It will soon be a hundred years since the end of the First World War. And if in World War II Russia came out as an undeniable winner, then the results of the Imperialist one are very controversial for her. On the one hand, it is among the victorious countries, on the other hand, our country lost almost everything in that war. Most of the army, navy, aviation. In addition, there were huge debts to other countries. And then everything is already known - the loss of territories, the forced signing of the Brest peace and the collapse of the Russian army under the Bolsheviks, who criminally wrested power.
Ready for war
And this is also a very controversial issue. Over the past ten years, our empire has been significantly modernized. But, nevertheless, experienced an acute shortage of equipment, ammunition and new developments. Most of the spare parts for armored vehicles came from abroad. As for aviation, all engines had to be ordered from the allies. Although we were second in terms of the number of planes. The first was Germany with a slight superiority of fifteen aircraft. The same applies to the pilots themselves - they were trained in special flight schools in the UK.
Almost every kindGermany was ahead of us in armaments, but literally by a few units. This is comforting - we were one of the two military giants of that time.
Nevertheless, the new weapons of the First World War came out of the assembly line of the enemy.
New developments
The First World War brought to its arena the latest military developments of various countries of that time. These were the first tanks, improved fighter planes, large-caliber guns. Small arms of the First World War had many varieties, including new models, unknown before. Machine guns and the first semblance of anti-aircraft installations deafened everything around with their bursts. And another new invention, the use of which distinguished the First World War - chemical weapons.
Tanks
It was at this time that the first tank, the Mark 1, rolled off the production line. Made in Great Britain, it knew no equal. Its crew included seven people. Its weight was 26 tons, which did not add good indicators of the speed of the tank. The Mark 1 was armed with four machine guns and two cannons. Subsequently, he received two varieties: male and female. The male had two powerful guns, and the female had six heavy machine guns. Tanks worked in pairs, with the expectation that the male was doing the main sweep. The female is a little further away and covers.
But this is far from the only tank that the First World War launched onto its field. Weapons on tracks carefully steeldevelop and the Germans. Appreciating the Mark 1, they began to develop their A7V tank, which slightly resembled its British counterpart. Only his crew included already eighteen people, and he weighed four tons more.
Every country that was drawn into the First World War tried to build its own tank. This weapon, however, only succeeded in Great Britain and France. The Germans, if they released their own model, could not organize its mass production (and they had no more than 20 tanks in total).
Aviation
If the iron monsters of the superpowers dominated the earth, their equally fearsome steel eagles ruled the sky. Despite the deplorable economic condition, our Ilya Muromets was considered the best aircraft. The developers brought it to mind so that it became the best multi-engine bomber, equal to which the First World War did not come up with a weapon until its very end. Our aviation consisted of about 250 aircraft, which was slightly smaller than that of the German opponents.
Cannons
At first, our army turned back entire enemy regiments, bringing down their deadly cores on them. "Death scythe" - that's what the Germans called our three-inch gun. But, unfortunately, the Russian army was not ready for such terms as the First World War dragged on. The weapon on wheels, if it was normal, then the shells for it became sorely lacking. As a result, only one responded to three hundred German salvos from our side.
The Germans had the numerical advantage of artillery (more than seven thousand guns). The German gun "Berta" was especially distinguished at that time, leveling villages and small towns with the ground.
Chemical weapons
But no matter how different the different types of weapons of the First World War, the most merciless and painful phenomenon was the use of chemical weapons. Thanks to this, the First World War also had a second name - the "war of chemists".
The war was positional in nature, which led to serious difficulties. In order to smoke the enemy out of his trenches, gas weapons were developed. The French were the first to use it, throwing their opponents with special grenades filled with tear gas. Further, the Germans also picked up the idea.
If tear only irritated the fighters' mucous membranes, then chlorine carried away the lives of people. Although it is generally accepted that in a gas attack the mortality rate is 4% of the total, the rest are only subject to hospitalization, the losses caused by the use of gas were enormous.
The First World War became a good way for scientists to test all new toxic substances. Chemical weapons were the number one danger for soldiers. However, later countermeasures for gas attacks began to be developed, which gradually eliminated its use.
