The weapons used by us have been modified and created just for this war. The Flamethrower, which is a weapon that spreads fire by burning fuel, has been wonderfully effective in clearing the trenches of our enemies. The French have tanks, huge metal vehicles that seem like monsters when coming towards us as they cut through our trench defenses. The German army does not use them, even though the French and the English have proven countless times with the number of German deaths that they are marvelously effective. The machine gun is another ingenuity of our time, with their great barrels and belts of bullets that would stream forth and rain hell upon our enemies. Unfortunately, because these machine guns kill so many, they are the target of every rifle of our enemies and as a result, not many men who operate them survive. But because machine guns are worth about 80 rifles, the lives of two men are a sacrifice our commanders are willing to make, even though it's not their lives they're gambling with. U-boats are another deadly invention that we, with all of our German intelligence and wisdom, have created. The U stands for undersea, thus, Undersea boat. These vessels slide through the water underneath the boats of our enemies and decimate them, though they are most effective in enforcing naval blockades against enemy shipping. Planes were, for a time, used to deliver bombs and to spy on our enemy. But eventually they morphed into fighter planes with mounted machine guns, bombs and the occasional cannon. Three inch mortars are old weapons that found new life in this war. They are short tubes that are fired at a steep angle and can thus be fired over our people and onto the heads of our enemies.
No Man’s Land is the area of land between us and the French. I cannot count how many newly arrived soldiers have died on their first day because they could not resist its allure, peering over the parapet to gaze at it and falling from a well aimed bullet from enemy snipers, put there it seems, for that very reason.The most effective gas by far has been poison gas, though we have on occasion been ordered to fire tear gas. Death by gas is much worse then death by gunfire, it is long and drawn out and
the victim goes through weeks of agony before finally succumbing. Every time a gas attack is spotted, a bell is wrung and we must scramble to put on the masks that may or may not be effective in protecting us from the deadly menace.
the victim goes through weeks of agony before finally succumbing. Every time a gas attack is spotted, a bell is wrung and we must scramble to put on the masks that may or may not be effective in protecting us from the deadly menace.
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, aka “The Red Baron” was a famous pilot. He was the commander of the flying circus, a unit comprised of the top flyers in the German army. He was shot down pursuing an enemy aircraft, after eighty confirmed kills.
The Schlieffen plan was a plan created by Alfred Graf von Schlieffen in 1905 that was subsequently destroyed by the modifications of Helmuth von Mutke in 1906 following Schlieffen’s retirement. The plan was created by Schlieffen as an attempt to avoid a war on two fronts with Russia and France. It called for the quick destruction of France by sending 91 % of the German army to France and 9 % to Russia. The idea was that by destroying France quickly they could move on to Russia before the Tsar had time to mobilize his forces due to the poor railways of his country. Helmuth von Moltke succeeded Schlieffen and made modifications that may have been the downfall of the plan. Von Mutke decided not to send as many troops to France in order to fortify Alsace Lorraine and the Russian border. Because of the lack of troops the Germans were not able to break through the Allied forces into France and without that break through the plan was destroyed. He also decided to reach France via Belgium only and not go through both Belgium and the Netherlands. This created a bottleneck and a supply problem because they did not have access to the Dutch railways. 
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne. In August of 1914 he was assassinated by Serbian activist Gavrilo Princip. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 18 1914, which began the domino effect. Russia, who had ties to Serbia, was seen as a threat to Germany’s existence and so Germany, who was bound to Austria-Hungary by treaty, declared war on Russia.
Helen Burrey is a World War I nurse caring for wounded men in the cars of a train. In her journal she writes of her experience as one of the first nurses to be sent to France to care for the wounded. Her explanations seem all too familiar to me, even though we are on opposite sides of the war, she being an American. She tells of the sufferings of her patients and the ordeals they go through, just to die.
The notion of Pal battalions was a scheme to get people to enlist in the army. The idea was to get whole towns and villages to sign up with the promise that they would serve together. It was met with enthusiasm and whole towns did indeed come in flocks to sign up. Unfortunately those who enlisted together also died together and as a result whole towns were killed by this system. Personally I think it is a stupid system. Yes you get to be with your friends, but you also have to watch them die. You are the ones sitting by their bedside as they slip away into oblivion. Maybe it’s a blessing for them but for you, it’s agony.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne. In August of 1914 he was assassinated by Serbian activist Gavrilo Princip. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 18 1914, which began the domino effect. Russia, who had ties to Serbia, was seen as a threat to Germany’s existence and so Germany, who was bound to Austria-Hungary by treaty, declared war on Russia.
Helen Burrey is a World War I nurse caring for wounded men in the cars of a train. In her journal she writes of her experience as one of the first nurses to be sent to France to care for the wounded. Her explanations seem all too familiar to me, even though we are on opposite sides of the war, she being an American. She tells of the sufferings of her patients and the ordeals they go through, just to die.
The notion of Pal battalions was a scheme to get people to enlist in the army. The idea was to get whole towns and villages to sign up with the promise that they would serve together. It was met with enthusiasm and whole towns did indeed come in flocks to sign up. Unfortunately those who enlisted together also died together and as a result whole towns were killed by this system. Personally I think it is a stupid system. Yes you get to be with your friends, but you also have to watch them die. You are the ones sitting by their bedside as they slip away into oblivion. Maybe it’s a blessing for them but for you, it’s agony.
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