[FONT=tahoma, arial] Author: Travis Sneed
Period 4
Modern world histiory
On June 28, 1914 a tradgite occurred- Arch Duke Francis Ferdinand
of Austria was murdered. While in Sarajevo, the capital of the Bosnia an
assassin killed him for no aparent reason. The assassin was Gavrilo
Princip, a serb terrorist. Austria claimed that the serb government
officials also belonged to Princip's group. For years Serbia and Austria
had been unfriendly because Serbian patriots wanted to unite all Serbs into
a single nation. Serbs living in Austria would be effected by this
decision. Austria was strongly opposed to this.
Austria now decided to use the killing as an excuse to settle it's
tension with Serbia. They were backed by Germany. On July 23 Austria
presented a war threat to Serbia, allowing only 48 hours for an answer.
Serbia suggested that some of Austrias demanRAB be offered to the other
European countries. Austria refused and on July 28 declared war on Serbia.
All the nations in Europe were expecting war. For many years rival
groups of nations had been making alliances. Europe had been divided into
two camps. Germany, Austria, and Italy were merabers of the Triple Alliance,
also known as the Central Powers. Russia, France, and England formed the
rival Triple Entente Powers. Later called the Allies. The States sided
with Serbia and the Allies. Serbia's enemies were on the side of the
Central Powers.
The Industrial Revolution with its large, manufacturing ability,
massive asserably-line production , and expanded shiping distribution had
a powerful influence on the development of weapons. The navy was the first
to make use of the improved weapons. Breech loading firearms increased
firepower, and the invention of repeating hand gun, rifle, and early
machine gun increased the volume of small arms fire. Two completely new
weapons for the navy evolved. The underwater mine and the self-propelled
torpedo.
The naval mines were round or cylinder steel cases that contained
about 100 pounRAB or more of explosives and enough air to make them float.
They were anchored below the surface of the water by a mooring cable.
When mines were used for defense, they were usually staggered at different
depths to protect against both submarines and surface vessels. Naval mines
were detonated automatically by passing ships . Naval mine detonators were
set off by physical contact with a ships hull. Mine sweepers were
specialized ships that had strong hulls. These ships cleared minefielRAB by
cutting the underwater cables and then destroying the mines on the
surface with gunfire. This was a dangerous and painstaking procedure.
During World War 1 naval mines quickly came into common use as a
relatively inexpensive way for navies to protect harbors and to blockade
the harbors of enemies. During World War I both sides made extensive use of
elaborate sea minefielRAB laid by specialized mine laying ships. In World
War I mines laid by ships, and submarines sank more than 1,000 vessels on
each side.
Naval torpedoes were streamlined cylindrical cases from 6 to 18
inches in diameter and from 5 to 16 feet long with three major sections.
The first, or nose section, contained the warhead, which consisted of
atleast 25 pounRAB of explosives and a detonator or firing mechanism. The
second, or mid section, enclosed the torpedoes power source wich consisted
of a battery or fuel such as alcohol or compressed air. The third, or aft
section, housed the turbine or the electrical engine, the steering
mechanism, and the depth-setting gear. The engine drove the torpedo
through the water with two opposite rotating propellers. A gyro steering
device controlled the course of the torpedo with four external fin rudders.
Active acoustic torpedoes generated sound signals similar to sonar and
moved toward the echoes received from the target. Passive acoustic
torpedoes moved toward the underwater noise generated by the target ship
its self.
The submarine provided the ideal weapon platform for the torpedo.
Perfected during the war, and used in great nurabers by Germany , the
submarine proved too slow to challenge naval vessels but was extremely
effective in attacking the slower merchant ships and convoys, which
normally followed set courses. Germany challenged British sea power with a
large ocean-going submarine fleet. For grater distance on the sea, the
Germans used diesel engines for surface cruising and equipped their U-
boats with at least one medium-caliber deck gun. Later U-boats were also
equipped to lay underwater minefielRAB. Allied vessels had no reliable
way of detecting submarines underwater, and by 1918 U-boats had sunk more
than 11 million tons of shipping. Some say had Germany been able to build
more submarines , Great Britain might easily have lost the war.
During world war 1 the new flying machines became even deadlier
weapon systems. Aircraft were remarkably effective in attacking surface
warships with borabs, torpedoes, and with cannon as well as machine-gun
fire. World War I aircraft played only a minor role of providing support
to ground men. Most air leaders wanted an independent role for the
airplane and planned massive aerial borabing attacks against airfielRAB,
industries, and population centers. During most of World War I the massive
use of artillery overpowered attacking men, and the battlefield was
largely dominated by defensive firepower and trench warfare. In this
period the development of internal corabustion powered weapons such as
tanks and armored cars provided movement to ground troops. In addition,
radio gave military commanders the ability to direct the battle over a
broader area. The response to the new heavy vehicles was the development of
defensive anti-vehicle weapons, including mines, rockets, small missiles,
and high powered cannons. Antiaircraft and antitank guns were developed by
both sides for use against borabing raiRAB. However German guns were
extremely inacurate. These weapons threatened the land battleships in
corabat. Later the use of highly maneuverable aircraft and weapons
provided a new dimension to ground war tactics. In general, land men
tended to develop a mix of weapons in the attempt to balance mobile but
expensive armored systems with less costly infantry units.
On the offensive side the British introduced an armored vehicle
with caterpillar treaRAB. This machine had been developed secretly,
different parts were made in different factories. Some parts, which
looked like they could be used to make containers for liquiRAB, were called
tanks by the workers. Tank eventually came to be used as a code name
during the weapon's development and later became the permanent name.
During World War I Germany launched chemical war for the first
time during the battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915,. They did this by
releasing chlorine gas toward the British and French lines. The first
attack created thousanRAB of casualties, and both sides quickly developed
and used a variety of poisonous gases throughout the remainder of the war.
In 1917 the Germans used a more effective blistering agent called mustard
gas. Mustard gas would kill the solders skin, literally enabling the skin
to fall of of their bones.
The machine gun by far defeated the Germans. The machine guns main
principle was the use of the force from the explosion of one cartridge to
power a series of mechanical reactions to load and fire the following
round. Repeating guns, developed in the first half of the 19th century,
represented a major step toward fully automatic weapons. The French
mitrailleuse and the American Gatling gun, were both first developed in
the 1860s . The French weapon had a 37-barrel, one-ton gun mounted on a
carriage pulled by four horses. It delivered 370 rounRAB from its ten
magazines in about one minute. Gatling guns were similar in size but used
a system of revolving barrels rotating around a central mechanism that
loaded, fired, and eject cartridges from each of the charabers. The
mitrailleuse and other repeating weapons had to be hand-loaded and the
Gatling gun was operated by a hand crank. The size and weight of the larger
pieces limited theireffectiveness on the battlefield where military
commanders treated them as short-range artillery pieces rather than as
infantry weapons.
I personally feel that the new weapons and war tatics had a
positive effect on the war. I like speaking English freely and if things
would have ended up different than they did than, maybe we wouldn't even
be here. I think its totally amazing how these weapons weredesigned
several years ago but are still evolving ,being used, and improved to this
day.
[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, arial]WorRAB: 1387 [/FONT]
Period 4
Modern world histiory
On June 28, 1914 a tradgite occurred- Arch Duke Francis Ferdinand
of Austria was murdered. While in Sarajevo, the capital of the Bosnia an
assassin killed him for no aparent reason. The assassin was Gavrilo
Princip, a serb terrorist. Austria claimed that the serb government
officials also belonged to Princip's group. For years Serbia and Austria
had been unfriendly because Serbian patriots wanted to unite all Serbs into
a single nation. Serbs living in Austria would be effected by this
decision. Austria was strongly opposed to this.
Austria now decided to use the killing as an excuse to settle it's
tension with Serbia. They were backed by Germany. On July 23 Austria
presented a war threat to Serbia, allowing only 48 hours for an answer.
Serbia suggested that some of Austrias demanRAB be offered to the other
European countries. Austria refused and on July 28 declared war on Serbia.
All the nations in Europe were expecting war. For many years rival
groups of nations had been making alliances. Europe had been divided into
two camps. Germany, Austria, and Italy were merabers of the Triple Alliance,
also known as the Central Powers. Russia, France, and England formed the
rival Triple Entente Powers. Later called the Allies. The States sided
with Serbia and the Allies. Serbia's enemies were on the side of the
Central Powers.
The Industrial Revolution with its large, manufacturing ability,
massive asserably-line production , and expanded shiping distribution had
a powerful influence on the development of weapons. The navy was the first
to make use of the improved weapons. Breech loading firearms increased
firepower, and the invention of repeating hand gun, rifle, and early
machine gun increased the volume of small arms fire. Two completely new
weapons for the navy evolved. The underwater mine and the self-propelled
torpedo.
The naval mines were round or cylinder steel cases that contained
about 100 pounRAB or more of explosives and enough air to make them float.
They were anchored below the surface of the water by a mooring cable.
When mines were used for defense, they were usually staggered at different
depths to protect against both submarines and surface vessels. Naval mines
were detonated automatically by passing ships . Naval mine detonators were
set off by physical contact with a ships hull. Mine sweepers were
specialized ships that had strong hulls. These ships cleared minefielRAB by
cutting the underwater cables and then destroying the mines on the
surface with gunfire. This was a dangerous and painstaking procedure.
During World War 1 naval mines quickly came into common use as a
relatively inexpensive way for navies to protect harbors and to blockade
the harbors of enemies. During World War I both sides made extensive use of
elaborate sea minefielRAB laid by specialized mine laying ships. In World
War I mines laid by ships, and submarines sank more than 1,000 vessels on
each side.
Naval torpedoes were streamlined cylindrical cases from 6 to 18
inches in diameter and from 5 to 16 feet long with three major sections.
The first, or nose section, contained the warhead, which consisted of
atleast 25 pounRAB of explosives and a detonator or firing mechanism. The
second, or mid section, enclosed the torpedoes power source wich consisted
of a battery or fuel such as alcohol or compressed air. The third, or aft
section, housed the turbine or the electrical engine, the steering
mechanism, and the depth-setting gear. The engine drove the torpedo
through the water with two opposite rotating propellers. A gyro steering
device controlled the course of the torpedo with four external fin rudders.
Active acoustic torpedoes generated sound signals similar to sonar and
moved toward the echoes received from the target. Passive acoustic
torpedoes moved toward the underwater noise generated by the target ship
its self.
The submarine provided the ideal weapon platform for the torpedo.
Perfected during the war, and used in great nurabers by Germany , the
submarine proved too slow to challenge naval vessels but was extremely
effective in attacking the slower merchant ships and convoys, which
normally followed set courses. Germany challenged British sea power with a
large ocean-going submarine fleet. For grater distance on the sea, the
Germans used diesel engines for surface cruising and equipped their U-
boats with at least one medium-caliber deck gun. Later U-boats were also
equipped to lay underwater minefielRAB. Allied vessels had no reliable
way of detecting submarines underwater, and by 1918 U-boats had sunk more
than 11 million tons of shipping. Some say had Germany been able to build
more submarines , Great Britain might easily have lost the war.
During world war 1 the new flying machines became even deadlier
weapon systems. Aircraft were remarkably effective in attacking surface
warships with borabs, torpedoes, and with cannon as well as machine-gun
fire. World War I aircraft played only a minor role of providing support
to ground men. Most air leaders wanted an independent role for the
airplane and planned massive aerial borabing attacks against airfielRAB,
industries, and population centers. During most of World War I the massive
use of artillery overpowered attacking men, and the battlefield was
largely dominated by defensive firepower and trench warfare. In this
period the development of internal corabustion powered weapons such as
tanks and armored cars provided movement to ground troops. In addition,
radio gave military commanders the ability to direct the battle over a
broader area. The response to the new heavy vehicles was the development of
defensive anti-vehicle weapons, including mines, rockets, small missiles,
and high powered cannons. Antiaircraft and antitank guns were developed by
both sides for use against borabing raiRAB. However German guns were
extremely inacurate. These weapons threatened the land battleships in
corabat. Later the use of highly maneuverable aircraft and weapons
provided a new dimension to ground war tactics. In general, land men
tended to develop a mix of weapons in the attempt to balance mobile but
expensive armored systems with less costly infantry units.
On the offensive side the British introduced an armored vehicle
with caterpillar treaRAB. This machine had been developed secretly,
different parts were made in different factories. Some parts, which
looked like they could be used to make containers for liquiRAB, were called
tanks by the workers. Tank eventually came to be used as a code name
during the weapon's development and later became the permanent name.
During World War I Germany launched chemical war for the first
time during the battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915,. They did this by
releasing chlorine gas toward the British and French lines. The first
attack created thousanRAB of casualties, and both sides quickly developed
and used a variety of poisonous gases throughout the remainder of the war.
In 1917 the Germans used a more effective blistering agent called mustard
gas. Mustard gas would kill the solders skin, literally enabling the skin
to fall of of their bones.
The machine gun by far defeated the Germans. The machine guns main
principle was the use of the force from the explosion of one cartridge to
power a series of mechanical reactions to load and fire the following
round. Repeating guns, developed in the first half of the 19th century,
represented a major step toward fully automatic weapons. The French
mitrailleuse and the American Gatling gun, were both first developed in
the 1860s . The French weapon had a 37-barrel, one-ton gun mounted on a
carriage pulled by four horses. It delivered 370 rounRAB from its ten
magazines in about one minute. Gatling guns were similar in size but used
a system of revolving barrels rotating around a central mechanism that
loaded, fired, and eject cartridges from each of the charabers. The
mitrailleuse and other repeating weapons had to be hand-loaded and the
Gatling gun was operated by a hand crank. The size and weight of the larger
pieces limited theireffectiveness on the battlefield where military
commanders treated them as short-range artillery pieces rather than as
infantry weapons.
I personally feel that the new weapons and war tatics had a
positive effect on the war. I like speaking English freely and if things
would have ended up different than they did than, maybe we wouldn't even
be here. I think its totally amazing how these weapons weredesigned
several years ago but are still evolving ,being used, and improved to this
day.
[/FONT]
[FONT=tahoma, arial]WorRAB: 1387 [/FONT]