![]() ![]() But using gas could result in friendly fire casualties when winds blew the toxic fumes back into the attackers’ positions. Some estimates put the number of deaths from gas attacks at about 900,000, with another 1 million injured. By 1917 other chemicals, including mustard gas, were being used by both sides. Germany launched the first use of a chemical weapon, chlorine gas, at Ypres, Belgium, in April 1915, against French troops. It forced opposing forces to dig hundreds of miles of trenches, with a deadly “no man’s land” in between where soldiers could get mowed down. But it was American inventor Hiram Maxim’s 1880s design for a single-barrel, portable machine gun and other later versions that became ubiquitous on both sides during World War I. Hand-cranked, high-capacity, rapid-firing firearms had been used as far back as the Civil War. A look at some of the things that were new to the doughboys that we take for granted today: Machine guns The world’s first mechanized war introduced enhanced weaponry and equipment, most of it designed to take lives but some of it aimed at saving lives. 11, 1918, more than 4.7 million Americans had served and some 115,000 died. entry into World War I, and some of the innovations that were developed or came into wide use during the conflict are still with us today.Īmerica entered nearly three years after the war began, joining Britain, France and Russia in the fight against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu
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