Ch. 19-2 #3

In what ways did WWI represent a frightening new kind of warfare?

The casualty figures in the U.S. were 48,000 men lost, 62,000 men dead due to disease, and 200,000 wounded. New tanks that ran on catapillar treads were built of steel in which bullets bounced off. The officers also learned how to use the tanks to clear out large portions of barbed wire fencing to allow the infantry to move across fields with relative ease. Airplanes now dropped bombs and poison gas that would destroy the inside of one's body. New machine guns that could put out 600 rounds each minute. These new weapons produced a devastating effect on the casualty numbers of the war and the war became more of a massacre than anything.