World War 1 was the first “Great War” in American history. It caused a major advancement in American weaponry and technology. Also, it showed the axis powers the strength and determination of our nation. World War 1 was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand. It started in 1914 and ended in 1920. It was fought by Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States. The reason why World War 1 was so devastating was because of secret alliances, the weapons that were used, and how it was fought. Secret alliances were the main reasons why World War 1 became a world war.
Alliances are agreements between nations that say that if a nation goes to war with another nation, then the allied nations would have to help each other. This meant that if a nation declared war on another nation, it might as well be declaring war on many nations. One of the bigger alliances was between Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungry. The alliance said that if they would all attack Russia if any of them were attacked by Russia. This meant that when Russia went to war with Germany, it was going to war with Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungry. The alliances had the effect of when Austria- Hungry attacked Serbia, Serbia sided with Russia. Then Russia gained the support of France. Later, Germany declared war on Russia and France. On it’s way to France, Germany attacked Belgium. This caused Great Britain to declare war on Germany This showed that the alliances caused a war to spread over many nations very quickly, causing a devastating effect. After World War 1 started, many new and improved weapons started flowing into battle.
The devastating weaponry of World War 1 made it a slow and bloody war. Artillery was the best way to hit enemy infantry that were in trenches . This eant that artillery was often used in World War 1. Machine guns were also used. They were mainly used for stopping large enemy advances over trenches and fields fairly quickly . This showed that machine guns were the most common weapon of use for allied and enemy infantry during World War 1. The two ugliest weapons of World War 1 were the flamethrowers and poison gas grenades.
This showed that during World War 1, people would go to any extent to make a deadly weapon. These weapons often changed as the tactics of war changed. The tactics of Word War 1 also made it a slow and bloody war. The most ommon tactic of World War 1 was trench warfare. The use of trench warfare lasted for two years, causing a stalemate . This showed that axis and allied powers were more concerned about keeping their heads down then attacking each other during World War 1. Trenches were water-filled, mud-bottomed dugouts that were usually Six-eight feet deep and were wide for two men to walk each way . Trench warfare finally ended Germany used flamethrowers and poison gas grenades to clear trenches from a distance . This showed that Germany was desperate to end trench warfare by any means necessary.
All of these factors of World War 1 are what ade it the first “Great War” in American history. The reason why World War 1 was so devastating was because of secret alliances, the weapons that were used, and how it was fought. It caused a major advancement in American weaponry and technology. Also, it showed the axis powers the strength and determination of our nation. We can all learn how unstable the world was during these times from this war. You could only wonder what might happen if another world war started today with all of this new technology. World War 1 was the second bloodiest war behind World War 2, which started a few years after World War 1.
