Technology during World War I
Trench Warfare
The new metallurgical and chemical industries
created new firepower that briefly simplified defense before novel
approaches to attack evolved. The application of infantry rifles, rifled
artillery with hydraulic recoil mechanisms, zigzag trenches and machine
guns made it difficult or nearly impossible to cross defended ground.
The hand grenade, long used in crude form, developed rapidly as an aid
in attacking trenches. Probably the most important was the introduction
of high explosive shells, which dramatically increased the lethality of
artillery over the 19th-century equivalents.
Trench warfare led
to the development of the concrete pill box, a small, hardened
blockhouse that could be used to deliver machine gun fire. Pillboxes
could be placed across a battlefield with interlocking fields of fire.
Because attacking an entrenched enemy was so difficult,
tunnel warfare became a major effort during the war. Once enemy
positions were undermined, huge amounts of explosives would be planted
and detonated as part preparation for an overland charge. Sensitive
listening devices that could detect the sounds of digging were a crucial
method of defense against these underground incursions. The British
proved especially adept at these tactics, thanks to the skill of their
tunnel-digging "sappers" and the sophistication of their listening
devices.
During the First World War, the static movement of
trench warfare and a need for protection from snipers created a
requirement for loopholes both for discharging firearms and for
observation. Often a steel plate was used with a "key hole", which
had a rotating piece to cover the loophole when not in use.
Clothing
German helmets went from leather to steel.
The
British and German armies had already changed from red coat (British
army) (1902) or Prussian blue (1910) for field uniforms, to less
conspicuous khaki or field gray. Adolphe Messimy, Joseph Gallieni and
other French leaders had proposed following suit, but the French army
marched to war in their traditional red trousers, and only began
receiving the new "horizon blue" ones in 1915.
A type of raincoat for British officers, introduced long before the war, gained fame as the trench coat.
The
principal armies entered the war under cloth caps or leather helmets.
They hastened to develop new steel helmets, in designs that became icons
of their respective countries.
Observation Trees
Observing
the enemy in trench warfare was difficult, prompting the invention of
technology such as the camouflage tree, a man made observation tower
that enables forces to discreetly observe their enemy.