divide the first war and weaponry in to a number of categories: Artillery: These were new and improved cannons. British soldiers fired approximately 170 millions but the German scientist did not accept to be left behind. They developed the biggest artillery ever known. It was called the Big Bertha. It was such a powerful weapon. New high-explosive shells were developed as well and made more efficient. Artillery fire killed thousands of men and made aiding more difficult as it blew the ground. 5 Communication: as we have indicated WW1 was a trench warfare radios and telephones were the main ways of communication and was very essential ways of communication and was very essential for the troops in trenches. Messengers gave dogs and other like pigeons were gradually being faced out. Machine guns: the effectiveness of machine guns reached frightening new levels in the WW1 they could fire 600 bullets a minute which was estimated t be equivalent of 250 men with rifles. With this kind of ability machine guns were deemed to be weapons of mass destructions. Gas grenades: we have looked at chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas. Which burned the lung of the inhaler leaving them to die in agony. Has masks that were issued to everyone in German were of so effective therefore leaving many people dead6 Tanks: also known as the chariots of god. As we have seen at first they were not very reliable but scientist kept making new improved tanks such that by 1918, the Anglo-American mark 8th could carry up to 8 men and fire 208 shells and up to 13,000 bullets. Another weapon of mass destruction! An armored car was developed and could travel up to 8 kilometers and had 8 machine guns. Transportation: transportation of troops in to battlefields became vital necessitating the increase in more efficient transportation needs. Trains, taxis and lorries were used to ferry soldiers to battlefields and other places. Planes: they epitomized the new types of weapons used in advanced technology warfare huge blimp-like bombers called zeppelins were used7. Their speed and efficiency killed thousand of people