Twentieth Century

Warfare

Soldiers were called from all corners of the British Empire, together with thousands of civilian conscripts, to dig in against the Germans on the Western front. The Great War (World War I 1914 -1919) saw trench warfare, bitterly fought offensives, poison gas attacks and massive loss of life.

Bayonets were still used, but rapid rounds of fire were possible from repeating rifles and machine guns. Grenades, exploding shells and mines demanded different tactics. A soldier had never before been able to kill so many in so short a time.

Two new weapons appeared which finally broke the trench deadlock - the tank (an armoured engine moving by means of caterpillar tracks across all types of ground) and military aircraft.

The co-ordination of tanks and aircraft at the battle of Amiens, August 1918, was made possible by field radios and telephones.

What colour were army uniforms in the Twentieth Century?

Click the picture for an answer.

Tanks and aircraft were the important weapons of the Second World War.

German bombers targetted industrial areas in the hope of destroying ammunition factories and so forth. But large numbers of homes were destroyed as well, and people killed. Civilians were dying back home as well as soldiers on the battle fronts.

America brought into the war huge Sherman tanks, with mine detectors on the front, and Flying Fortess aircrafts, each carrying 20,000 pounds of incendiary bombs and 13 machine guns protecting them on all sides. These took effect in 1944. Great use was made of air attacks as the Allied armies pushed the Germans back across Europe. The war in the Far East was won by air power, and by use of a new weapon - the atom bomb.

The possibility of a nuclear war frightened people witless for the rest of the century.

What job does the lady holding the little girl do?