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Machine Gun
a fairly primitive device when general war began in August 1914. Machine guns of all armies were largely of the heavy variety and decidedly ill-suited to portability for use by rapidly advancing infantry troops. -
Flame Thrower
brought terror to French and British soldiers when used by the German army in the early phases of the First World War in 1914 and 1915 (and which was quickly adopted by both) was by no means a particularly innovative weapon. -
airplane and submarines
a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Successful anti-submarine warfare depends on a mix of sensor and weapon technology, training, and experience. Sophisticated sonar equipment for first detecting, then classifying, locating, and tracking the target submarine is a key element of ASW. -
artillery
was used primarily to counter the trench warfare that set in shortly after the conflict commenced, and was an important factor in the war, influencing its tactics, and operations, and being incorporated into strategies that were used by the belligerents to break the stalemate at the front. World War I raised artillery to a new level of importance on the battlefield. -
naval warfare
was mainly characterized by the efforts of the Allied Powers, with their larger fleets and surrounding position, to blockade the Central Powers by sea, and the efforts of the Central Powers to break that blockade or to establish an effective blockade of the United Kingdom and France with submarines and commerce raiders. -
poison gas
was one such development. The first significant gas attack occurred at Ypres in April 1915, when the Germans released clouds of poisonous chlorine. -
Tank and Artillery
a response to the stalemate that had developed on the Western Front. Although vehicles that incorporated the basic principles of the tank (armour, firepower, and all-terrain mobility) had been projected in the decade or so before the War, it was the alarmingly heavy casualties of the start of its trench warfare that stimulated development.
