By 1914, German forces had 12,000 machine guns, compared with a few hundred between the French and British. Germany, however, embraced a different version of the technology, producing a gun called the Maschinengewehr 08. Maxim first offered the weapon to Britain, which rejected his early version. Hiram Maxim, an American inventor, delivered the first automatic, portable machine gun in 1884, providing the template for the weapon that devastated the British at the Somme. By World War I, machine guns were fully automatic weapons that fired bullets rapidly, up to 450 to 600 rounds a minute. But it wasn’t until World War I that the weapon came into its own, as mechanized slaughter took place on a scale scarcely imagined before.Įarly machine guns were hand-powered, not automatic, but they provided a gateway for what was to dominate 20th-century battlegrounds. The weapon was invented in the 1800s, and early versions were used in the U.S. The machine gun’s ability to mow down enemies quickly and in great numbers forever changed the face of modern warfare. One German machine-gunner was recorded as saying there hadn’t even been a need to aim, Mr. By day’s end, more than 20,000 British soldiers were dead on the battlefield in what military historian James Willbanks called “the blackest day in British military history.” It was the sign for men in the trenches to “go over the top.” Soldiers climbed up and over the makeshift walls, kicking soccer balls and carrying walking sticks, confident their artillery had drummed the German lines into submission.Īt the end of the first hour, some 50% of the “first wave” of the British attack were dead or injured. On July 1, 1916, whistles blew in the British trenches near the Somme River on the Western Front. Jovi Juan, Renee Lightner, Elliot Bentleyĭavid Tattersfield from the Western Front Association Tom Mudd, Laurence Eyton, Sheila Courter, Margaret de Streel, Matthew Walls, Adrian Kerr, Peter Stiff, Perry Cleveland-Peck, Sofia McFarland, Tina Fuhr, Lydia Serota, Ese Erheriene, Jon Sindreu, Yvonne Dennis, John Crowleyĭipti Kapadia, Mark Kelly, Parminder Bahra, Miho Inada, Menglin Huang, Ayla Albayrak, Monika Vosough, Billy Higgins, Beckey Bright, Tom DiFonzo, George Downs, Pat Minczeski, Michael Ovaska Smith, Charles Hutzler, Matina Stevis, Ayla Albayrak, Charles Forelle, Perry Cleveland-Peck Nathan Hodge, Art Patnaude, Tommy Stubbington, Andrew Peaple, Tom Mudd, Peter Evans, Sarah Sloat, Rory Jones, Alexis Flynn, Fiona Matthias, Harriet Torry, Alen Mattich, Chase Gummer, Laurence Eyton, Peter Stiff, Paul Hannon, Laurence Witherington, Gautam Naik, Christopher Lawton, Michael Wright, Neetha Mahadevan, Laurence Norman, Caitlan Reeg, Jovi Juan, Liza Hearon, Inti Landauro, Thomas Varela, Marcus Walker, Jake Lee, Shirley Wang, Stephen Fidler, Juhana Rossi, Will Lyons, Monica Houston-Waesch, Francesca Freeman, Peter Nurse, James Leigh, Max Colchester, Todd Buell, Frances Robinson, Adam Najberg, Matthew Walls, Yuka Hayashi, Jose DeCordoba, Selina Williams, Naftali Bendavid, David Winning, Geoffrey T. History is always open to interpretation, but as the war to end all wars retreats from living history, it feels more important than ever to remember its impact. Wall Street Journal editors from around the world have selected 100 legacies that still shape our lives today. It invented new forms of killing and unearthed miraculous ways to save lives. World War I has given us daylight saving time, Dada, triage, chemical weapons, plastic surgery, fascism and, of course, another war. Poets committed some of the most memorable imagery in modern verse to paper while a generation of writers would descend on Europe’s war-torn cities and fashion a new style of literature.Īfter millions of men gave their lives on the battlefields of Europe, it was doubly tragic that a deadly influenza would claim up to 50 million more deaths in the conflict’s immediate aftermath. Empires crumbled, borders were redrawn, art movements flowered and women won the vote (even if you still had to be over 30 in some countries). It ushered in the era of mechanised warfare whilst laying the foundations for modern medicine. It gave birth to violent dictators and their ideologies but extended the electoral franchise to millions. From new countries to literature, from tanks to treaties and from flamethrowers to fashion, the conflict is still writ large on our lives 100 years on.
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