Blog 19

      From the movie trailer to "Gallipoli", a variety of artillery is shown. The Great War had an extreme impact on the world, causing an enormous amount of casualties partially due to new weapons and war tactics. Replacing the more formal style of standing at the line of battle used in the Revolutionary War, trench warfare emerged. This concept, still highly dangerous, provided more protection for the soldiers than standing face to face. Other war strategies used were: unrestricted submarine warfare, blockades, dogfights and flame throwers. Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchant ships without warning as opposed to attacks following the rules of war; this tactic was used mainly by the Germans. Naval warfare in WWI was charactarized by the efforts of the Allied powers to blockade the Central powers. Dogfights are a form of aerial combat between fighter aircrafts where each is aware of the others presence. This appeared in WWI after the airplane was invented that would be used in many other wars, including WWII. Flamethrowers were a great technological advancement from previous simpiler weapons. Taking about four men to opporate, these machines project a stream of ignited flamable liquid or a long gas flame. All of these new weapons and tactics improved the way war was fought; but with an improvement in war, comes an increase in casualties. During the Great War, 16 million soldiers were killed and 21 million were injured. This extreme amount of casualties devestated society greatly, resulting from loss of loved ones, former employees and soliders.