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Veronica Ortega
Mr.Dewale
World History
7th June 2013
Gun Machine
World War I started on June 28, 1914 through November 11, 1918. This was an
enormous war that involved the United States in Europe. World War I involved the central
powers who were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The allies were France,
Russia, Great Britain, and the United States. With that said both sides had powerful militaries
and weapons. During this war they used many weapons like tanks, poison gas, rifles, grenades,
and flame throwers. But one weapon that really changed the way battles were fought during
World War I were machine guns.
In 1861, was when the American Civil War began and this is also the year the United
States started using machine guns in an actual war. Since the American Civil War, it had
influenced the United States to use the machine gun for other wars like World War I and World
War II. Still from this day on our military still uses the machine gun in battles around the world.
This gun can throw hundreds of bullets in one minute which kills a huge amount of people.
Machine guns were such a huge impact they also added this particular weapon onto ships, tanks,
and airplanes which our navy and airforce teams still happen to use. This made wars more
aggressive and it gave them a higher advantage to win any battle.
The United States was not the only country that used machine guns , many other
countries used machine guns like Germany in World War I and World War II. By the end of the
World War I almost 100,000 machine guns were in service at the time. In the website The

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Machine Gun:A Deadly Stream of Lead it states that,At the start of the war, in August of 1914,
the Germans had almost 12,000 machine guns in their army.(themachinegun.com) With that
said it shows how even the opposing side also used this weapon because they knew it was a very
powerful gun and could give them a chance to win. This made the war more intense and
challenging since both sides had this weapon. This has also influenced the Germans and other
countries to use this weapon during World War II and many other wars they were involved in.
In the website i read it stated that,The Germans placed their machine guns slightly in front of
their lines to ensure than the machine gun crews were given a full view of the
battlefield.(historylearningsite.com) this also proves than the Germans tried to take advantage in
the beginning of the war by using the machine guns. I'm sure many other countries started off
their wars like the Germans did and they thought it out smart.
Machine guns were a big impact why the allies won World War I. Aside from the fact
that the United States had an advantage because they got involved later on in the war but they
still needed weapons to fight and defend themselves with and the machine guns really did help
them alot. These guns killed a greater amount of men than any other weapon. Most of the time,
people that were in the trenches had a very small chance of surviving when the enemy opened
fire with their machine gun. In the article on The Machine Gun: A Deadly Stream of Lead
website it states that,In the trench warfare, one or two machine guns could cover an enormous
swath of no mans land.(themachinegun.com)This meant that those who were in the trenches had
at least some machine gun it can wipe out majority of the soldiers on the opposing side very
quickly. This could help slow down those soldiers coming in from the opposite side and increase
more of their death rates. With this gun you could kill many people in the front lines or even at
No Mans Land which could give your team a big advantage from your sides soldiers dying fast.

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If you compare the machine gun to other weapons used in World War I youll see how
significant it was. First of all if you were to compare the machine gun to poison gas you would
have to take a big risk to make sure your mask is on right or else you would have also died.
Grenades were another good weapon don't get me wrong but you had to be really close to your
target in order to kill them which can make it pretty difficult at times. During World War I tanks
weren't really the fastest tanks ever until September of 1939 which was when World War II
started, by that time there tanks began to go faster than they were during World War I. Lastly, if
you were to compare the machine gun to a flame thrower it can be difficult at first because in
order for the flamethrower to work you have to have a cigarette lighter for it to turn on, and
what if its just not your day and you just happen not to carry a lighter with you at the time then
you're in big trouble and most likely you would end up dead. This proves how the machine gun
did take a huge role during World War I.
The machine gun was a very interesting weapon because it was hard to destroy it. The
enemy would take time to destroy the gun because of all the different kinds of metals it
contained and it was pretty heavy for one person to even carry it. They would also put the
machine gun on fabric straps so that it wouldn't be so hard to reload the bullets one bye one but it
would shoot them in rounds. The soldiers also had to keep it in their jackets to protect it from any
sort of water damaging the gun which can overheat. The soldiers also had to know how to use
this gun because it took up to four men to help shoot bullets from a machine gun in World War I.
It has been said on a website that,Machine guns were the most feared weapons on the
battlefield.(themachinegun.com) This can be true because after comparing the weapons they
used during World War I it shows how the soldiers had to take huge risks with the other
weapons. Machine guns were the most effective guns during this period of time because of the

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amount of people it killed and this brought casualties numbers really high. Without the Machine
guns in this particular war then it wouldn't really be a war.

Advantages of machine guns during World War I were that it was really hard for the
enemy to try to duck from a bullet or to even try to get away from it because the power of the
machine gun was really fast and it can shoot hundreds of bullets in a minute. You also had the
privilege to shoot the front lines so that they wouldnt get in your trenches or the other way
around,you could use them to try to get into their trenches.One the website history on the net it
stated that , They had the power of 100 rifle guns. (historyonthenet.com) Can you imagine 100
soldiers out there in the battlefield with a rifle and killing them all in less than five minutes max,
thats pretty intense if you ask me. There were over a thousands of men fighting out there in the
battlefield and many of them didn't even have a chance to shoot their own gun because by the
time they were caught up in barbed wire it made it easier for the people working with the
machine guns from the opposite side to shoot them because they couldn't move and they were
trapped. Rifles aren't always a reliable gun because it takes a long to reload your gun and having
to do it over and over constantly.
In conclusion, machine guns have really changed the way people seem to use them
during World War I. It help us learn to improve our guns for the future and try to make them
more effective for the next set of previous battles. Throughout the years you can see a huge
difference in the way machine guns are used . The machine gun also provided lots of advantages
to winning any sort of battle because of how powerful it is and it has influenced the United States
military to also use it now in the present day. It is such a great weapon to defend your side of the
war and try to take over other countries lands.This is strongly one on the reasons why the Allies
won world War I and why it seemed to change the way battles were fought ever since.

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Works Cited
1. http://historyonthenet.com/WW1/weapons.htm
2. http://www.1914-1918.net/intrenches.htm
3. http;//library.thinkquest.org/J0110426/ww1/ww1.html
4. http://www.historylearningsite.com
5. http;//www.mapsofworld.com/world-war-i/weapons.html