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Advances In Weaponry During World War I

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Advances in weaponry before and during World War I dramatically impacted the war as well as the people fighting in it. Weaponry advanced heavily during the early 20th century, and World War I was the first major war in which these new weapons could be tested. No one could foresee the damage these weapons would cause, and no one expected the amount of deaths which would result from these weapons.
Traditionally war was fought with horses and swords, and starting in the eighteenth century, rifles ("18th Century Warfare"). Soldiers would ride on horses and fight combat hand to hand. Before World War I, military strategists were trained to rely heavily on specially trained foot soldiers who would fight hand to hand (Technology). The strategists really had no idea how heavy an impact these new weapons would have on the war.
Perhaps the most impactful weapon during World War I was the machine gun. It was originally invented in 1884 by american …show more content…

At the beginning of the war in 1914, Germany had 33 submarines ready for use in battle. However Kaiser Wilhelm demanded “restricted” submarine warfare. Meaning that there were restrictions on where Germany was able to sink enemy ships and what ships they were allowed to sink(Abayawickrema). However, starting in 1915, Germany lifted these restrictions and started sinking ships bring supplies to the allies in neutral waters. In 1915, a German submarine sank the passenger ship Lusitania, killing upwards of 1000 of the ship’s passengers, including 128 americans. This caused America to threaten to join the war. Germany didn't want The United States to join the war, so they promised to warn ships before attacking. However, in 1917, Germany realized that they had little chance of winning if they did not fully utilize these submarines, so they decided to return to unrestricted submarine warfare. So in 1917, The United States officially declared war on

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301 Words | 2 Pages

There were two major events that took place that sent the United States into WWI. Before these events took place, America wanted to stay neutral with thoughts and action. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine, called U-boats, torpedoed and sank a British passenger liner Lusitania. About 1,198 lives were lost including 128 Americans. Many Americans were shocked and anger about this act and called it “mass murder and piracy”(671).

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452 Words | 2 Pages

WW1 was the first industrial war, as it was marked by the new weapons and military technology introduced to aid in fighting. As the level of fighting increased, military technology advanced throughout the war. Machine guns, planes, tanks, and artillery were some of the most used and advanced weapons. Most of the machine guns at the start of the war were heavy and needed a team of soldiers to operate it. This shows how when they were first used, they weren’t very well developed as it was new, primitive technology, and were mostly used as defensive weapons due to their immobility.

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276 Words | 2 Pages

Germans’ descision the continue the policy of submarine warfare and the “Zimmerman telegram” is the main reasons the United States entered the War of World War One. The submarine warefare was know for the desperate effort to counter Britsh blockade of Germany. The sinking of American ships heading for England was caused by the submarine warfare. The US pressure cause them to abandon it.

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German submarine warfare was a new type of strategy that broke a one hundred year rule that restricted naval warfare. Though the sinking of these American ships may not have tempted the U.S. into joining the war, the secret communications between Mexico and Germany certainly did. Germany secretly offered U.S. territory to Mexico if they promised to join the war on the side of Germany in exchange. This offer was sent through a telegram to Mexico City, but Great Britain intercepted the message and shared the information with the United States. This event led to the United States declaring war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

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944 Words | 4 Pages

During World War I, the Germans use a fighting tactic called Unrestricted Submarine Warfare. German U-Boats, or submarines, were told to sink any ship that posed a threat, passenger or cargo, it did not matter. In a newspaper article it shows that the Lusitania was a passenger boat going from the coast of New York to Ireland that was sunk by a German submarine (“Lusitania”). The fact that Germany sunk a passenger ship without reason infuriated the Americans. As the political cartoon by Matthew Bollinger shows, President Woodrow Wilson is holding a piece of paper that says that American lives were lost on the sinking of this ship (Bollinger).

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As he had wanted to start the war through democracy the sinking of the Lusitania and the 1198 people killed of which 128 were Americans also impacted the decision of going to war. However, on April 2, 1917, Wilson finally asked Congress to declare war on Germany, citing the country's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, as well as its attempts to incite Mexico to attack the U.S. Congress, declared war on Germany on April 6. In sum, the United States entered World War I primarily due to German actions that threatened American lives and interests, such as the sinking of the Lusitania, the use of submarines to attack American ships, and the Zimmermann Telegram. Additionally, economic ties, President Woodrow Wilson's belief in a moral duty to fight for democracy and self-determination, as well as to end the war quickly and end the suffering caused by the conflict played an important

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998 Words | 4 Pages

America asked for Germany’s boats to be taken away, especially toward the end of 1914, and the beginning of 1915. Germany did not move their boats, and declared the waters surrounding Great Britain to be combat areas and cautioned against ships in those areas. On May 7th, 1915, a British cruise ship the Lusitania was sunk by German U-boats. Though the ship was British, some of the passengers that drowned included 128 American citizens. However, six days before the incident, an ad in an American newspaper warned of traveling on cruise ships.

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805 Words | 4 Pages

Source 7 is a highly reliable and detailed secondary source which articulates that “Germany had been given numerous warnings from America and finally apologises and pledged to revoke their unrestricted submarine warfare.” Quickly,

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542 Words | 3 Pages

When World War I broke out, the United States declared its policy of neutrality, but between the years 1914 and 1917 they only followed this policy to a limited extent. Through certain acts from the Germans, like the sinking of American ships and the Zimmerman telegraph, the United States were pushed to side with the allies. Consequently this lead in the U.S. favoring the allies and almost breaking the policy of neutrality. Many times the United States had taken ammunition and supplies to the allies against Germany and had also filtered the public 's knowledge in cases suches the sinking of the Lusitania. One of the first conflicts that arose between Germany and the United States was the excessive use of submarine warfare.

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In May 1915, a German U-boat sunk the British passenger ship Lusitania off the coast of Ireland. With more than 1,900 people aboard, killing at least 1,100 people including more than 120 Americans. Although the ship may have been carrying military equipment along with the civilians, the Americans weren’t warned before the sinking. Others understood that Germany previously had unambiguously alerted all neutral passengers of Atlantic vessels to the potential for submarine attacks on British ships and that Germany considered the Lusitania a British, therefore an “enemy ship.” The United States eventually protested the action, and Germany apologized and pledged to end unrestricted submarine warfare.

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746 Words | 3 Pages

On May 7, 1915, a U-boat from Germany sank a ship called the Lusitania, killing 1200, including 128 Americans. This devastating event had angered the U.S., calling Germany’s act “barbarism.” U.S. wasn’t too mad because Germany even stated to the world that they would sink any ship that comes into European waters. After the sinking of the Lusitania, U-boats continued attacking allied merchant ships.

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1260 Words | 6 Pages

The Royal Mail Ship, Lusitania, was one of the English liners that were sunk by German U-boats. Among the 1,200 travelers who died, 128 were American. This brought on an enormous outcry in the United States and the conclusions for joining the war became solid. At around the same time, British Intelligence had captured the Zimmerman Note from Germany to Mexico. Germany invited Mexico to pronounce war on the United States, and guaranteed military help.

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703 Words | 3 Pages

As Germany returns, in 1917, to the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, it came back to renew its suspension in response from force of the United States and other neutral countries. Unrestricted submarine warfare was first initiated in World War I on February 4th, 1915. Germany declared the area around the British Isles a war zone, in which all merchant ships, would be attacked by the German navy. On April 22nd, 1915, the German Embassy published a warning in newspapers to tell passengers that travel on Allied ships are “at their own risk.” One ship, called The Lusitania, was the first to submerge and depart, killing nearly 1300 passengers.

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70 Words | 1 Pages

WW1 is known as the first modern war because it saw the incorporation of mechanical weapons. The Central Powers and Allies both used a variety of weapons such as machine guns, chemical weapons , clothing, biplanes, artillery, tanks, grenades, and rifles. These weapons were state of the art for the early 20th century. These weapons caused casualties to skyrocket as the Allies and the Central Powers were in a stalemate.

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703 Words | 3 Pages

World War I was a war of attrition because of new technology, a change in tactics, and it was fought on a multi front. Technology that came during the industrial revolution had a major impact on the way the war was fought. New guns, airplanes, Tanks, Long rang artillery, and poisons all affected the way the war was fought in different ways, but the invention of the machine gun had the biggest impact on the war.

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