Inventions and Weapons

Read About the Many Inventions of World War I. Learn About Modern War from Primary Source Materials.

Armored Cars and Trucks (Vanity Fair, 1916)

The American trucks and armored cars pictured here were not created specifically for the Great War, but no doubt they were sold to the French and British; a year later these trucks arrived with the A.E.F.. The bull dog that has for so long adorned the hood of the Mack truck dates to this conflict -the bull dog was the nick-name bestowed upon that vehicle by the Tommies.

Recognizing the importance of armored vehicles, a group of American Millionaires, among them Henry Clay Frick (1849 – 1919), pooled their money and donated a number of such items to the New York National Guard. Vanity Fair Magazine followed this story and produced this article as it developed with a thorough review of each of the donated military vehicles. Although the trucks are photographed, few are named.

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A Weird Anti-Barb Wire Artillery Shell (Scientific American, 1917)

During much of the war, inventors from all combatant nations had been trying to make a artillery projectile that could eradicate the obstacle that had become one of the symbols of trench warfare: barbed-wire. No one seemed up to the task and in the end, wire-cutters were still the best way to deal with the problem.


This article is about one inventor’s failed effort to create a time fuse artillery shell that would deploy hooks that grab the wire as it goes speeding by and thereby saving the day. Needless to say, the hook thing didn’t work out terribly well and the difficulty inherit with time fuse artillery shells would be perfected in the inter-war years.

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American Trench Periscopes (America’s Munitions, 1919)

The U.S Army only ordered two types of trench periscopes during the war. The first kind was a simple wooden box, painted a lovely shade of olive drab and measuring two inches square and 15 inches in length with two inclined mirrors set at both ends (pictured). This type was manufactured by two companies and well over 100,000 were produced.


The second variety was a mirror that was designed to fixed to the end of a bayonet, a total of 100,000 of these were delivered before the end of July, 1918 and 50,000 additional ones before November.

(Until we get the title link fixed, you can read the article by clicking here.)

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Allied Aerial Reconnaissance During World War I (Vanity Fair, 1918)

This article,Photography’s Notable Part in the War was written by an active participant in the aerial reconnaissance arm of the Royal Flying Corps, Captain Henry A. Wildon. He reported that both sides in the conflict recognized early on that intelligence gathering by way of camera and aircraft was a real possibility:

Our first airplanes in France were not supplied with photographic equipment. It was not until the beginning of 1915 that the importance of of photography became apparent, and was made possible by improvements in the type and general stability of the airplane.

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A British Shrapnel Grenade (Trench Warfare, 1917)

During the earliest days of the war the British and Empire armies were seldom issued grenades, but the need for such weaponry became apparent once it was clear to all that trench warfare was going to be the norm. The earliest grenades (improvised by both sides) were simply food tins that were jam-packed with an explosive mixed with nails, glass shards and bits of iron. By 1915 grenade production was in full swing and British historians have estimated that throughout the course of the war on the Western Front, British and Commonwealth forces had used fifteen million hand-grenades.

The following article concern a British shrapnel grenade that is of the heavy friction pattern.

A British Shrapnel Grenade (Trench Warfare, 1917) Read More »

An Early Gas Mask (Magazine Ad, 1915)

At the time when the Entente powers were first exposed to poisonous gas in the spring of 1915, their respective quartermasters scrambled to secure suitable antidotes and precautionary measures that would save the men in the front line trenches. One of the earliest improvisations was a gauze face mask that covered both mouth and nose, drenched in urine. The attached commercial illustration is from the margins of the French news magazine, L’ILLUSTRATION which depicts one of these earlier attempts.


Click here to see an illustration of the German gas shells.


Clicke here to read more articles about W.W. I gas warfare.

An Early Gas Mask (Magazine Ad, 1915) Read More »