How was World War 1 different from all previous wars?

Answer 1

It was marked by a major advancement in weapons without a similar achievement in mobility. The machine gun was a major factor in this. There was not much that could penetrate defenses held by machine guns at the time. They did have tanks, however these were slow, still rather unsophisticated, and unreliable as a major means of bombardment/troop movement. This led to trench warfare being put in use, due to the much higher efficiency of defense as compared to offense given then current technologies. Such a stationary war is at odds with much of what we've seen throughout military history, with maneuvering being just as large a part of strategy as weapons used, and to some extent numbers of troops used. Flanking. encircling, etc. was of little use when you had to do it across mine littered fields with machine guns mowing you down. This was almost purely a war of attrition.

Answer 2

Because everynoe had to change tactics because of all the modern machienery. It was the first time trenches were used

Yes, in addition to the above: WW1 couldn't have happened in the way it did without 2 particular inventions, the Railway & Tinned Food. Notably it was also the first conflict in which Attrition was used against the enemy, that is wearing away the enemy without directly engaging in battle, in short, using field artillery to destroy the enemys' will & ability to defend. Also, of course, the machine gun came into its own on the battlefield.

Answer 3

The machine gun, the tank, the airplane, the submarine and poison gas all combined to get more people killed faster than ever before. A lot more countries participated in this war than the other ones, hence the name.

Answer 4

Most wars were faught only between a few countries, but both World War 1 and World War 2 involved hundreds of countries, hence the name Wold War. They also brought mass devestation and destruction with them.

Answer 5

World War One was different to any other war because it was the first war of that size and importance and it was also the first war that spanned across the world.

Answer 6

it was a world war