WWI Question...

[/)eathKiller]

heres a good question: "why is it that people blame Germany for the war when everyone knows it was antarctica that was the true source of the wars beggining oragins... it also is to blame for the American Civil war, and the Second and Third World wars too! [img]tongue.gif[/img] "

Darn Antarctica... not to sound racist against penguins or anything like that... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Mellagar]

Well I know quite a bit about WWI. From trench warfare to air combat...more about air combat. You could discuss the types of fighter planes from the Eindecker to the Dreidecker.....combat tactics of Boelecke's Dicta which is still used today 83 years later.

As for trench warfare I personally don't think there is too much you can say as far as American involvement, since America entered late in the war, but were indeed involved heavily at the end. You could speak of how the British improvised on the battlefield as far as weapons go, such as the jam and bully beef bomb. But if you want to try something new show the human side of the soldiers instead of just factual material such as battles and weapons. For example, German and British soldiers in a region of the western front would sneak out into no-man's land at night and leave behind chocolates, cigarettes, newspapers and what not. The Germans feared the Irish and Scottish, the British feared the Hungarians beacause of their different mentalities on the battlefield. The Germans would create life size dummies and stick them out in the open and cheer on the British snipers when they would make a hit.
A good book to read is Over The Top or is it No-Man's Land...I can't remember. It was written by Arthur Emphay who was an American soldier in the trenches. I read an early copy dated 1918, and it was an excellent book. Escadrille Lafeyette (spelling is all wrong but I don't speak French) was another good book written by an American pilot. Also Death's Men is another good read.

I've done several research papers on WWI and there are several battles and campaigns to get information on, but remember that in WWI soldiers spent 90% of the time just roughing it out in the trenches and 10% actual fighting. One word however sums up trenches in WWI.........mud.

[Scholarcs]

Originally posted by Ar-Cunin: I agree with Djinn Raffo about the nervegas a subject to start with - why did the was start (the assasination of the Austria-Hungarian Archduke Ferdinard and what followed) and a subject to close with - the Versaille peace treaty and its consequences. (Germany's 'need' for revenge)

Both of these are good...but you should remember that the world was in the perfect conditions for a war in 1914. The von Schiefen (sp) plan which the germans intended to use was already drawn up in around 1908 if I remember correctly. The assination didn`t actually have that big a part to play in the war.

[Animal]

Start by reading "A Farewell to Arms." A great WWI based book.

[SirTristram]

Was trench warefare an effective strategie for holding back the austrians on the western front?

[Dreamer128]

You guys are great! I never thought I would get this much reply's! Thanks to all of you!

[Hiram Sedai]

Originally posted by Eisenschwarz: Write about how the Americans came to adopt one of the worst machine guns ever (the Chauchat, which was so bad it often literally shook itself to pieces as it fired) as oppose to the Lewis, almost solely due to a personality clash between the then current US Chief of ordinance (Gen. Willian Crozier) and Lewis (the bloke wot designed the Lewis gun) Although to be fair they did get the browning M1917 in the end. It can be a sobering lesson in how petty human interpersonal relationships can end up bad.

This shouldn't suprise you but my favorite MG was the watercooled Maxim. (Hiram Maxim)

We can blame the Chauchat on the French after all.

[TheGrandSlayer]

Tell them after soldiers ran out of food,the only way to get food,was to loot it of enemy corpses,