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WWI was a new kind of war because it was the first time the world had experienced total war. Total war is defined as the total mobilization of a society to assure the destruction of the enemy including civilians. The term total war comes from WWI because for the first time civilians were considered to be fair game during times of war. Prior to WWI, influenced by the Enlightenement, civilized nations did not turn guns on civilized nations. WWI also marked a massive shift in war technology, including: - Movie reel footage of conflict was available for the first time to mass audiences (albeit in a propagandiesd form) - The technology of tanks, razor wire, toxic gases (Mustard gas), machine guns, aircraft etc created war as mobile conflict. Where before the emphasis had been on fortification now fortification was pointless. The dynamics of this war promoted the prolonged standoff and devastation on the Western Front - where combatants could neither advance the lines nor defend themselves - a devastation never seen before in history.

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