As you know, World War I was one of the largest and bloodiest in history.Weapons of World War I was very diverse.The hostilities were used almost all existing types of weapons, including the creation of new.
Aviation
Widely used aircraft - first it involved exploration and then used to bombard the army at the front and in the rear, as well as to attack the peaceful villages and towns.For the raid on the town of Britain and France, in particular Paris, Germany used Zeppelins (often the involved guns of World War I, they were called "Zeppelin" - in honor of the designer F. Zeppelin).
Heavy artillery
British in 1916 for the first time began to use a small number of armored vehicles (ie tanks) on the front.At the end of the war they were causing great damage to the German army.The army of France was armed with a tank called "Renault FT-17", which was used for infantry support.Armored vehicles (armored cars equipped with machine guns or guns) as have been applied in those years.During World War I, as you know, almost all the powers were armed with artillery as tools for fighting (melee) machine guns.The Russian army had at its disposal two models of machine guns (modification of HS Maxim, an American designer) and machine guns, "Vickers".During the war, significantly increased the number of used light machine guns (another proliferation of weapons of World War I).
Chemical weapons
early as January 1915 on the Russian front was first used chemical weapons.In the pursuit of success involved in the fighting did not stop before the violation of customs and laws - was so unprincipled World.Chemical weapons were used on the Western Front in April 1915, the German command (poison gas) - a new means of mass extermination.From the cylinders it was released chlorine gas.Heavy greenish-yellow cloud stlavshiesya at the ground, rushed toward the Anglo-French forces.Those who were in the radius of the infection began to choke.As countermeasures in Russia was rapidly created around 200 chemical plants.Weapons of World War required modernization.To ensure the success of the operations used artillery - at the same time with the release of gases opened artillery fire.Photos weapons World War can be found in our article.
Soon after, both sides began to use poison gas on the front of the famous Russian chemist and academician NDZelinsky invented the carbon mask, who saved the lives of many thousands of people.
Weapons Navy
war, except land, was conducted also on seas.In March 1915 the world learned the terrible news: German submarine sank the huge passenger ship "Lusitania."More than a thousand civilians were killed passengers.And in 1917, it had already begun the so-called unrestricted submarine warfare German submarines.Germans openly declared their intention to sink enemy ships, not only, but also of neutral countries to deny Britain access to the allies and colonies, thereby leaving her without food and industrial raw materials.German submarines sank hundreds of passenger and merchant ships of England and the neutral countries.
Road Transport
It should be noted that the Russian army at that time was poorly secured trucks.Total at the beginning of hostilities was 679 cars.By 1916 the army had counted 5.3 thousand cars, and this year was released another 6.8 thousand, as this required the First World.Weapons and the troops needed to carry.It's pretty impressive figures, however, for example, the French army, smaller in size by half, by the end of the war was 90 thousand cars.
manual small arms of World War
- officer pistol "Parabellum", 1908 Magazine capacity "Parabellum" standard was 8 rounds.For the needs of its fleet extended to 200 mm, also in the marine version of weapons had fixed target."Parabellum" was the principal staff officer model.This weapon armed with all the Kaiser's officers.
- "Mauser" - horse-drawn gun rangers. Magazine capacity is 10 rounds, and weight - 1.2 kg.Maximum firing range was 2,000 meters.
- officer pistol "Mauser" (application - First World). Weapons it was a small pocket type.Pros - good accuracy.
- gun soldier "Draize" (1912). Barrel length - 126 mm, weight - 1050 g without bullets, drum capacity - 8, caliber - 9 mm.This weapon was quite heavy and complicated, but powerful enough to provide the necessary self-defense soldiers in a trench battle unarmed.
- automatic rifle Mondragon (1908) caliber of this weapon - 7 mm, weight - 4.1 kg, magazine capacity is 10 rounds, and the sighting range - 2000 m. It was the first self-loading rifle in history, used in battles.Ironically, the weapon was developed in Mexico, and level of technical capabilities in the country was very low.The main drawback - the extreme sensitivity to contamination.
- 9-mm submachine gun MP-18 (1918). magazine capacity of 32 cartridges, caliber - 9 mm Weight unloaded - 4.18 kg of ammunition - 5.3 kg, only automatic fire.This weapon was developed to enhance the firepower of the infantry, for the war in the new conditions.It gave the delay when firing, and were sensitive to pollution, but showed great fighting efficiency and density of fire.
