World War I shaped our world in many, many, many ways. And
it's important to realize it wasn't that long ago. It was not even 100 years
ago. But it was really the end of the more traditional empires. It was the end
of kingdoms. It really reshTechnology in World War I aped much of the globe
much morearound states defined by nations rather than states definedby
monarchies or states defined by empires. And it was also the first war where
technology, or I wouldsay modern technology-- technology has alwaysplayed a
major role in wars. In fact, wars have been a catalyst for technology often.
But it was the first time that muchof what we consider to be modern
technologyplayed a huge role in the actual carrying out of the war. And to a
large degree, this is whatmade the war so much bloodier, and onecould argue,
even more protracted. So here I have a bunch of picturesof the various
technologies used in World War I. Here in this picture you have a machine gun,
which obviouslyallows you to indiscriminately mow down folks. These guys, it
looks like they mightbe in some type of a trench. And so you could imagine that
combinationif viewed from above. So let's say that this is a trench. This is a
trench right over here. We're looking from above. So there's some people
sitting in the trench. A couple of these folks have machine guns. The rest of
the guys just have rifles over here. If you wanted to storm this trench,you'd
be in a bad situation. The guy with the machine gun essentiallycould just mow
people down. They also tended to use barbed wire. Barbed wire wasn't invented
in World WarI. It was invented many
decades before in the 1800s. But that would make it very hard for someoneto
cross this period. They would get stuck in it. At which point these guys in the
trench could shoot him down. And it would be very hard to shoot the guys in the
trench. So it also, other than making it very deadly,it gave all the advantages
to the defense. So any time someone wanted to gain ground,especially in one of
the fronts where trench warfare was beingused, it was a hugely, hugely, hugely
bloody affair. The other technology that came into mainstreamuse in World War I
was the use of gas,and in particular poison gas. And as you see these gentleman
right over here,they're wearing gas masks because they'reafraid that their
opponent is going to use poison gas. And the benefit of gas in particularis
let's say you have an artillery shell that you throwover and it doesn't hit
anybody. But then it starts releasing a canisterof-- let me do that in a
different color--it starts releasing a canister of gas. So the gas I've drawn
in this purplish color. And so it doesn't have to be a direct hit. It can just
linger there and infect that trench. And it'll affect everyone there. And gas
warfare was-- actually, the Germansweren't first to use just gas warfare. But they
were the first to use very lethal, whatwe would call poison, gas. And in
particular in 1915, they used chlorine gas. So let me write that down. Chlorine
gas, which immediately attacks the respiratory systemof the person who inhales
it. And they essentially choke to deathwithin seconds or minutes. They also
used phosgene gas because this did notstimulate that choking. And in some ways
it could infiltratethe respiratory system even more. It had a delayed effect.
So it would linger around. And you have the use of mustard gas. Mustard gas was
very hard to protect against. It wouldn't immediately have you choke to
deathlike chlorine gas. It would be severe blistering. It would essentially
take you out of the battle. It was very hard to protect against. And it would
also linger around in the trench. So it made the trench a very toxic
environment to work in. So these are very, very, very ugly weapons. I mean, war
itself is ugly. Weapons themselves are ugly. I mean, the machine gun is not a
pleasant weapon. It can mow people down. But even folks who view somethinglike
a machine gun as an acceptable thingtend to view these things as particularly
ugly thingsto use. Other weapons that showed up in World War I,we talked about
this in other videos,but the tank started to become a factor. This right over
here is an American tank. Obviously, with these treads it can go in tough
terrain. It's heavily, heavily armored. When you talk about this trench type of
thing,well, if you've got a big hulking beast,maybe that could roll through the
barbed wireand take some beating and maybe eventually--so you could imagine a
tank over here, it could eventually--and actually the tanks at this timedid not
have these big turrets. So they might have looked something more like that. But
this might be able to actuallybe part of an offensive against a trench like
this. We've talked extensively about submarine warfarein World War I. The Germans especially used it, essentiallyto
have a chance against the dominant British Navy. Unrestricted U-boat warfare
was one of the primary reasonsgiven by the Americans as to why they enteredthe
war on the side of the entente. These are World War I era US submarines,just to
give an idea of how they actually looked. And in some ways the best
foreshadowing of whatwould play a major, major, major role in future warsit was
the bringing of heavier than air craft into the war. So in particular, we're
talking about airplanes. So before this, you had stuff like balloons and
zeppelinsused for reconnaissance, used to see where we should aimthe artillery,
things like that. But now you had the Wright brothers only, frankly,several
years before inventing the engine powered heavierthan air craft. And at first
the airplane, in the beginning stages the war,was used for reconnaissance. But
as the technology improved, as the engines improved,it started to be used for
bombing. It started to actually used for air to air combat. And out of all of
the folks involved in air to air combat,this gentleman right over here is
probably the most famous. Although you might not recognize his name. He's been
turned into a bit of a caricature in the modern world. But this is Manfred von
Richthofen. And he was a pilot for the Germans. And he's more famously known as
the Red Baron. And he was called the Red Baron because he was actuallya Baron.
It is a title of nobility in imperial Germany. And he painted his plane red. So
this is a picture of his plane right over here. So if I were to color it in-- I
guess this isn't quite red. I should actually probably try to get a more
reddish color. So maybe this is more of a red. So this is obviously a black and
white photograph,but maybe if I color it in for you,you'll get more of the
feeling of whathis plane might have looked like. And it was a triplane. It had
these three wings right over here,or three levels of wings. So whatever, his
plane was red. That's why he was called the Red Baron. And he was famous for
being the most lethal pilot in allof the war. He has 80 confirmed kills. He was
able to down 80 enemy aircraft. So 80 confirmed wins, I guess youcan say in
combat, which is more than any other folks in WorldWar I. So very, very famous pilot. He himself-- when
you're talking about any of the combatantsin World War I did not have a long
life expectancy. The pilots especially this was a dangerous game. And he also,
despite being the top pilot,the top ace, amongst all the pilots in World War
I,he also ended up getting shot in the air in 1918. He literally got shot
through the lungs and the heart. He somehow managed to land his plane. And when
the people ran up to him, the accounts say,that his famous last words as he
died,right when they ran up to him, was "kaput". So interesting. And
on top of that, he's now beenturned into a bit of a caricature. I mean, us in
the West, in the US,we recognize the brand Red Baron pizza. It is named for the
Red Baron, for Manfred von Richthofen. Kind of a strange name, I think, for a
pizza company. I mean, he's not even Italian. But that's, I guess, what we know
him for. But you see, this guy right over herelooks a lot more like Tom Selleck
than looklike the real Manfred von Richthofen.
